So today is already Saturday in Japan, but you may in fact read this yesterday, which is of course today for you. Possibly. I’m staying up late to speak to my family as my son has his guitar grade 1 in the morning, er, later today or tomorrow for you. Possibly.
So until they get back from school in about an hour, you shall have the benefit of my early night and maybe even read this before I’ve written it.
Possibly.

Today (Friday) was another day when we took at least two modes of transport to get to the concert. I have been sleeping quite well, except this morning, I awoke at 4am. I watched CNN cycle the same film a few times and at 6am I went for a run around the park. It was -2 degrees on the thermometer, so I was astonished to see about 30 locals and their dogs doing Tai Chi. Actually the dogs mainly watched. When I go running back home in the Surrey Hills, I always avoid dogs, their owners always shout “Don’t worry, he’s just playing, he wouldn’t hurt a fly”-just as the dog nips at my ankles. On this occasion, the dogs were mainly asleep trying to keep warm, I was more concerned with a flock of very territorial ravens who lived in the park. They dive bombed me every time I ran past. I don’t know what they feed them on over here, but some of them were bigger than the dogs.

Anyway, after this bracing exercise, we all clambered aboard a bus. Here is the schedule

7.50 Collect boarding card in foyer from Miriam (Sue is in London!)
8.00 Leave on buses to airport
9.30 Arrive airport -buy packed lunch
10.30 Depart Sapporo on aeroplane
12.45 Arrive Osaka
13.46 Leave Osaka on train -eat packed lunch
15.02 Arrive Kyoto-walk to hotel
16.15 Leave hotel and catch tube to hall
17.30-18.15 Rehearsal
19.00 concert

I thought about hiring a car and going on a boat cruise just to complete the journey. Michael Palin would be proud.

As I said, Sue was in London, just as well as sharks are a delicacy here, so I was looking forward to a really quiet train ride with no clipboards. I did get a fright when Miriam appeared. Like a true henchman, she was wearing black trousers and a black leather jacket to intimidate me, but she was just giving me a ticket for the tube or plane, I forget which. Kyoto, I’m told is an incredibly beautiful place, but as you can see from the schedule, I had no time to see anything!

And so to the concert. It was the same programme as last night, I was in Romeo. Tonight was one of those nights that I love being in this orchestra. As soon as Valery walked onto the stage, I could see the look in his eye, I knew it was going to be fun. I often think that the orchestra has a collective extra sensory perception. With some conductors, who shall remain nameless, it is the same every night, so much so that you can almost switch off when you are playing the same music over and over again. That simply isn’t an option with Valery. I don’t think I have ever played Romeo in exactly the same way twice with him. I don’t know any conductor who shapes the music and the sound of the LSO more than he does. He puts slightly longer pauses in to increase the tension, he takes some languorous tunes slower and gives you hours to linger over every note and some nights he pushes the strings like a roman chariot driver whipping his horses until I think they can’t get any faster. Then they do. The sound he gets from them at the end brings a lump to my throat every night, and to be honest, the nice romantic tunes I get to play are easy to tug at the heartstrings when my wife is thousands of miles away.

Sitting as I do in the middle of the stage, Valery is right in front of me and whenever I have an exposed solo or melody to play, he always does something to encourage me to do it in a particular way. I find this so exciting and I think it shows in the electric way the band plays with him at the front. When he pauses slightly or slows down unexpectedly in a solo, and you follow him, he always grins at you and has a glint in his eye. There really is a sense of making music together as a team. He asks, and we deliver, simple as that. The Kyoto audience roared their approval and we played the March from the Love of three oranges, although how oranges are supposed to march is beyond me. Crazy Russian humour I guess.

If I had a million pounds for every time somebody asked me how we follow Valey’s famously fluttering hands, I would be a millionaire. The answer is simple.

You may all be watching his hands, we however are watching his eyes.

Iwaki and then Tokyo next.

Sayonara