John Adams conducting John Adams

August has been another busy month in a busy year. By the end of August I have almost done the same hours behind a bass as the whole of 2012. By the end of the year I will have done 300 hours more than the previous year. Busy indeed.

But I am not complaining - the music scene in Australia is under financial pressure, but its so much better off that other countries. Am an determined to enjoy it while it lasts and while my body stands up to the strain.

The end of my MSO contract saw a mamoth festival of Russian music with Deigo Matheuz, a real star for the future. We did three programs in a week, featuring Stravinsky (Firebird, Petroushka and the Rite) and Tchiakovsky (Violin concerto with Baiba Skride and her amazing Strad, Roccoco Variations with Li Wei Qin (wow) and the first Piano Concerto with Nikolia Demidenko). Sixteen calls in 9 days almost killed me.

After a week off, and lots of physio, it was back to Hobart for a program of Mozart and Britten with the Tasmanian Symphony. And Barba was there too, this time playin the Britten concerto.

And this week we have had the amazing pleasure of John Adams conducting his own music. Adams is rightly respected as one of the best composers of a generation - it was an amazing privilege to work with him. And for one so talented and famous, he is remarkably humble and gracious on the podium. His music is very difficult, both in terms of notes and tricky rhythms. He told a story of a muso in the US once telling him he would go to hell, and be put in a room to play all the parts he has written over the years!!

         

A month with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra - from the Germans to the Russians

 

 

In mid July Alexander Shelley and Colin Currie popped over from the UK to do a program of Rouse and Wagner. Wagner is all the rage this year, as its 200 years since his birth. Verdi too was born in 1813, but is getting nothing like the same airplay. Der Gerettete Alberich by Rouse is a groovy piece, involving every toy in a percussionists toybox and quite a few motivs from the Ring, especially ones involving Alberich, of course. I have been listening to the Ring on Spotify (which is changing my life, its awesome) so am getting to know my Alberichs from my Mimes!! Anyway, its a good piece, if tricky. And the second half had an orchestral "reduction" of Trsitan and Isolde - it was still over an hour! My first gig with Opera Australia was Tristan, back in 2001 - and it was 5:45!! Powerful music.

Next we had the remarkable Simone Young conducting the Last Days of Socrates by Brett Dean, and Mahler 5. Wow. All Bretts music is difficult - this was no exception. We have to use timp sticks in a number of places, and the percussionsts use a bass bow on the cymbals - role reversal time! Brett came and joined the viola section for Mahler 5 - what an wonderful piece that is. Its been a year of doing pieces for the first time for me, and remarkably I had never done Mahler 5 before.

Last week was my first quiet week in the contract - with the exception of Til Eulenspiegel, I was rostered off the rest of the program of Strauss arias and Mozart. Til was fun. I like Fritsch - he was very good to me some years ago when I was principal bass with OV for the first time, in a program with a huge bass solo. Til was fun, and so too was going home at 8.14 after a very short nights work!

Another anniversary about to be commemorated is the Rite of Spring being 100 years old.

Photo - MSO Melbourne Festival marketing

Story time....and the conductor was.....

That sweat-drenched face was bearing down upon us like the archangel of vengeance himself as we almost disemboweled ourselves with feverish effort. Then suddenly, a spine-chilling wail:
"Pi-a-a-a-n-o-o! Bassi! Contrabassi! You grunt away like pigs! You sound as if you were scratching your bellies--szshrump! szshrump!" he would bellow, while, tearing at his clothes, he viciously pantomimed the scratching. "Corpo del vostro Dio! PI-A-A-NO!"

"But Maestro," a player would sometimes protest in a small, hesitant, and resentful voice. "My part is printed 'forte.' "

"What you say?" the Old Man would growl menacingly, unbelievingly, distracted for the moment from his tirade.

"It says 'forte,' " the player would reply, this time in an even smaller, more apologetic voice.

