Carter??

I just wanted to share with you that I listened to Elliott Carter's Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello, and Harpsichord tonight as background music when I made some soup (and ate it). I found it to be quite delightful. I'm wondering if this makes me "not normal." Please let me know. I couldn't find a video of this piece on youtube...so please enjoy Norman Fischer (my most recent teacher!!!) performing the 4th movement of the Carter Cello Sonata (at Rice). I also find this piece equally delightful. I know, I'm strange.

Post Carter

As you have probably guessed, the Carter festival is now complete and we are on to tons and tons of rehearsals for Eugene Onegin...poor James Levine is recovering from surgery, so we have Sir Andrew Davis in his place...a really great conductor, but just not the same, as everybody seems to be feeling. Oh well...its still an amazing opera and we still have the amazing cast of singers including Renee Fleming (among others).

Everything Carter went really well...Enchanted Preludes was the best it ever was and even got mentioned in Sequenza 21, a contemporary music blog. read here. The Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello, and Harpsichord got mentioned in the New York Times...very briefly and without names of the performers, but still...mentioned. And the back of my head was featured prominently in a different NYT review (ok...maybe not so prominently)...but whatever...

We are starting to wrap up the summer here...less than 3 weeks left...two more orch concerts...my schedule is significantly lighter now that Carter is over...just one chamber piece and the few remaining orchestra concerts. Not really looking forward to leaving...so I'm not gonna think about it right now.

Carter Begins

This morning was Concert #1 of the Carter Festival...it was really enjoyable to just sit back and listen to the craziness and not have to worry about playing correct rhythms and putting every tiny detail in its place. This morning we heard several small orchestral/chamber pieces featuring the Double Concerto for piano and harpsichord (and two orchestras). Pictured is Carter's bow at the end of the program standing beside Ursula Oppens and Charles Rosen (soloists on the concerto)...it was terribly well received with a standing ovation and everything at the end. I think it will be a very interesting week.

Tonight is the first of two orchestra concerts featuring the Variations for Orchestra and a world premiere of Carter's new string orchestra piece, Sound Fields.

Hello Carter

The Miss Hall's wireless network has decided that my anti-virus software, which I had to jump through hoops to get (since I have a mac and we don't get viruses anyway) is no longer good enough and won't let me on the internet. So I will most likely do all of my internet related things from Lenox Coffee from now on...not that there is anything wrong with that! Its kind of fun to sit and and people watch and drink iced coffee.

I just got my hair cut...it was getting a little bit scary...I'm actually really happy with it. Maybe I'll get one right before I leave as well. (its pictured above)

Tomorrow morning is the beginning of Carter-fest. Starting tomorrow at 8am you will here exclusively music by Elliott Carter at Tanglewood through Thursday. (well, there is one BSO concert where Carter will not be played...but whatever). I'm pretty much brain-dead from it all...five orchestral pieces plus two chamber pieces (with no conductor) all being performed right now. Kind of crazy. But kind of amazing at the same time. I'm doing the Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello, and Harpsichord...we figured that we have spent seven hours on only the 3rd movement of the piece, which is about five and a half minutes long. I usually take a nap when we are done to recharge.

My parents are trying to make their way out here as we speak...they decided to brave the craziness and take in the entire Carter Festival...but they ran into car problems in Gary, IN that apparently can't be fixed fast enough...so the car is being towed back to Chicago and a car is being rented...and then they will drive late tonight and make it to Rochester...and then the rest of the way tomorrow. I'll have to play extra well now!

Rossini Complete...Now Carter

I'm taking an afternoon break sitting at Lenox Coffee, and I figured it was about time to attend to the fact that I haven't made any updates here for quite some time. As you probably read in the entry below, Levine is out of the picture as far as Tanglewood goes. Everyone is pretty bummed about it...he was supposed to conduct both of the Carter pieces I was sitting principal on, but obviously, thats not going to happen...Stephen Asbury is doing it now, which is still pretty amazing.

Yesterday morning was my performance of the Rossini Duo (with Shaun). I was pretty happy with how it went. We each did our own cadenza type things, and I was really nervous about mine, since it involved a very large leap to a very high note...but it all worked out at the concert, and I'm glad I decided to do it...

