Sitting in the balcony with an RSNO legend

There is electricity in the rehearsal hall today (Thursday). The atmosphere is positively charged with such energy, such emotion. And the focal point, the man wielding this power, is the legendary conductor Neeme Järvi.

As Conductor Laureate, Neeme has a gloriously rich past with the RSNO. Principal Conductor for 5 years from 1984 to 1988, and a regular guest conductor ever since, he holds a special place in the hearts of the RSNO's musicians and audiences alike, and that fact is inescapable in the rehearsal hall. I am not alone in the balcony today; joining me are donors, RCS conducting students, interns...Everyone is eager to see the master at work.

I've had the privilege of seeing Neeme conduct on many occasions, but this is the first time I've sat in on one of his rehearsals. I've often wondered what rehearsals with Neeme would be like, and it's just as I had imagined, only better! He always commands such powerful performances on stage with his inimitable, almost minimal, style of conducting; the slightest gesture of a hand, a finger, a shoulder, a look, the raise of an eyebrow – each conjuring an immense sound from the musicians – and it is just so in the rehearsal hall.

Sat on the conductor's stool, his voice is gentle and calm as he direct the musicians through Shostakovich's Fifth. From the power and immense wall of sound in the opening movement to the whispering tremolando accompanying the softest of clarinet and flute figures in the Largo, the sound is immediately, unmistakably Järvi. Perhaps not surprisingly given their history of working together, but they have also spent the last couple of days recording together.

Neeme arrived on Sunday and was straight into an evening recording session with the Orchestra which continued on Monday and Tuesday; no less than fifteen works by Julius Fučik were committed to disc for Chandos.  Now, today, work begins for this weekend's concerts.  It is a schedule that would tire most mere mortals, but at 77 years young, Neeme is showing no signs of slowing down...And thank goodness for that, or we would be denied some truly wonderful performances.

Until the next time...

Cat

Neeme Järvi will conduct the RSNO in a programme of Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio espagnol, Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No3 with Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, and Shostakovich's Symphony No5 at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh on Friday 20 February 2015, then at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Saturday 21 February 2015. Tickets can be bought online at rsno.org.uk/whatson 

Sitting in the balcony thinking about love...

Today (Tue 10 Feb) I'm sitting in the balcony thinking about love...or rather, the relationship between love and music!

One of my favourite Shakespeare quotes is from Much Ado About Nothing, when Benedick says to no-one in particular: "Is it not strange that sheeps' guts should hale souls out of men’s bodies?"  And I quite agree...Strings on musical instruments are not generally made from sheeps' guts these days, but there is simply something about music that can speak straight to the soul. There is certain music which can pull on your heart-strings before your ears really have the chance to listen to it, and this rehearsal that I'm currently enjoying is packed full of it.

This week, the Orchestra is going to be performing some wonderfully passionate music in our special Valentine's concert, Latin Passion. But there's very little slushy romantic sentimentalism here; instead this concert is packed with pulsing, swaying rhythms of Chabrier's Habañera, fiery passion in De Falla's El sombrero de tres picos...It's such an inspiring programme!

This concert is not just featuring classical music though. This year we're also having a foray into the world of love themes from the movies: John Williams' soaring Love Theme from Superman, Morricone's heart-breaking theme Gabriel's Oboe from The Mission (featuring our wonderful new Principal Oboe, Adrian Wilson), and Barry's timeless Theme from Out of Africa.

Our conductor this week is our fabulous French-Canadian Assistant Conductor Jean-Claude Picard. Jean-Claude has been with the Orchestra since June 2013 and his rapport with the musicians is clear to see.  I caught up with Jean-Claude after the rehearsal:

"We just had our first rehearsal this morning for this weekend's concerts and it's quite obvious to me and the musicians that this programme is very seductive. I can't wait to share the passion of the music with our audiences in Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow!"

Our soloist this week is harpist Xavier de Maistre. He'll be performing Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, a piece more commonly associated with the guitar, but the arrangement for harp is quite something. We came across a video of him performing it with Kristjan Järvi and the Orchestre de Paris, so here it is as a little something to whet your appetite... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__Iu98UdouU)

The RSNO's Latin Passion concert will take place in Dundee's Caird Hall on Thursday 12 February, The Usher Hall in Edinburgh on Friday 13 February and the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Saturday 14 February. Tickets are still available for all performances, priced from just £12.50.  Visit www.rsno.org.uk/valentines to book.

Until the next time...

Cat

Sitting in the balcony with old friends.

Today I'm back in my favourite seat in Henry Wood Hall; up in the balcony listening to the first rehearsal of the week. As poppies start appearing on lapels across the land, the RSNO will be performing a very special programme to commemorate Remembrance Day in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

This week's concerts are conducted by Rory Macdonald – a young Scot who is establishing a great career conducting in the likes of Covent Garden, Vienna Konzerthaus, Sydney Opera House and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing.  Earlier this week he spoke to Kate Molleson of The Herald: 

"There's a special kind of nervousness that applies to performing at home. How can there not be? I'll have friends, family, my old music teachers in the audience. They'll all be remembering me as a wee boy."

And he was right, in a way. When Rory arrived last week for an RSNO chorus rehearsal with Sally Beamish (for the Scottish Premiere of her new work Equal Voices), I realised we were seeing each other for the first time in about 14 or 15 years. You see, Rory and I played in West of Scotland Schools Symphony Orchestra (WSSSO) together between 1996 and 1998, under the baton of William Conway. But I wouldn't say I remember him as a "wee boy". Even back then, I realised that Rory was an immensely talented individual. When we first met, I was in 3rd year at school sitting in the second violins; he was in 5th year – the leader of the Orchestra, and an incredible violinist. (Incidentally, it turned out that his then desk partner, Martin Suckling, would go on to great things too. His compositions have been performed by orchestras such as the LSO, BBC SSO, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, London Sinfonietta, Scottish Ensemble and Hebrides Ensemble and he is currently the Composer in Association with our colleagues at the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.)

