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Well everyone, this is the last blog of the tour. I expect someone else will do the next one as I seem to have filled the server to capacity with my ramblings.We have left the sunny, warm New York City for the sunny, cold Chicago. This morning we flew in and had a few hours to have lunch or look around. Chicago is one of the noisiest cities I have ever been too, partly due to their underground trains, which run about 30 feet above street level on iron girders. Its still called the subway. Who said Americans didn’t do irony?
The hall in Chicago is one of the most beautiful I have played in and has more dressing rooms than a spice girls reunion concert. It has warm up rooms for the leader, principal cello, conductor, principal horn and others. I stopped looking as soon as I realised there was no room for a Principal flute. Typical. My favourite rooms though were the rooms where you couldn’t play, three of them actually. I am not making this up, they really are called A Quiet Room, B Quiet Room and C Quiet Room. I was going to take a picture, but I couldn’t be bothered, it being the end of the tour and all, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.
The concert was great. I don’t know where Colin gets his energy from, I really don’t. He had, pretty much the same travel arrangements as us, and I was very tired. He however seems to just keep going !
Paul Lewis was again, very well received by the audience with even louder cheers than in NY. The review of his last performance suggested he eat a few Weetabix for breakfast. I had hoped to report on this, but he was staying in a more upmarket hotel. But it sounded like it.
After the show, I had a couple of drinks in Millers bar by the hotel and then turned in for an early night. I was very pleased to discover that I had been provided with the most comfortable bed I had ever slept in. I know this because I don’t remember going to sleep and I woke up about 10 hours later.
We had a few hours before our flight so, the orchestra dispersed around Chicago for the morning until we reconvened for the flight home overnight.
By the time you read this, we will have arrived back in London on Wednesday morning and then its back to work on Thursday morning for the next patch of work. Its hard work, but then , you now know how much fun we’ve been having so I can hardly moan. I am looking forward to seeing my family and having a cup of tea in typical British fashion, but looking back, its been a very successful trip and a most enjoyable one.
I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog. If you have, let us know, leave a comment or send us an email. Its always nice to hear from you.
Cheers
My back aches.
Its my own fault.
I’ve been pointing out that I was only in the first half of the first concert, Mozart forgot to put flutes in the requiem. Beethoven forgot to put flutes in the slow movement of his 4th piano concerto.Nobody told Haydn though, and he put the flute in every single bit of the Creation which we have just performed. So now my back aches. Its just as well Haydn didn’t decide to do the piece in real time. It really was a fantastic concert and wonderful end to our residency here in Avery Fisher Hall. Again, the place was packed and the atmosphere was electric. The soloists were magnificent, if any of you came to the show in London, you’ll know exactly what I mean. Colin was on sparkling form and the LSO chorus were astonishingly good and got a huge cheer from the audience at the end.We all went to a reception after the show at a nearby restaurant which was very kindly put on for us. It was nice to see Jane Moss who brings us over every year and treats us so well. Its 10 years since the LSO has held this residency now, with more planned for the future, and as a thank you, Lenny presented Jane with Honorary membership of the orchestra. This is given to very few people and she was very touched.
Tomorrow we leave New York for Chicago to play the pure Beethoven concert. I’m always a bit sad to leave, but I know we’ll be back soon. It feels like a second home for the band sometimes, it is all so familiar.
One thing I have discovered and won’t miss at all, is my inability to walk down any street in Manahattan without the tune to New York, New York going round and round in my head. Its driving me mad.
At least that won’t happen in Chicago, Chicago….
Oh dear.
It was all going so well. The first concert was brilliant. I’d done all my shopping. I went to two fabulous photographic exhibitions. We had a great rehearsal for the evening with Paul Lewis. The reviews from the first concert were sensational. Something had to go wrong. And it did.15 – 6And it cost $20 to get into the bar to watch.
