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Starting my favourite month in the year
– you may not know: I was born in April! – I went to
perform with the Promusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, Ohio. Rather
a hard 5 day-stunt although given the most fabulous repertoire I had to
play, it was pure bliss: Brahms’ Horn Trio, Mozart’s
glorious Wind Quintet and that most elusive of Concertos,
Wolfgang’s K 595, in B flat -- the moment its
‘spiralling’ 1st theme ‘hovers in’ and gently
expands, it never fails: to me He seems to bid farewell to the world!
After a week of rehearsals with an orchestra
as guest-artist, playing chamber music with the musicians has always
appealed to me as the most natural unfolding of events! Unfortunately,
in our days only people who appeal to the media can boast this luxury
and in that game, I admit defeat: “not guilty, your
honour”! Given that Mozart Piano Concertos have some of the most
heavenly and beautiful music he wrote, ground for a strong bond through
musical understanding develops between pianist and wind players. So it
was in the Quintet with Donna, Bob, George and Charles; the Trio I
played with Karl (1 st horn of the Detroit Symphony) and Yenn,
concert-master of the Orchestra. And the orchestra’s founder
chief-conductor, Tim Russell, is one of the most enthusiastic people I
have ever come across.
“Shall we go for the 5-Beethovens next… or Chopin 1?”
Soon after getting back, unexpectedly as
usual, ‘SOS-Ortiz’ was summoned and this time I did take
over a date in Vicenza playing – as luck would have it -- K 595:
a most convenient prolongation of bliss! Add to that the joy of
performing in the gorgeous Teatro Olimpico, unique in the world for the
fact that it’s totally covered, therefore protected from further
ravages of the weather (I also enjoyed listening to the 2 nd half from
the gently-curved arena)! One rehearsal plus the performance, and 80%
of the orchestra’s musicians came spontaneously to kiss and hug
me.
“Thanks guys, to me there is no greater pleasure than … yours!”
One Saturday morning while at home in
London, I listened to a program about the recording of
Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, on Radio 4. Funnily enough most of
the protagonists in that broadcast were personally known to me: the
conductor was David Zinman, one of my idols, a
musician-among-musicians; the producer Chris Hazell, once one of
Decca’s most prominent producers -- we worked on one very
successful CD of mine: Rachmaninov’s 2 nd Concerto,
Addinsell’s Warsaw Concerto, Littolff’s Scherzo and
Gottschalk’s Grande Fantasia Triunfal on the Brazilian National
Anthem (for which Chris and I cooperated in my sole effort at
transcriptions); the sound engineer Simon Eadon, had done my 5
Villa-Lobos Concertos among others, also for Decca. Norway’s
foremost cellist Truls Mørk, was one of the soloists -- with him
I had actually played the Triple in Oslo, with the RPO and Weller; I
remember how discouraged he was at a career which just didn’t
seem to come his way – but it surely took off, almost
simultaneously with that performance! And he’s got the Midas
touch: everything turns to gold…
The note struck by the program was so
familiar: it was how it had always been when I recorded, be it for Emi,
Decca, Pickwick, Pantheon, or Collins Classic over however many years.
Getting the balance right came first and could take up to 1 hour or
more: but an indispensable requirement and almost of the greatest
importance in the success of any project; it involved every one who had
any interest in the production: conductor, soloist, sound engineer,
producer; a whole lot of orchestra musicians would also
‘pour’ into the control room at different times, curious to
hear for themselves, how a passage sounded through the microphones:
“oh… is that it? Okay”… back to the studio
we’d all go, to readjust a rubato that didn’t quite come
through in the oboe; or reshape a passage in the high-register of the
piano which sounded rather shrill or plainly too loud, and so forth!
The recording studio as opposed to a concert platform, are two totally
different worlds!
That afternoon’s broadcast not only
evoked my long-lost ideal past, but also brought back the horrid
experience I recently had (v. February) when the social incompetence of
the so-called boss, came screaming out, again! Balance important? He
never once went into that control room! Guys like that should have to
pass a sort of M.O.T. and in his case, lose their license or at least
be demoted from the driver’s seat, thank you very much!
Upon reflection I realized I had lived in
the dream-world of recording when I was far too young or not ready for
it. A contract to record music I have lived with and further conquered
by the ‘learning process of teaching’, repertoire which I
choose because I excel in > is what I wish for, more than anything
at this point in time. Having devoted all my life to Music, it seems
only fair that I should leave my very best for posterity and the
deprivation of this dream hurts like a dagger in the soul!
Ravel’s “Gaspard de la
Nuit”; Brahms’ 2 Concertos, his F minor Sonata;
Rachmaninov’s 5 Piano Concertos - including the Rhapsody; the
complete colours of Debussy; Chopin’s 2 Concertos, his Ballades
and Scherzos; and …another go at Villa-Lobos’ Choros # 11?!
I can only dream on …
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