Rehearsal notes archive
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Plans for the May 2008 concert
Friday 25th January
Brahms 2 or Dvorak 8 – which shall we play?
From a report Bill made to the committee:
2. Summary of feedback
Of the 34 respondents, 15 favour Brahms while 17 favour Dvorak, with 2 not minding either way (and several agreeing that they will live with the choice even if they don’t get their favourite). However the figure for Brahms represents a bigger number of players (2nd violins specifically).
There is a certain pattern in the breakdown:
- Flutes, clarinets and bassoons prefer Brahms, while oboes, horns and trumpets, prefer Dvorak
- Very broadly speaking, 1st violins and cellos prefer Dvorak, middle strings Brahms
I’m sure this is partly to do with the nature of individual parts. Commentators on Brahms write of his conservative approach to instrumental colour in favour of championing the importance of form, and I suspect this did lead to him composing less complex wind parts than his contemporaries.
It is hard to know what weight to give to the various reasons:
- I count ‘I like it better’ as a good reason because it indicates motivation
- I also count ‘it’s more interesting/challenging and will keep me interested’ but I qualify that because ‘it’ will presumably still be interesting at some future point. And there could be an argument that the other piece will seem even more less interesting later on, once we’ve already done the interesting one
- I think we have to place more weight on ‘I couldn’t play this/would have difficulty playing it’. Here the feedback is contradictory: some 1st violins and cellos have reservations about Brahms, while violas prefer it, and 2nd violins have quite strong reservations about Dvorak
However, aside from the difficulty or otherwise of individual parts we have to consider how the parts work together, and it is true that Dvorak writes more conventional orchestral textures – more tune and accompaniment – which are easier to grasp. His textures are also more transparent than Brahms’s simply as sound. Brahms writes more individualistic textures (this is put forward as one of the reasons for him taking so long to write a symphony – he was inventing his own orchestral language) and I’m sure it will require longer working together to get the ensemble textures to work because there is much more individual incident to explore and to sort out. This why some players sense – rightly – that the Brahms will be more interesting to work on. The corollary of that is that it will require more communal application and understanding to get it to work, i.e. more growing into together and therefore more rehearsal time.
3. My own view of the two most recent rehearsals
After the second playing of the Brahms (11 Jan) I made a note that:
We could give a performance, in our own distinctive style, of three of the movements at this stage and in the time available OR we could spend a lot of time working on the 2nd mvt and maybe get it right-ish, but at the expense of doing as well as we could with the other mvts. But we couldn’t do both. However, I don’t think that more time would really help us, because the real problem is that the orchestra isn’t mature enough yet to do the 2nd mvt – some players may be, but the group as a whole isn’t.
Having thought that at the time, it was the 2nd mvt which then stuck with me throughout the following week!
I note that the comment I wrote at the time does not even allow for time to prepare a filler.
My response to the Dvorak (18 Jan) was that we got through it almost in one on the first try – I think we came unstuck twice and at least one of them was me miscounting. The counting (triplet semiquavers, and demisemiquavers) in the 2nd movt did not seem to disconcert people. The trio of the 3rd mvt even developed a swing, while the penultimate (slow) section of the finale was actually quite musical straight away. On the other hand, in two places where syncopation was an issue we did flounder temporarily.
We did play large parts of the Dvorak more or less up to speeds that would be respectable in performance, whereas the finale of the Brahms was considerably slower than performing speed, and even the 3rd mvt would have to be quite a bit nippier in the presto sections.
4. Further observations and a recommendation from Bill
The most heartening thing to come from the two January rehearsals and the feedback is that some movements of the Brahms do seem more possible than they did in the autumn, and some players positively prefer it. (I put the former down at least in part to the presence of more cellos which gave the whole string section a better sense of security and direction.)
However, my own feeling is that the orchestra as a whole could more easily encompass the Dvorak at the moment: the style is more obvious and we will get down to working on technical and interpretative considerations sooner.
To encapsulate the issue in a single thought, I’d say that the orchestra seems to see the Brahms through a veil, whereas it has a more direct relationship with the Dvorak.
Then I think about the schedule for the coming term, with Easter being early, the school holidays being after Easter and not even at the same time in different counties, so there is a degree of uncertainty about how well attended we can expect rehearsals to be between, say mid-March and mid-April. And to my mind that argues for the option which is more accessible.
However, I do not rule out doing the Brahms later. In fact, having opened it up for consideration, I think we’ll more or less have to do it at some point.
