ETO HANDELfest – Part the first:

OK - so - two weeks in I have photocopied a mass of music equal to the weight of a small village, rubbed out many markings, put in lots of bowings and met loads of fantastic singers. Handel holds a special place for me, not only as I studied it in detail at Cambridge, but also because the first opera I conducted was Handel’s Serse (Xerxes). He wastes nothing, everything is so clean and clear its almost a meditative experience (almost!!). Lucky that it is, as running back and forth from 3 Mills studios in Bromley by Bow (ETO rehearsal venue) to Clerkenwell (ETO offices) normally with music etc. is not! The offices are a small but perfectly formed powerhouse of activity. All the shows look and sound great. I think revivals are exceedingly difficult to pull off convincingly but with different singers in many cases and different conductors and directors, a real freshness is starting to be obtained. I really admire the conductors taking on tempi alien to their feelings and thoughts, I am not sure I would be able to do it with such discretion – but they certainly are creating a convincing product. The arrival of first orchestral rehearsals last week brought real excitement to the rehearsals and we launched ourselves into a headlong debate about what temperament to use: Young or Velotti!! We settled on Young as it was something different but brings a vitality to flat keys, although we have now decided that Velotti is a better path to go down as it is much more familiar and the G and D sharps were starting to cause a few winces among all concerned…

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Zinman and Aspen reflection...

Having now been back from Aspen for a month, the three months I spent there are starting to merge into a slightly more amorphous collection of memories, ideas and thoughts. One thing is for certain Aspen is a very special place. It certainly developed how I think about music and conducting and I might even go as far as saying that to a certain extent it changed how I think about music. While I have been in the NYO and read about orchestras such as Barenboim’s West Eastern Divan orchestra, I had never truly felt that the music experience could be truly unifying. I had hoped, but not felt, and this is not to say that I didn’t wholeheartedly believe that music is the greatest form of worldwide communication (not that I am biased at all of course). Partly as a sceptic of most things and also as someone who must ‘see’ to believe, in most cases, I had not experienced music bringing so many people together. I am not being specifically clear in what I am saying, maybe because I am still not completely sure what I experienced. It wasn’t just the musicians on stage, or the 700 musicians at the festival - it was also the conductors, managers, technicians, librarians and most importantly the audience and the local community. From the bus drivers to the shop owners, to the local residents and waiters, I felt not only that everyone was immensely proud of what a small (albeit exceptionally rich!) town was available to achieve, but also that it brought everyone closer together and all seemed to benefit from it. I am rambling but never mind. It was powerful and good.

Hearing Zinman at the proms when I came back with his own group, the Zurich Tonhalle, was really special. You don’t go to a Zinman concert to for bravado and swashbuckling fireworks. What is produced is perfection of a different kind, something that I think is rare in the musical world. Balance is perfect, and the sound is embracing. It does not make your heart beat heavily against the wall of your rib cage, but it really does make it race. You come away from the concert not high on adrenaline, but as if you have been given a great big hug. It is satisfying in a very different manner.

I think it is this type of satisfaction that needs to be thought about more in today’s age. As a musician, it is fantastic to see the likes of Dudamel and Petrenko firing up our orchestras. But while quick fix exhilaration may stay with you for a week or two, somehow I find the satisfaction that the Zinman prom, while not immediately as satisfying and enlivening stays with you for longer. There is definitely room for both and more, but it is a satisfaction that is not valued maybe as much as is it should be. Maybe I have this perspective as I find the fire easier to conjure than the wisdom!

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