We are in the midst of the Carter Festival now...two complete orchestra concerts of only music composed by Carter, as well as tons of chamber concerts...I'm playing on six of eight orchestra pieces and on two of the chamber pieces, so I'm getting my fair share of Carter. Now that the Rossini is over, I'm only playing Carter through July 23rd...its kind of crazy.

Pictured is my view from the back of the orchestra during Alpine Symphony, which we played about a week ago now. Its really hard sitting back there, especially for a piece like Alpine Symphony where everything is so loud and fast. And I hate wearing earplugs...but I guess you do what you have to to avoid complete hearing loss. Oh well.

Tanglewood...Yay!

I finally got my assignments!! And they are good! I'm playing:

• Haydn Op. 33 No. 1 in B Minor
• Dvorak Op. 105 in A-Flat
• Rossini Duo for Cello and Bass
• Assistant Principal for Dvorak 8 (with James Levine!) and Don Juan
• Principal for Carter: Soundfields (World Premiere) and Variations for Orchestra
• Carter Enchanted Preludes (I just played it on my recital!)
• Carter Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello, and Harpsichord
• Brahms Clarinet Quintet

Should be a fun summer! Yay!

I Heart Carter

I just returned from a performance of Elliott Carter's String Quartet No. 1...performed by the Pacifica Quartet at the Cy Twombly Gallery (part of the Menil Collection) here in Houston. I had never heard the piece before, and I listened without a score (Mr. Fischer was sitting a few seats away avidly following his). I guess that I can't claim to be new to Carter (since I just did a recital of four Carter works and recently played a movement of the cello sonata from memory!)...but I really felt that the piece worked on a musical level...most people have a hard time relating to Carter's abstract rhythmical language...but I think the real reason (aside from his obvious innovations to rhythm and construction) that he has become such a legend, is that his pieces work emotionally beyond all that.

I kind of realized in the end, during the final violin cadenza, that I was totally captivated by the piece. Even though it was over forty minutes long (of pretty abstract material) a lot of the piece really spoke to me, and it seemed to the audience as well. I really enjoyed the slow movement, with the dueling duos: forceful cello and viola recitative style against the two very high and slow violins. I really want to play this piece now (and not just becuase it starts with a cello cadenza).

I didn't realize that Carter was going to become such a large part of my life...I kind of ended up doing mostly Carter on my degree recital (4 Carter works and one other contemporary piece)...this was really my first experience with Carter, and I dove right in. This summer he will become a much larger part of my life when I take part in his 100th birthday celebration at Tanglewood...46 Carter chamber pieces have been programmed. I have no idea what I will be playing (hopefully something really good) but I know at least that I will be taking part in the two orchestra concerts consisting of only Carter music!! Yikes.

And with a face like that, who could say no?

Post-Competition

The Houston Tuesday Musical Club competition is now over...well, I'm done...but I was also the 4th person to go. I think it ends at 4pm...I'm not expecting anything though. The Carter went pretty well, no memory slips or anything! Dvorak, on the other hand, was not so hot...it may have bordered on horrendous...especially at the end of the development. Turns out the judges stopped me, but I didn't hear them, and I kept playing, and getting more and more unsuccessful...oh well...it was 10am...

Later today I will be performing the Introduction and Allegro by Ravel (with harp etc...Mary would be proud). My group performed it last week, and will be performing it a few more times after this...so we have been pretty low key about the whole thing. Its at 4pm in Duncan Recital Hall at Rice University if you are interested (we are first).

Tomorrow if the day of Brandt...we are starting his opera: read through in the morning, and then right on the the sitzprobe in the afternoon...yikes...the performance is on Wednesday. For those of you wondering, its a contemporary chamber opera by Anthony Brandt (composition faculty here at Rice)...string quartet, some percussion, and two singers. Should be interesting...I've been on an opera kick lately, so I'm looking forward to this!

Good Work, David

I somehow managed to wind up with the correct Final Game in my NCAA Bracket (on facebook). I kind of randomly filled it out at the last minute and forgot about it...and when I checked yesterday, I was suddenly doing really well (#1 among my friends on facebook and #21,890 on all of facebook)...we'll see how it all turns out soon enough...I picked Memphis to win it all...hope it works out!

In other news...its Carter Sonata 23.5/7 for me (the other .5 is spent on Dvorak Concerto)...Houston Tuesday Musical Club Competition is coming up on Saturday morning and I need to play the Carter from memory...ugh...at least I've played Dvorak 75 million times...playing both in studio tomorrow...we'll see how that goes...I'm off to practice now, and rehearse with Patti, and most likely practice some more!

