Author Archive

For 17 years, my wife Marsha and I spent our summers in the lakes district of New Hampshire where I was the Music Director of the New Hampshire Music Festival. We'd load up our Subaru–dogs, cats and all and head up to the woods where the combination of natural beauty, making music with good friends and renewing relationships couldn't be beat. 

In 2009, I resigned as Music Director and much to my delight, the Board of Directors recently asked me to be the festival's Conductor Laureate. Now our futures are linked in a permanent way. 

This past summer I conducted the first half of the Festival season as part of its 60th Anniversary celebration. It was like no time had elapsed since I was last there. The orchestra, which is made up of very talented musicians from all over the country played their hearts out and there was such an outpouring of good feeling.

There  were many musical highlights but I'll mention just one–Lukas Foss's "American Landscapes" with guitarist, Jason Vieaux. Lukas was my "boss" when I was the Associate Conductor  of the Milwaukee Symphony years ago. He was such a talented and marvelous man and it felt so good to conduct his music and re-connect with him through his witty, naughty and clever music. This piece is dynamite and Jason was the perfect soloist, solid, creative and dynamic.

Long live the New Hampshire Music Festival!

How wonderful it was to conduct the opening concerts of Symphony Silicon Valley's 10th Anniversary Season. I've been going out there annually ever since its inception and have come to know everyone rather well. The musicians, staff and public are like old friends now.

On this occasion, I had a chance to finally perform David Amram's marvelous "Triple Concerto" WITH DAVID on the piano and Pakastani flute. Dedicated to the spirit of jazz, the jazz, wind and brass quintets plus full orchestra make quite a remarkable racket! It's quite a trick to coordinate and balance all these elements but we managed very well and the audience loved it.

I also had a chance to conduct Holst's "The Planets" for the first time in 20 years, so it was like a new experience. As "popular" as this work is, what struck me on stage was how serious it felt. The richness, brilliance, mystery, serenity, color and power really seemed "great" to me, in the way that all the "great" works do. I loved the added sonority of the bass flute and bass oboe. It's a pity more composers didn't write for them. And the off-stage female choir at the end is so special.

The choir director, Elena Sharkova came up with a novel solution for creating a truly gradual and long diminuendo to the close. She brought a ton of scarves and had the ladies and young girls hold them away at first and gradually bring them in towards their mouths as they sang which muffled the volume ever so slowly. It was perfect! Plus, since they didn't have to get softer with the voice, it was easier to stay on pitch, which they did completely! Cool, huh? Bravo, Elena!

Ola, amigos!

My wife, Marsha and I just got back from 2 weeks in Barcelona where I had the good fortune to conduct 7 concerts with a fine orchestra with a very long name: L'Orquestra Simfonica de Barcelona i National de Catalunya!

I first made music with the orchestra in 1995 when its home was the venerable and exceedingly beautiful Palau de la Musica Catalana in the old Barri Gotic or Gothic Quarter. Last season I went back on a few days notice to replace the fine French conductor, Michelle Plasson in a difficult program which included a piece by Henri Dutilleux which I had 1 day to learn. The orchestra had changed personnel quite alot since '95 and played in its new home, the "Auditori" which is a Lincoln Center-type complex that is really ugly on the outside and gorgeous on the inside! 

These past two weeks were fabulous. The musicians were fully engaged, interested in making the best music possible and we had really good communication–me to the players and the players to me, back and forth. Much of the music was new to them (and to me too): Poulenc's ballet suite, Les Biches, followed by the world premier of the catalan composer, Salvador Brotons's Symphony #5, and a suite of 8 highlights from the ballet Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky. The orchestra's current season includes many works that were either premiered by or were a favorite of Diaghilev's famous Ballet Russes, the storied company in Paris that brought so much great music into existence back in the early 20th century–pieces like Le Sacre de Printemps, Daphnis et Chloe, the Miraculous Mandarin, etc. Both the Poulenc and Tchaikovsky works on my program fell into this category.

 

Salvador Brotons is a very busy composer and conductor, so much so that he was only able to come to my 3rd performance as he was in Israel prior to it and heading to China right after it. I was disappointed that I couldn't have had interaction with him during the rehearsals. But he was very happy with the performance he heard and I was glad to have had a chance to meet him.

I was very impressed with the piece and how well written it was, both in the way he developed his ideas and in his skillful orchestration.Although an original conception, there were influences present like Shostakovich, Mahler, Elgar, Bernstein, Bartok and even Holst. The orchestra members seemed to like the challenge of taking on the responsibility of delivering this new "baby."

 

Conducting the Swan Lake was a pure joy. Man, Tchaikovsky sure knew how to write ballet music! For me, the finale is some of the most dramatic and moving music he ever wrote. When the Swan and her Prince ascend to heaven it is pure magic, pure genius. After a long, passionate and ultimately false climax there is a sudden change where everyone drops out except the harp and strings. They play a soft, moderately quick, steady rhythm that then builds back up in power to the entrance of the French horns playing a strong note (B natural) as a kind of signal  to the rest of the orchestra. The full ensemble comes in with a series of B chords, blazing majestically and nobly with the timpani pounding out now the previous string rhythm all the way to the end. I practically leave my body myself when conducting this moment! There is no question that I am always struck by the fact that something "other-worldly" is happening each time we hit this point and "get it right!"

 

Barcelona is a wonderful city, full of life and Marsha and I had a great time there. Right now the orchestra is having to take a big cut in its budget which comes entirely from governmental sources. My colleague and friend, Francois Bou, the orchestra's manager is confident however that they will get through this rough patch and be able to restore what is taken away as the national economic picture improves. So let's all send our positive well wishes in their direction. These fine people deserve great support.

Adios, amigos.

Paul