Fortunately, my father is from Cwmllynfell, so half of me just doesn’t care. Anyway, I’m happy to report that we did maintain English pride (with the help of quite a few ringer international players) in the concert last night. Paul Lewis was fantastic and received a well earned standing ovation from the packed Avery Fisher hall. As I told you before, I wasn’t in the slow movement, and I closed my eyes and listened to his beautiful playing, making sure I remembered to open them again for the 3rd movement. I really hope we get to work with him a lot more in the future.
In the second half we played the Eroica. We have played this with Sir Colin several times in recent weeks around the world, but tonight was something else. From the moment Colin thrust his baton down for those two opening chords, I knew we were all in for a rollercoaster of a ride. He was continually pushing the tempo, making sure the music didn’t relax for a second. The first movement is quite long, especially as we do the repeat, but at the end of it, a large portion of the audience burst into applause.
I looked around and could see lots of members of the orchestra smiling. You could just tell that it was going to be a great show.
From where I sit, I could see lots of people just sitting back in their seats smiling away all through the concert. Its very nice to see that, but I felt exactly the same. Although if you do smile and play the flute at the same time, it does make the sound a little thin. But inside I was grinning from ear to ear.
At the end of the symphony, the audience leapt to its feet quicker than we did. Colin came back on several times, but no cake this time. I imagine he’s still finishing the last one it was so big. So all in all, one of the most memorable concerts I have ever done on one of the wettest days in NYC I have ever experienced. Its probably an Indian summer.
In the first concert, I was the only flute player needed, and so Martin Parry and Sharon Williams, the second flute and piccolo players flew out later on in the week. Its been a bit strange without them as I am very lucky to have not only two of the finest players in my section, but also two of the nicest people too. I’m looking forward to playing the Creation tomorrow, as we have a lovely aria for three flutes after half time. Its so nice to play, particularly in the this hall which makes it very easy to sing out and sound nice. Which helps.
Its a shame that England didn’t have as good a front row as the LSO woodwind section really.
Mind you, Davies, Parry and Williams sounds more like the Welsh pack from the 1970’s.
I’m sure my dad would be proud.
Tebyg i ddyn fydd ei lwdwn.
Until next time…
I was looking at my advanced schedule today, whilst drinking a coffee on Broadway and I was reminded of this kid I went to school with. I can’t remember his name, it was a long time ago, but I do remember that he had his birthday on Christmas day. Now you remember when you are 7, your birthday has huge significance as does Christmas. I’ll be honest with you here, it was all about the presents when I was tiny. On your birthday, if you were lucky, you’d get some presents and maybe a party, and if you were really lucky loads of presents from the guests at the party. At Christmas in our house we had presents from mum and dad and Father Christmas – in short – lots of presents.My birthday is in October ( should you wish to get me something) and Christmas is in December, which I imagine is the same for you. Christmas that is, not your birthday. Anyway, this kid at school, because he had his birthday on Christmas day always got one big present for Christmas/Birthday. Now of course, when you are 6 or 7, its quantity not quality, and we always felt a little sorry for him. He never had a birthday party either, or maybe I just wasn’t invited.I expect you are wondering why I’m telling you about my childhood ? Well, in the review of the first concert in the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/arts/music/19davi.html?_r=1&ref=music&oref=slogin
the reviewer talks about the relationship between us, the players and Sir Colin. If you have read one of my other musings, you’d know that I think he is wonderful, we all do. I have been very lucky to be in the orchestra during what critics repeatedly call his Indian summer. I don’t like this at all. It seems to indicate some sort of quiet , mellow smiling old man at the helm. I can assure you that it is nothing of the sort. Where I sit, I can see his eyes twinkle with mischief and rage in Beethoven and propel Berlioz along with an unstoppable energy and give Sibelius an urgency like no other. Its not an Indian summer, its more like being on a rollercoaster driving through a forest fire.
And now Valery is our new Principal conductor, who is so different so different to Colin in every way, except for the passion for music which they both share. Thats fairly obvious. I love working with him too, and again I can’t quite believe that I am in the orchestra with him on the box. Its incredible.