Dreaming

I had a dream last night. I usually don't remember my dreams, but for whatever reason this was one was particularly vivid. Anyways, you all know that I'm playing in a competition next Saturday (Houston Tuesday Musical Club)...in my dream, I got the day of the competition wrong and had to sprint over to the location and perform with a pianist provided by judges. For whatever reason, they didn't seem to care, and thought it was really funny that I didn't bring a pianist with me. I couldn't find a chair that I liked, and then when I did, the stage was slanted back, so much so that my chair was actually sliding backwards off the back of the stage. The judges didn't seem to think anything was wrong with this...then I realized there was a huge podium set up, and I asked if I could play there, which was ok with them.

Anyways...I somehow ended up playing really really well, except that the pianist was retarded and couldn't follow me at all. Dvorak was going really well, although I was very worried about how the pianist was going to sight-read the Carter. Luckily, I woke up before we got to it.

Recital Prep

Those of you who are keeping track know that my masters recital is coming up this Saturday. I don't know why nobody told me that a mostly Carter program would really hard to keep up. But for future reference, it is. I'm mainly just going through stuff slowly making sure my hands really know what they are doing...because there are a lot of (pretty hard) notes to play...like all the time. Yikes.

So, if you are in the area you should stop by Duncan Recital Hall on the Rice University Campus at 3pm on Saturday January 26th for a fun show featuring:

1. A New Piece by Jairo Duarte-Lopez called Ekphrasis sobre "El Miedo" de Tanguy.
2. Both of the Carter Figments for Solo Cello (#1: for cello alone, #2 Remembering Mr. Ives)
3. Enchanted Preludes for Flute and Cello (also by Carter and featuring the spectacular Hilary Abigana)
4. The Carter Sonata for Cello and Piano (with the show-stopping Patti Wolf)

The Week in O(h)M(y)T(rill)

1. Rehearsals begin for the Ligeti Cello Concerto (with Chrissy Kim as soloist!)...I'm playing the orchestra part. The first time I played it was my first Musica Nova concert at Eastman (with the very scary Secret Theatre on the program!)
2. Rehearsing with Patti almost everyday (always a joy!) on the Carter Sonata.
3. Practicing like hell for my recital.
4. Lots of teaching as stuff (as always).
5. Lindsay Kesselman's vocal recital (I'm playing How I Hate This Room by her dad!)
6. Return to orchestra rehearsals with Larry...we've had a pretty easy schedule lately.
7. Norman Fischer Studio Recital on Friday night...I'm not playing for once, although I wanted to. Oh well.
8. My parents come into town on Friday and stay for the weekend!
9. Morgen comes into town on Saturday, auditions on Monday and leaves on Tuesday!
10. (my masters recital saturday at 3pm in duncan recital hall)
11. Elliott Carter.

Round 3

I had kind of planned on not going back, but it seems that life had other plans for me and in the past few days decisions were changed and I will be going back to Tanglewood for a third summer. Highlights of the summer include:

1. Dvorak 9 with James Levine.
2. Alpine Symphony with Bernard Haitink.
3. MASSIVE Carter 100th Bday celebration featuring two orchestra concerts (with only music by Carter conducted by James Levine and Oliver Knussen plus the cello concerto with Fred Sherry as soloist) and tons of Carter Chamber Music...all with the big man himself in attendance.
4. Eugen Onegin with James Levine starring Renee Fleming.
5. Fun in general.

Nervous Breakdown?

I just got back from Mexico this evening...due to an unfortunate/fortunate series of circumstances the next few days in my life are going to be some of the craziest ever I think. My recital preview is this Tuesday, so I need to bring back all of my Carter Shit to working order (plus brush up on Jairo's Piece which I'm recording in a few weeks??? maybe?) and learn Plylar's Piece (which he says is quite difficult)...all before Tuesday. I also need to be entertaining Heather the entire time (which will be a joy...of course)...it just makes things a bit trickier...but maybe I'm blowing this all out of proportion and it actually won't be that bad? I guess I'll find out soon enough. Things I'll be doing with Heather:

1. Hanging out and having fun.
2. Going to the Rothko Chapel and Menil Gallery (I've never been..oops)
3. Going to the Galleria.
4. Having a reading party?
5. Eating at good food establishments like House of Pies.
6. Going out to other fun places. Duh.