In the meantime, I suggest that there may be a bit more to the Dvorak than meets the eye, and those who find it insufficiently interesting may discover things they didn’t know or suspect before. What, for instance, is the structure of the 1st mvt? – it’s not conventional, whatever else. And what about the speed of the 2nd mvt? – I’ve never heard it played up to speed – what happens if you do? There’s a tendency to smooth out Dvorak’s music and give rather suave performances nowadays, but I think we might take a more ‘rustic’ approach in places. I’ve recently come across a re-mastering of an old Kertesz recording in which he tackles this symphony with frightening intensity. So I don’t think we’ve heard the end of the Dvorak story.
I have wondered over the weekend whether there would be any advantage in reviewing the filler I proposed to go with the Dvorak. It was intended as a compensation to Brahms fans but I admit it is not the best of his work, and perhaps not musically the best curtain-raiser or companion for Dvorak. On the other hand the time is very pressing in other directions and we ourselves [the committee] have other decisions to move on to.
However, I’m definitely not suggesting pairing the Strauss waltz with Dvorak because its relationship to Brahms is too neat and worth saving for when we come to do the Brahms symphony.
Postscript
I would like to thank all the players and members of the committee for their contributions to making this a thoughtful and measured review. It was always going to be the case that not everyone could have their favoured choice. But I think that the decision the committee has now made is a good one which will enable us to move forward as a group with renewed vigour and optimism, and I hope everyone will feel able to get behind its choice and help to make the concert a success and the future of the group even better than it has been already.
One of the things which has been particularly helpful, and indeed insightful, to me about your messages is that they have revealed thoughts, and some apprehensions and reservations, that individuals have about one or another aspect of what we’re doing, and I shall try to be mindful of these as we now take this choice forward into the rehearsal process.
Bill Strang 22 Jan 2008
May 2008 concert old rehearsal notes
Rehearsals in the run up to the concert
General
With only two weeks to go you should expect to play anything and everything at any rehearsal. I have an extra rehearsal on Tuesday 6 May with those wind players who can make it, and I believe some string players are also getting together for a private session. In the main rehearsals I will therefore concentrate on taking a broad view and only stopping to sort out matters which I think may not otherwise correct themselves.
I hope we are now at the stage where we can consider stumbling over notes a thing of the past and turn our attention to matters of ensemble, intonation and quality of sound.
2 May
We had a good time last Sunday, as I'm sure all present will agree, in which we enjoyed playing through the whole programme. We found some joins between movements trickier to negotiate than anticipated and discovered that watching the conductor is a good way to negotiate the speed changes in the Brahms. So I propose in this rehearsal to play the whole programme again, this time in concert order (Brahms followed by Dvorak), and in particular to take an uninterrupted run at the Brahms dances. So please come mentally prepared to do that. If there's any time left there will no doubt be a selection of passages we can look at in detail.
9 May (lunchtime and after work)
At the after-work rehearsal we have to play everything for the sake of associate and guest players who may be joining us for the first time. So at lunchtime I will take whatever selection of passages or whole movements arise from the 2 May rehearsal as most needing attention. There will also be time in the after-work rehearsal for some detailed work.
13 May (after work)
In this final rehearsal we essentially run the programme in conditions as near to performance as we can manage. There will, by definition, be very little time for close work.
16 May (performance)
We will do our usual warmup from 12.20 onwards which always stands us in good stead.
Plans for the rehearsals running up to the Carol Concert
14th December in OLT 12.30-1.45 Please note change of venue and early start time
We made good progress last Friday but Steve's piece, which is quite tricky for the orchestra in places, proved less straightforward to put together with the choir than supposed.
It so happens, and now turns out to be fortunate, that OLT has become available to us this Friday 14 Dec, so we can have an extra joint session with the choir. I've agreed to schedule this slightly earlier than usual, at 12.30, so that we get the best chance to settle and sort ourselves out.
The focus for the orchestra needs to be two-fold:
- You are big and capable of being very noisy when you all get going, which is fun, but liable to drown out the choir and maybe even the audience. This is an effect best used sparingly, so I will place some emphasis on accuracy and precision (in rhythm, intonation, tone and ensemble, for instance) at the expense of sheer volume. I fear that our few weeks of sight-reading unfamiliar music have taken our attention away from such matters.
- However, half the battle in a pot-pourri event of this kind is keeping track of where you are. I admit that it's a headache, but it's not so bad if you do some planning in advance. All the information you need is on the Running Order already circulated. If you haven't already run off a hard copy, here it is in PDF or Microsoft word format. The one change is that we agreed to scrap the Tchaikovsky 'Cygnets Dance' as an orchestra-only party piece. On Friday I will plan to deal with Steve's piece first and then try to run the rest of the programme in running order. Please identify which copies you need for which carols and mark up any specific instructions on your part (e.g. which verses you play in what order in the wassailing carol). Please do this before Friday so that we can move reasonably smoothly through the programme without wasting time.
Unfortunately I don't think we'll have time to play through any other music as I had hoped, but we'll see.
