Apologies to anyone who was unable to get onto my site last week: My server was terminally hacked and had ot be replaced, so the site was offline for a few days.
In the meantime I’ve given an inaugural concert with a new collaboration; a violin duo called “Phase Two” with violinist Kelly Jones. We played a mixed programme of acoustic and electric works in a wonderful church in Shoreham, including first performances of a new duo piece by Chris Gander and a new arrangement I’ve made of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal”!
On Sunday I was conducting Ely Sinfonia in a one day orchestral workshop on Brahms’ “Academic Festival Overture” and Bernstein’s “Candide”. A tiring but very enjoyable day. I read somewhere that conducting is the best aerobic exercise there is – I completely agree! One new first violin said “Steve is so good… he has to put up with all our mistakes and he doesn’t shout at us like some conductors!” I’ll try not to let it go to my head….
I’ve also received some photos from our Ely Sinfonia concert in October, taken during the afternoon rehearsal for the Mozart “Requiem”. Here are a couple.
Rehearsing Mozart's Requiem in Ely Cathedral
...the largest group of musicians I have conducted to date!
Last Saturday saw me conducting the first Ely Sinfonia concert of the year – and the first of the orchestra’s 10th Anniversary season – in Ely Cathedral. The well attended concert was a great success; the players, as usual, putting everything into it. For me personally there were two particular points of interest in the repertoire: Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” and Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony op.110a.
Both of these were fascinating for me as I was performing them in a very different role from normal. I have played “Scheherazade” half a dozen times over the last 20 years, but always as orchestral leader, dealing with the wonderful (and difficult) violin solos which the piece is famous for. It was great to really study the score for this performance, and be able to absorb the work as a whole, rather than be somewhat blinkered by all the impending solos! Our leader for the concert – Christina Everson – did a great job with the solos, while I was struck by how superbly crafted the piece is.
Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony op.11a, is an arrangement for string orchestra of the famous 8th String Quartet, made by conductor and instrumentalist Rudolf Barshai, with the permission of the composer, whom Barshai knew well. The 8th Quartet has been one of my favourite pieces for the genre since I was a teenager, and I had always shied away from listening to it in the Barshai arrangement: The Quartet is so powerful that I felt any rearrangement could only lessen it’s impact. The Ely Sinfonia Chairman, Robin Moore, suggested the piece for this concert and I agreed to programme it (though not without the odd misgiving). However it proved to be a piece in which the sheer emotion and quality of the writing shone through as much on a full string section as with a quartet. If the opportunity presents itself in the future I would like to perform some of Barshai’s other arrangements of Shostakovich Quartets……
If you’d like more information about Ely Sinfonia please visit their website.