I canceled my teaching on Monday to make sure I could fit everything in. I don't want to look like an idiot at my preview so I really need to do some quality practicing. Starting a few weeks ago, oops. Maybe I'm being too hard on myself, I did have everything ready to go before break. Whatever, now I'm just rambling and typing out my crazy thought process and publishing it online. That's stupid.

I'll have more to say about Mexico later. Maybe.

The Week in O(h)M(y)T(rill)

Its the end of the semester and things are getting kind of crazy...seriously. My preview is next week...a good 7 weeks before my actual recital...so things are kind of falling into place...well, like one piece...sigh...its gonna be a little bit rough around the edges I think...oh well...I need to go an teach now...

1. Hilary and I are attempting to throw the Carter Enchanted Preludes together in one week. This piece is pretty hard...we are rehearsing basically everyday (even though her boyfriend is in town!) I know that she kind of hates me right now...but I'm really glad we are doing it! Thank you Hilary!
2. I'm playing the Lopez and the Plylar in studio on Tuesday...yikes...and the Popper Requiem with Meta, Chrissy, and Patti!
3. I start my new job at T.H. Rogers on Wednesday (and Friday)...I'm teaching sectionals...yay!
4. Thursday is the Shepherd Chamber Orchestra Concert...Music of Stravnisky, Vaughn Williams, and Saint-Saens...yes, its Christmas Music...but you should come and hear my solo in the Vaughn Williams!
5. Friday is the Symphony Concert...go hear them.
6. I'm judging region band auditions on Saturday...that should be interesting. Very interesting...more on that later.

Carter Sonata

So...my Carter Sonata performance last night was a bit 'interesting' in a first performance kind of way...we probably hadn't really rehearsed enough to be playing the 4th movement in front of people...but that didn't stop us and we kind of futzed our way through it...and had kind of a meltdown backstage afterwards...good times...

For those of you wondering...I am back in Houston now...have been for a few days...and its cold here...I keep accidentally wearing my checker scarf with my checker shoes...oops...I think I'm going to not play in studio today...mainly because I feel kind of tired and won't play well...that means I have to next week...or else...

I think I will get a haircut today.

The Week in O(h)M(y)T(rill)

There are lots of happenings this week in OMT...the Thanksgiving break has been very relaxing but the next few weeks are going to be pretty insane...in kind of a good way...lots of music to know...and lots more venues to play it at...

1. Sunday is a travel day...but my flight leaves Chicago at 6:30am...which puts me back in Houston at 9:12am...leaving plenty of time to practice and run errands alls day...and then collapse around 7pm (since I will have gotten up somewhere in the vicinity of 4am...yikes)
2. I return to teaching at La Porte (on Monday) and Cinco Ranch (on Thursday)...I've been playing a few gigs lately and have had to cancel (which is both good and bad...)
3. Studio Recital on Monday night...I'm playing the entire Carter Sonata...which will be very interesting...I really love the piece, but its a work out and Patti and I haven't played it since I left for Thanksgiving break...obviously.
4. Studio Party on Monday night...nuff said.
5. Hilary's Flute Recital is Saturday at 3pm...I'm playing continuo...again...come if you wanna laugh at me. And hear a good flute recital.
6. The Contemporary Music Practicum concert is Sunday Night at 7:30pm...hear some pretty good pieces by real composition majors and some 'interesting' pieces by performance majors...it is also my acting debut...

Apple and Stuff

I just came back from the Apple Store with my uncle...he bought an iPod Nano (blue) a 20" iMac, and got a free printer (with scanner etc.) and a free copy of Microsoft Office (both after rebate)...I can only say that I'm a little bit jealous (even though I already have two iPods of my own and a MacBook...so I really have no reason to be)...but his stuff is newer and better and cooler. I also drooled over the iPhones for a while...I'm getting better at using them, mainly from just playing with them at the store...now all I need to do is actually own one!

Project Runway: I have to admit, I kind of heart Elisa...even from the first challenge when her dress was a total train wreck (as M. Kors said)...it was nice to see her go from almost being the first one auf'ed to almost winning! Yikes! I guess Victoya's was good too...but I just don't like her right now for some reason...I didn't like her metallic flower dress either (from the last episode) that the judges were all drooling over...seems like she will be sticking around for a while. My favorite right now is Chris March...he's kind of hiding in the "I don't get kicked off, but they also never say anything about my dresses" territory right now...so it seems like he'll be around for at a few episodes.