Tuesday 18th December at 11am
Warmup for Carol Concert. The concert itself will run from 11.30-12.30.
Plans and notes for the rehearsals for the October concert
7th September
Please can wind players inform Bill who will be playing each part in the concert before the start of this rehearsal.
Complete run through the whole program to refresh our memories.
14th September
Despite a smallish (30) and strangely balanced turnout, we had a good session on the 2nd and 3rd mvts of the Grieg.
I'm going to assume that those who were unable to be present are nevertheless able to play these movements accurately, at least as far as pitch and rhythm are concerned, and that their absence will not incur holdups at future rehearsals. This is particularly so for those 'real' woodwind players who may have been missing.
I pass on a few of the points we noted in this rehearsal.
2nd Movement
- For strings: Between bars 13 and 18 the tune needs to pass credibly from violins to cellos and back, while bassoons and horns are aware of the need to be sensitive to any variation in tempo
- Strings: I regard the moduations at 37-8 amd 47-8 as a matter of 'discovering' the new key
- Between 58 and 71 there is a lot of chromatic harmony and this needs careful tuning from all concerned
3rd Movement
- Strings: pizz chords in 90-3: there is no reason for these not to be clean
- We explored the idea of the succession of themes in this mvt being based on the halling, a Norwegian dance, usually for one male performer which, though starting somewhat lazily, works up into a spectacular frenzy
- Strings at 143-8: all parts are off the beat (in response to the piano solo which is on the beat)
- Trumpets: I was not able to check the prominent cue at 173-4. Ditto 183-6, 502-5 and 515-6. These are critical moments for you
- At 3rd-7th bars of Letter D, rhythmic dialogue between (mainly) strings and wind needs to be accurate and matched
- Having gone into 1-in-a-bar for the flute solo at 224, I will go back into 2 at bar 238
- Meno Allegro at 402 is again a 'danced' effect - very grounded and masculine
- Wind 428-9, syncopated rhythm must be tight and clean
- Everyone at 429-30, I think the fz is meant to be maintained, i.e. it's not fzp
- In the Quasi Presto, the 6 bars up to and into Letter I (477-82) must be accurately syncopated (all strings) and indeed ths whole section needs to be crisply rhythmic
- At K (Andante maestoso). Although I'm sure this is meant to be felt as 2 in a bar, as a practical measure I shall beat it in 4, except in those bars which contain triplet crotchets (507, 509, 511, 520) which I shall beat in 6, and 516 which needs to be in 8
21st September
As before I'm going to assume that those who were unable to be present are nevertheless able to play these movements accurately, at least as far as pitch and rhythm are concerned.
Sibelius
There was a lot to like about this but a few points still elude us.
- For everyone: In bars 2,4 and elsewhere, fz is a mark of accentuation - it does not mean cut the note short (staccato)
- For horns, trombones, trumpets, tuba: We have to have correct pitches in bars 1-24 and agree unanimous phrasing. I suggest breaking 14-24 at the end of bar 17, but nowhere else: tell me if you find this impractical. I feel we still have a lot of work to do to achieve good tuning and ensemble in this important opening passage.
- For strings: bar 30, entry absolutely in tune, regardless of anything that may have preceded it
- For everyone: 37, 41, 64 and several other places - dotted crotchets and double-dotted minims to be given their full value, especially in our dry acoustic - the quaver rests are really just little commas of separation, the phrase itself goes through
- For w/w, horns, tuba: I'm proposing a phrase break at the end of 58 (not 57 or 59). Again advise me if this is not practical
- For everyone, but esp. tpts, tbn, timp: I'm giving the upbeat to Letter D in the new (slower) crotchet speed to help brass to measure semiquaver gesture in the first bar of D
- For tpts, tbns, timps, later flutes, horns: 74, 76, 85, 89, 91, 93, 122, 180, 196 - where the fanfare does not start on the downbeat, the first 2-3 semiquavers have to be articulated as clearly, and weighted as heavily, as those that do start on a downbeat
- Cellos, basses, bsns (+ tuba) may have to pull back volume in 76 under the fanfare, in order to have enough room for 4 bars of cresc later
- Syncopated gestures need much more bite. This applies to Strings: at 115, 118-20, 187-9, and 202-8; Tpts at 116-7; and Everyone at 192-3
- At H the dynamic pattern is vital for achieving the arrival at the big A flat major chord, so 125 mf cresc, 127 p cresc molto consistently across 2 bars, 129 ff for 1 bar, 130-2 dim across 2 bars. In other words, just what the score says!