I mention my time at WSSSO not simply because it's how I knew Rory back in the day, but because in our second year at WSSSO – Rory still leading, me now in the ranks of the first violins – we performed Elgar's Enigma Variations, one of the pieces he will be conducting with the RSNO this week.  I still have very fond memories of the residential week of rehearsals in Castle Toward and the performances that followed so this is why, when I saw Rory's name on the Season planning documents alongside the Enigma Variations, I just knew within myself that this week's concerts were going to be great.

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I had to just stop writing there. The orchestra had just got to that amazing bit where the last note from the eighth variation leads into the ninth... Nimrod. I just had to stop and listen. My heart is thumping and I don't mind admitting that my eyes are welling up. Wow.

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Right, where was I? Ah yes, the concerts. Elgar's Enigma Variations are simply stunning. And I'm not just talking about Nimrod. My personal favourite is actually the twelfth – B.G.N. The soaring cello line is so intense; hesitant in places, insistent in others. It has an inherent sadness, and yet, so beautiful...

It's little wonder that this piece, alongside his Cello Concerto which Aleksei Kiseliov performed so wonderfully a couple of weeks ago, is considered one of Elgar's best compositions and is a firm favourite amongst British Orchestras and audiences alike.

You can hear Elgar's Enigma Variations, conducted by Rory Macdonald, on Friday 7 November in the Usher Hall, Edinburgh and on Saturday 8 November at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Both concerts start at 7.30pm.

If you haven't got your tickets yet, please visit www.rsno.org.uk/whatson

Until the next time...

Cat

Sitting in the balcony with Elgar

Sitting in the balcony with Elgar

Listening to a professional orchestra rehearse is a privilege that not very many people get to experience, but every so often I like to take some time away from my desk in the RSNO's office and nip up to the balcony of the Henry Wood Hall to sit and listen to the Orchestra as they prepare for the coming weekend's concerts.  Having studied music myself, it is an experience that is not wholly unfamiliar, but the way that this band works with Peter Oundjian is simply mesmerising and my trips up to the balcony serve as a perfect reminder of why I do the job I do - spreading the word about the wonderful music that the RSNO produces each week in concert halls across Scotland.

These first couple of weeks of our new Season are ever so slightly different this year as our first couple of soloists are not being flown in from the international touring circuit, instead the spotlight is shining within our own ranks. Last week we had the truly stunning 5-star performances from our Principal Flautist Kathryn Bryan who played to audiences in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow as we opened our 2014:15 Season.

This week is the turn of our Principal Cellist, Aleksei Kiseliov, who joined the Orchestra in September 2011, and he will be playing Elgar's immensely popular Cello Concerto.

I got in touch with the wonderful people at Elgar's Birthplace Museum and Visitor Centre, who were very kind in giving us access to some incredibly interesting information and resources relating to the various works by Elgar that the Orchestra will be performing throughout the Season. On my trip up to the balcony on Wednesday I felt like I'd been joined by a bit of history; whilst Aleksei was playing I had in my hand the facsimile of the piano score of the Cello Concerto, written in Elgar's own hand for his young friend, Alice Stuart Wortley (see below).

I've always loved following scores whilst listening to music, but there really is something about seeing the original handwritten version of a theme... makes the music more real somehow, more alive.

Another quite extraordinary thing is to hear the music whilst looking at photographs of not only of Elgar with the gent who gave the premiere of the Cello Concerto, but also of the very house in which it was composed. That kind of insight into Elgar's surroundings just adds another dimension to the music.

Brinkwells Cottage, in Fittleworth, Sussex, where Elgar wrote his Cello Concerto.

Edward Elgar with Felix Salmond (left) who gave the premiere of his Cello Concerto.

Shortly after the above photo was taken, Elgar wrote to his friend Sidney Colvin (one of the dedicatees of the concerto) to report on how it was coming along:

"Felix Salmond has been down here & we have put the finishing touches to your cello concerto & it will be produced at a London Symph. Orch. Concert before Christmas. Date to be fixed but I will let you hear it the earliest."

I'm also pleased to report that Wednesday's rehearsal with Aleksei and the RSNO went much better than the one the gentlemen above had before the Cello Concerto's premiere.  As Elgar's wife Alice noted in her diary on the 27th October 2019: 

"E. & A. & C. to Queen's Hall for rehearsal at 12.30 or rather before - absolutely inadequate at that - That brute, Coates went on rehearsing 'Waldweben' Secy. remonstrated, no use, at last just before one, he stopped & the men like Angels stayed till 1.30 - A. wanted E. to withdraw, but he did not for Felix S.’s sake - Indifferent performance of course in consequence E. had a tremendous reception & ovation -"

On the subject of tremendous receptions and ovations, I have no doubt that you'll be part of one soon should you be lucky enough to have secured a ticket for one of this weekend's concerts!

If you don't have a ticket yet, there are only a few still available, so hurry! Book online at www.rsno.org.uk/whatson

Until the next time...

Cat

The photos, manuscripts and transcripts included in this blog were kindly provided courtesy of The Elgar Birthplace MuseumThe photos, manuscripts and transcripts included in this blog were kindly provided courtesy of The Elgar Birthplace Museum.