The thing is , looking through the schedule for the next year we have got fantastic work with Valery, continuing with his Mahler cycle but we also have some more wonderful work with Colin. Just look at the calender on the LSO website to see what I mean. It seems almost greedy to have so much time with two of the greatest conductors of our times.
So you see, it does feel a bit like we’ve got Christmas and our birthday all at the same time. Except, unlike the kid at school, we get to have two big presents.
And boy, we are having a hell of a party !
We had a rehearsal for the concert this morning where we briefly went through some bits of the Eroica and the rehearsed the 4th piano concerto with Paul Lewis. Again, this was a piece we recorded two weeks ago with Kissin, and again, I am astonished at how different a piece can sound with two different soloists. I studied at the Guildhall at the same time as Paul although I never saw him that much as he, like most pianists locked himself away in a practice room most of the time. I can confirm however that it did pay off. He is much better at the piano than me.
Actually, he is marvellous, he brings such clarity to the piece, doesn’t rely on the pedal too much to make legato phrases and makes the piece sound so fresh and crystal clear. I’m really looking forward to the concert tonight. I’m not in the 2nd movement ( I expect Beethoven had been talking to Mozart), and it gives me a chance to sit back and not count bars rest and enjoy the music. I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.
Oh and for those of you who were wondering, especially all the jealous people in the LSO office, its chucking it down with rain today. I decided to go to MOMA, the modern art museum to look at a photographic exhibition.
http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/exhibitions.php?id=5138
It was called – Lost Vanguard, Soviet Modernist Architechture 1922- 1932
Well, I needed cheering up.
When you go away a lot, as we do in the LSO, it is very easy to find yourself in a strange unfamiliar place on your own.It can get a little lonely at times, which does seem odd when you are travelling with about 80 people, but there you have it. In New York for instance, in such a huge place, you can spend a free day on your own and not ever bump into anyone from the orchestra. Some people think this is a good thing ! Making arrangements to meet up at particular time takes on great importance, especially when people forget their mobiles, like Chi has on this trip.To aid this process, every hotel we ever stay at has a noticeboard in the foyer with notes from the management about where to go, maps, flight times, time changes and usually some graffitti from a late night excursion. Its nothing glamorous, just one of those flip charts that people in proper jobs use to show fiscal figures and product quota predictions – whatever they are.As you know, we have had some time to get over the jet lag, and a lot of people have used some (or all) of this time to go shopping. This has been noted by “the management” as when I came down this morning there was a red notice. Red means important in the world of management, a hangover from school teachers red pens I guess. This notice was a reminder that the luggage allowance was only 23 kgs for the flight to Chicago – a hint maybe, that you might like to not buy that extra present or another litre of that expensive shampoo to take back, or your excess baggage allowance will be huge. I’m not making that up by the way, a friend of mine , who shall remain nameless has bought 2 litres of shampoo to take back ! I never knew she was so hairy.
So tonight we had the first concert of our NY series. Its a concert we did in London, the Mozart piano concerto No 27 and the Requiem. Mozart neglected to write for flutes in the requiem, I’m sure he meant to, but probably had other things on his mind at the time. He never got round to telling Sussmayer to bung a couple of flutes in on top of the basset horns, especially during the bits about angels.
I was however in the concerto, and what a concerto it is. Imogen came on looking very glamorous, my eyes were less blood shot than yesterday and off we went. Its a very hard way to start a concert going straight into a concerto, but the Avery Fisher Hall makes it very easy to hear the piano from where I sit, I could also see the soloists hands which really helps.
It was a great performance and was finished off when Sir Colin came back on stage and was presented with the biggest birthday cake I’ve ever seen. We all played happy birthday and the wonderful London Symphony Chorus sang too ! I have now counted 3 cakes that Sir Colin has been given, and thats not counting the one which he probably had at home. He has now had at least 3 birthdays this year in different countries. Thats more than the Queen.