- For w/w: From Letters I-L you need to observe every nuance of articulation unanimously - a super effect
- For strings: From L-M 1sts and cellos have the tune in octaves and must be unanimous, while DB (+ bsn!) need to be sensitive to fitting the bass line in exactly
- Everyone: - At Letter O (202) I go into 2 - At 203-9 Tpts 1 + 3 and Horn 3 carry the big tune - everyone else needs to be aware how they relate to that - At 208 everyone needs to observe the Allargando (broadening, literally spreading) which I shall beat in 4. Then 'a tempo' again, in 2
Gosh, we did cover a lot! And some parts of this piece sounded magnificent, although I have to say that overall it remains a bit patchy. Hence my insistence on capturing the above. It's an ambitious challenge but I believe we can do it.
Grieg, 1st Movement
- For strings and some wind: bar 15 beat 3 and 16 beat 3: leaps of a diminished 5th/augmented 4th on to diminished chords are always going to need careful tuning. Sim whenever this theme occurs
- At 31 the soloist's 'Animato' is marked 'molto leggiero' so the w/w + string dialogues which follow (32-41) need to be almost skittish (catch me if you can!)
- For strings: at 48 watch for unanimous molto rit
- For cellos: the beautiful tune at 49-52 must be - beautiful, well-tuned, etc etc - just heavenly! Nice brass too, I hope…
- Similar points apply when all above material is recapitulated (sometimes in different keys)
- For strings: at 177, good tuning and ensemble required at this strange corner, and particularly no rit. at the end of 180, but rather I will move forward to lead into the Poco piu Allegro
- For Flute, Oboe, Bsn, Vln 1, we may need to tidy up syncopation
- For (nearly) everyone: final bar, unison A needs to be in tune (and a nice one)
28th September
Sectionals.
My only note from this rehearsal is to record what I think we agreed about the phrasing of the opening bars of the Sibelius:
- For horns, trumpets, trombones anmd double basses. We had already agreed a phrase break at the end of bar 17. When this did not seem to be enough I suggested the following subsidiary places to snatch a breath (but these must be kept small and executed unanimously): after bar 5; after 14; and after the first minim of 19
- For oboes, clarinets, bsns, horns, tuba: a phrase break after bar 58
5th October
I will approach this rehearsal as an opportunity to put back together the passages we rehearsed separately last week, across the whole programme. In the case of Sibelius I think we can do this by running the whole piece, whereas for the Grieg the restrictions of time mean we will still have time to be selective.
12th October, lunchtime
Mainly Sibelius. This will be our LAST CHANCE to work on this piece. There will also be some time for Grieg, I hope and expect, but it will be the LAST TIME we can work on it privately.
12th October, evening
John Byron will be with us and we must concentrate on the parts of the Grieg that involve him. We will run the other parts, of course, and we will also run the Sibelius for the sake of the (thankfully few) associate players who will be joining us for these final stages, but we should not be wasting John's time or our chance to work with him by having to do close work on sections that do not involve him.
16th October, evening dress rehearsal
This will be basically a run through the programme. It will provide the opportunity (i.e. time) to work in detail on only a very few points.
Carol Concert 2007
Thank-you Note
Well done, everyone, for your contributions to a successful and enjoyable concert. I acknowledge that it was a very difficult programme for an amateur group to attempt, but you acquitted yourselves well. I've had particularly good feedback about the Romanze and the Furiant, and a general comment about the orchestra sounding Eastern European in the Dvorak. I personally thought the Rachmaninov succeeded very well in evoking an appropriate atmosphere and mood. And, given the limitations we were only too well aware of, the Prokofiev succeeded beyond all my recent expectations and was indeed quite idiomatic in places: it was undoubtedly the best all-round account of it you have ever played, and I can't ask for more than that.
Thank you for the presents. The vodka instantly took me back to a hotel near Red Square in 1977 where I was acutely aware of not being able to keep up with the experts - I shall try harder this time. The flowers are a welcome adornment to a domestic scene characterised by increasing discomfort as the extension building programme progresses!
But thank you most of all for keeping faith with the project, for persevering even when it seemed difficult, and producing the goods on the day.
Bill
Friday 10 November
Added by Tess not Bill. Rehearsal in the Church at 1:15. Trombones and tuba won't be needed tomorrow. The brass players we are expecting are our two usual and trusty horn players, and trumpet players (equally usual and trusty).
Friday 3 November
This will be an initial run of the Fantasia on Christmas Carols by Vaughan Williams, the piece we'll be performing with the OU Choir at the Carol Concert on 19 December. It's a bit like the Holst piece we did last year, only slightly longer and a bit more intricate, and it uses a baritone soloist, who in our performance will be David Kirby-Ashmore.
For this first rehearsal we'll be joined by the Choir, before they put the Vaughan Williams aside to concentrate on preparing their own autumn concert. They will also be trying out the new staging the University has bought, so we may have to allow some time within the hour to sort out any practicalities that throws up.
