Monday, August 18, 2008

Summit Recap Post 8 - End of Festival Performances & Ensembles

Weber Piano Trio:
did the Scherzo & finale ... We did a good job with both for where we were ... definitely made music out of it, but there was a level of detail that was just never there ... and it was really frustrating, b/c being on the concert with the other groups, it was clear that we hadn't reached their level ... I think that all comes down to devotion ... in the future, when I work on parts, my goal will be to have learned the music well by the first rehearsal & then to continue to improve it ... with this, I came in & knew the part fairly well & then it just got worse & worse for a while, then started to get better ... relates to orchestra too...

Jr. Orchestra:
There were good & bad things about this, but basically it was an often frustrating experience with a mediocre end-product ... I mean, we didn't sound horrible, but we didn't sound great either ... I feel like I've worked with better conductors/like the conductor for this orchestra really didn't hold us to a high standard, and just accepted almost anything we did, but I learned a lot from it, and got to play some cool music ... particularly Barber ... I also met some cool people ...

Our program was: Some mendelssohn symphony, Purcell Chaccone arr. by Britten, Some Barber piece that was awesome, Mozart Violin Concerto 4, Dvorak Rumanian Dances (I actually played these w/ St. Thomas ... it was very different ... less overwhelming this time, which means I've improved) ... I was more focused/played better at the concert than I expected

Sr. Orchestra:
This was just an amazing experience ... Richard Clark is just an amazing person to work with, in terms of his expectations & his communication. He has a lot of great, relevant advice & expects you to do your best at every moment/for every detail. He ranted a lot about lazy music making & orchestras getting too comfortable, and so producing crap (but he did this all w/ a very positive bent to it most of the time) ... it's incredibly clear that he's really passionate about music - 100%, and if I had done nothing else at Summit besides work with him, it would have been worth it...

Our program was amazing ... it sounded amazing, it felt amazing ... it was just on that level ... personally, I could have been better ... I should have known my part, and risen to that level, but I didn't get there ... I know what to do now in the future though ... I have a very clear idea of it, as opposed to just a general impression ...

Program was:
Arensky - Variations on a Tchaicovsky Theme
Mozart Violin Concert 5
Bartok - Divertimento for Strings - this is one of the most amazing/beautiful/progressive pieces written for string orchestra ever...

In general, being in 2 orchestras simultaneously was frustrating (this meant 9-1 every day, and really cut into my practice time), but I guess was worth it... Certainly, the Sr. Concert really made it worth it...

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