I listened to the rehearsal of the Mozart Requiem, its one of my favourite pieces. The choir and orchestra together sounded awesome, particularly in the Dies Irae where I was worried the roof was going to cave in. John and Chi were playing basset horns, sort of longer clarinets, which sounded ethereal, as was Dudley Brights wonderful trombone solo. He really does make the most beautiful sound. The soloists sounded good in the rehearsal, but it really is the choir who steal the show in this piece for me. They really do sound fabulous, and I’m looking forward to sitting in front of them when we do the Creation later on this week.
Just as we were about to rehearse this evening, I had a text message from a very old friend of mine, who asked if I was in NY with the LSO. Nick is a Musical Director in the West End, we shared a house at college and he was my best man. To cut a long story short, he is over working on a musical on Broadway this week and totally by chance he is staying in the same hotel as us. He was in the foyer this afternoon when, guess what ? He saw the LSO noticeboard, put two and two together and the long and the short of it is that, thanks to the LSO noticeboard being in the right place at the right time and Mozart not writing for flutes which meant I finished early, I am having a drink with one of my best friends in NYC.
So, I won’t be lonely after all.
New York, New York, its a hell of a town.
See you tomorrow
It said in the New York Times this morning, that in 20 years time over 65% of the Western world will be clinically obese.Never being one to waste time, I have succeeded in about three hours and six courses.
We’ve just got back from Maze, Gordon Ramseys new restaurant here in New York. Despite the name, we found our table very easily and decided to go for the chef menu of six courses. Our waiter told us that they were small portions and we would be able to savour the flavour. This worried me slightly as it sounded rather like a cheap advert for some kind of instant curry flavour noodles. Needless to say the price convinced me otherwise.
Six small courses sounded like the perfect amount, not too much, not too little, however, I was doing fine until the last spoonful of my dessert ( Peanut butter sandwich with stawberry sorbet thingy – an Elvis homage presumably) when all of a sudden I was stuffed to the gills. It reminded me of going to see Wagners Ring, you sit and wallow in the sheer well upholstered beauty of the music. You sit, in fact for a very long time. Then just when you think its all over the fat lady sings. This is when you realise that cliches aren’t always true, as its another 7 hours after aforementioned fat lady sings that the opera actually finishes.
Its only when you get home, slightly stiff and unsure whether you really enjoyed it or not that you realise how much money its cost you.
I think I’ll have some fruit for lunch tomorrow.
You’ll be pleased to hear, that we did do some work today ! I would hate you to think that this trip was some sort of gastronomic odyssey.
At 3o’clock, after a quick dash round the shops, we convened at the hall with Sir Colin and Imogen Cooper to rehearse the concerto for tomorrow night. Its the same one we played with Mitsuko last week in the Barbican, for those of you who were there.
It always amazes me how two different artists can take the same piece and make it sound so different, and yet so good. The piece really does have a chamber music kind of feel, particularly between the piano and woodwind. In fact, the soloist was anxious to be able to see me as we have quite a few bits to play together. Unfortunately, being vertically challenged myself, I was lost behind Tim Hughs head and she couldn’t see me.
” I need to be able to see your eyes in the first movement ” she said.
Blimey, its a while since someones said that too me. Between you and me, my eyes are a bit bloodshot today due to jet lag, so its just as well she couldn’t see, but I’m sure they’ll be lovely by the concert. My eyes that is.
Sir Colin was in his usual marvellous form. I do love working with him, he is such a great musician, a kind and gentle man who always puts the music first and his ego last. He used to play the clarinet too. Still, nobodys perfect.
In the concerto, we have rehearsal letters to enable us to stop and start in the same place. Ideally, the conductor has the same letters in his score. Sometimes even in the same place. On this occasion, Sir Colin has bar numbers. Now this is fine is we go from say, bar 18, but after that, counting in such high numbers is beyond most of the principals. So today, whenever we stopped, Colin would ask us to start from bar 142 for instance. He would then start singing the bit he meant and then eventually some bright spark would recognise it and shout out ” oh thats 5 after D”.
On one occasion, this spark was David Alberman, Principal 2nd Violin. He is one of the sharpest knives in the block and recognised the spot immediately. As Colin raised his baton David shouted, “A”.