I'm kind of obsessed with David Lynch and Pedro Almodovar right now...I've watched Inland Empire, Twin Peaks Season 2, Volver, and Talk To Her in the past two weeks...and they are all amazing...I really need to go back and fill in some Almodovar gaps...he is such an amazing writer and his movies never go exactly where you expect them to (and always put the audience in a unique position...aka...should we like the main character or not?)...see Talk To Her and look at the main character Benigno for a prime example.

I've actually been doing some pretty good practicing since I've been here...not a ton of time...but I've been getting some things done...which is what I need to be doing. The last three pages of the Duarte-Lopez are pretty crazy in a tongue-twister fast notes/rhythm kind of way...but my fingers are slowly but surely figuring out where they need to be. For those of you who are keeping track I'm playing the entire Carter Sonata at our studio recital on Monday night, then the Duarte-Lopez in studio on Tuesday, and hopefully the Plylar at my lesson on Wednesday...in other words...its a big cello week for me (not to mention all of the orchestra music that I need to know really well...ouch).

The Week in O(h)M(y)T(rill)

1. There is nothing quite like a Monday morning Orchestral Repertoire midterm, is there? I missed to real one a few weeks ago and my make-up is tomorrow morning. I'm sure it will be amazing, especially since the teacher is pissed at me right now...and I can't play Mendelssohn Scherzo anyway (for those of you keeping track its some random Suppe Overture Solo + Don Juan + Brahms 2...nothing new...just stuff I suck at).
2. Project Carter Movement 4: Patti and I will attempt to begin to put together the 4th movement of the Carter Sonata...that will be interesting...its pretty freakish on paper, but maybe it will be a lot easier to put together than it seems? Maybe not...Some of Carter may be played in Studio Class on Tuesday (we had a GREAT lesson on the 3rd movement the other day)
3. Chamber Orchestra continues...aka more Christmas music. We start the Stravinsky "Dances Concertantes" with Larry on Monday.
4. Tuesday is lobowell's birthday...its a special day indeed.
5. Strangely enough Wednesday is plyply's birthday.
6. This week is Thanksgiving...I'm flying home on Tuesday evening (and missing orch rep...one of the reasons said prof is pissed at me...hmmm)
7. I expect the highlight of the week to be Project Runway on Wednesday...I'll be watching it with my mom for the first time! I picked Chris (big Chris) to win this one...I thought his dress was amazing last week...but they just advanced him to the next round with no commentary...I'm sure he'll be up there with the best in the next few episodes.
8. Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite, if not my favorite holiday. There is just a certain feeling that I have when I think about the whole day leading up to the meal...everybody is around the house...cooking doing whatever...hard to explain, but it just doesn't really happen on other days. I was just at home a few weeks ago, but I'm looking forward to the break (since I'm kind of wiped out from Beaumont this past week).
9. I'm gonna learn Plylar's "Duel Intentions" and Duarte-Lopez's "Ekphrasis" while I'm at home...my preview is really soon!
10. Back in Houston early early early Sunday morning...yikes!

The Week in O(h)M(y)T(rill)

1. I'm playing in the Symphony of Southeast Texas this week (aka Beaumont). Beaumont is very far away...like over an hour and a half...rehearsals on Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday...concert on Saturday. Should be a blast! (since I get a check at the end).
2. I'm starting a new job in La Porte on Monday morning...a cello sectional at 7:30am and then 4 students. I'm not very happy about the starting time...but I am happy about having a job.
3. Trio Baggins is playing in a chamber music masterclass on Monday for Trio con Brio...I'm not exactly sure who they are, but we get to play in their masterclass!
4. Working on putting together the 2nd and 3rd movements of the Carter Sonata with Patti (and maybe the 4th too!). Playing the 2nd in studio class on Tuesday.
5. Project Runway starts on Wednesday! Unfortunately I'll be out in Beaumont and I'll have to watch the replay at 12 or later...hmmm...hope I'm not too tired!
6. I'm playing for both Hilary's and Rachael's recitals...Hilary's preview is this week and Rachael's recital is on Sunday...I'm doing continuo for both, and you all know how amazing I am at continuo...sigh...
7. Chamber Orchestra starts for me again on Friday...I'm sitting principal so I need to find time to learn the music! Yikes...