"What? Forte? FORTE?" with an air of incredulity. "What means 'forte'? Ignorante! Is a stupid word--as stupid as you! Is a thousand fortes--all kinds of fortes. Sometimes forte is pia-a-a-no, piano is forte! Accidenti! [Damn it!] You call yourself a musician? O, per Dio santissimo! You play here in THIS orchestra? In a village cafe house you belong! You don't listen to what others play. Your nose in the music--szshrump! szshrump! You hear nothing! You cover up the oboe solo! One poor oboe--one!--and you szshrump! szshrump! Where are your ears? Look at me! Contra-ba-a-ss-i!" in a long,
drawn-out wail. "Tutti! Tutti! Vergogna! [Shame!]"

Samuel Antek, _This Was Toscanini_, 1963

On the road to Mordor....with MSO

After a month of very enjoyable ballet with The Australian Ballet and Orchestra Victoria, am off to work with Melbourne Symphony for over a month of action packed music.

The orchestra has one day to recover from the Two Towers, the score of the second Lord of the Rings film which we performed on 12-14 July. Wow, its an epic, on the big screen and in the band. Great music, Wagner-esque, with all the characters having leitmotivs. Its a fab bass part, lots to play, in the zone, much of it on the C string. But what a workout - no need for the gym last week! No less that six players were injured doing this show - piccolo, bass clarinet, a viola, two celli and one bass player. Seriously hard yakka.

I finally have my contract for the Opera Australia Ring Cycle later this year. At this stage I dont know which of the operas I will be performing, but it will be 3 out of the 4, and I will do the rehearsals for the 4th, as I will be covering it. We will have 7 bass players performing each one, with 3 covering.

Photo - The MSO performing Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers

Vanguard with the Australian Ballet

Life back in Melbourne is settling down nicely. We are about to move into a new rented house, and the cats are out of quarantine after their move from the UK.

I am back working with Orchestra Victoria, with whom I will spend most of the remainder of 2013. There are two ballet programs in June, later in the month we perform the evergreen Swan Lake, but right now we are in the middle of a run of a triple bill called Vanguards. Its a fantastic show - all those people who bought tickets to Swan Lake and didnt go to Vanguards are missing out on an amazing show. What those dancers do with their bodies is quite amazing....and humbling.

Its a triple bill:-
Hindemith - Four Temperaments
Bella Figura - a medley of slow Baroque pieces, with quirky arrangements
Dyad - Steve Reich

Am am associate principal, so when I am sat no 2 I am only in the first pieces, so my gig is 34 mins long. The second piece has only one bass, which is fun to play when I am principal (due to rostering). And the last piece has not basses, so we get off early! Am really enjoying the season, its left field, short and just great fun.

And before Vanguard I nipped back to Tazzie as principal with TSO in two interesting programs in late May:-
Schumann 4 plus Mozart choral music, incl Coronation Mass
A French program of Poulenc, Canteloube and Bizet

 

Photo - slightly arty shot of me playing the Tarr in a Parkville Ensemble concert

Back in Melbourne

Its good being back in Melbourne and catching up with some friends. My first gig back featured Also Sprach Zarathustra with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the amazing Andrew Davis. One for the memoirs. Its a real workout, but I had a lot of fun sitting on the back row with "the three musketeers"- thanks Benny, Damo and Stevie.

After that I did a Brahms Requiem gig in the Town Hall with the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic. Wow, Brahms could write for the bass.

Next was a recording session for a new IMAX film, The Railway Man.

And after the great news that the Seekers had reformed for a big tour, we had the shocking news that Judith Durham had a stroke after the first concert. Wishing all the very best Judith, heres to a quick and full recovery.


Photo - I did a studio session with Judith Durham in 2008. It was wonderful spending quality time with Judith, a true legend.

Goodbye TSO...for now

I am back in Melbourne after 3 fantastic months with TSO. It was great fun, and I will be back for two more programs late in May.

Before that is Also Sprach with the MSO and Andrew Davis and other goodies including Brahms Requiem.

I am knackered. Am getting to the age where this much playing is really taking it out of me. The last two weeks with TSO had 19 calls in 11 days, plus travel on top. Am feeling my age!! Good job I have a week off to rest and practice before tackling Also Sprach in Melbourne. I had better get used to it as my diary is so full I have only 3 free weeks between now and 16th Dec. No rest for the wicked!!

Photo - the "bass section" in Lilydale. While up doing the Rolla Concertante with the Elanee Ensemble we noticed the wonderful lamp post murals, one with a fellow bassist!