“Eh?” said Sir Colin
“I’m sorry?” said David
“Did you say something” said Sir Colin
“Yes” said David
“Oh dear , it was too fast for my ears !” said Sir Colin
“Its just we can’t hear where you are going from Sir Colin” said David
“Don’t worry, I have no idea myself” said Sir Colin
Of course, he knew exactly where we were, but this is one of the things I love about him. He is totally in charge, but he makes you feel like you can play however you wish. Whenever I play with Sir Colin, he encourages and inspires, if you have a solo he never dictates how you should play it, but somehow, he gets you to play it just how he wants it. Magic I suppose. However he never wants to take credit for anything. You will have noticed if you have seen him at the end of the concert, that he never wants to take a solo bow, he always wants the applause for the band. It feels like he is captain (or president) of a team and we all work together.
When I am old, I shall bore my great grandchildren with stories of how I played and recorded with Sir Colin Davis until they put me in a home for some peace an quiet.
Its getting late again and I need to make sure my eyes look nice for the concert tomorrow – until next time
Do you know what I dislike the most about going on tour to America ? Its going to the American embassy in London and queuing to get a work visa. Actually its not the fact I have to wait for hours, to be honest, I often bump into old friends who I haven’t seen for years. Its also a good time to star spot, last time I was behind Jamie Cullum, actually, I nearly trod on him he’s so tiny. Sharon ( our wonderful piccolo player), was next to none other than sporty spice in the queue. She said it was almost worth getting up for – almost ? – I wish I’d gone that day. But I do take comfort that even mega stars have to stand in the rain with us mortals to get their entry pass.No, the thing I dislike the most is the visa photos. They cost 10 pounds, and you can only use them once. The scary thing about it is that I have a new visa roughly every 6 months, apart from being a dent in my finances, it is most distressing seeing myself ageing before my very eyes. My current passport is nearly full of visas.Now, you remember when you were at school and you used to make flip books. I used to draw a little stick man in the bottom corner of an old exercise book, and on the next page draw the same man again, but slightly further along the page. When you’d finished the book, you could flip quickly through the pages and it looked like the stick man was running along the book. Hardly Wallace and Gromit, but it kept me amused. Well my point is, if you flip through the pages of my passport quickly, you get a stop frame animation of my gradual physical decline over the last five years.I’m thinking of fixing my old school photos onto the front of my passports when I retire and flipping through my entire life in about 30 seconds. 25 – 65 just like that, which I’m told by my parents is pretty much how it feels anyway.
I am a bit jet lagged in case you were wondering, and so I thought it might be a good idea to start on the tour blog.
At the moment I am sitting on the bus from JFK with the glistening lights of Manhattan dancing in the distance. It is 2.45 am in London and I’m a bit tired now to be honest although its only 9.45pm in NY. I was going to go straight to bed when I get to the hotel, but one of my friends has informed me that the best way to beat jet lag is to stay up until midnight. I don’t believe him, but its worth a go.
We have a rehearsal in the afternoon tomorrow for the Mozart piano concerto no.27 with Imogen Cooper. It is such a wonderful piece with really great writing for the orchestra and will sound wonderful in the crystal clear acoustic of Avery Fisher Hall. More about the music when we’ve made some, I prominse ! We have to be out by 5 as the New York Phil have a concert in the evening. Ths is very good news as a group of us are taking advantage of the excellent exchange rate and having dinner at Gordon Ramseys new restaurant.
Even with the exchange rate, I fear I may have to resort to McDonalds by the end of the week.
Anyway, New York is getting closer now so I’ll sign off for tonight. I hope to be chatting to Sir Colin and Sally Mathews later on this week, so if there are any questions you would like me to ask them, let me know on the comments bit and I’ll do my best.
I’m off a for a quick night cap and then bed. This city may never sleep – but I do.
Until next time….
Coming soon…
Look out for the next blog, written by Principal Flautist Gareth Davies, in October 2007. The LSO will be arriving in New York on 15 October, playing three concerts at the Lincoln Center with Sir Colin Davis, and then moving on to Chicago on 22 October for one night only!
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