Lots of things have been substituted lately. When this week's scheduled conductor, Jeffrey Kahane, had to cancel at the last minute due to illness, conductor Christoph Campestrini stepped in. This sort of substitution happens rarely in classical music, not as much as it seems to happen in the theater, where understudies are called on more frequently. Some notable examples of last minute substitutions that led to huge careers for the substitutes include that of a young Leonard Bernstein for an ailing Bruno Walter, and the more dishy story of one of the greatest conductors of the early 20th century, Arturo Toscanini.
Toscanini was born in Parma, Italy and studied cello. In 1886 he was touring South America as a cellist with the orchestra of an opera company. While presenting Aida in Rio de Janeiro, the orchestra's conductor was booed by the audience and forced to leave the podium. Although he had no orchestral conducting experience, the 19 year old Toscanini was persuaded to take up the baton, and led a magnificent performance completely from memory. The rest, as they say, is history.
Back to Campestrini, who is from Austria and used the word "spicy" a lot in rehearsal, which got me thinking about that other most recent substitution in the news; that is, of swiss chard for poisonous e. coli spinach. Which then led me to some musing about a hypothetical concert in which you could substitute whatever you wanted to create your own version of the piece. Sort of like that Burger King commercial that (ok, dating myself here) I grew up with- "hold the pickle, hold the lettuce, special orders don't upset us, all we ask is that you let us serve it your way..."
So there you'd be, a whole orchestra in front of you, to basically do your bidding like customizing your entree at a restaurant (substitutions $3 extra, sharing $9, no doggie bags). "Uh, yes, I'll take the Beethoven 5, low fat, so hold the oboe; substitute extra spicy alto sax. I'm watching carbs, so could you put in only half of the double basses and leave them on the side, and instead of violas I'll have a side order of bongos." "And no contrabassoon, thanks."
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5 comments:
I would order the Mahler 2nd symphony with reduced violins, a substituite of violas for cellos, and extra cymbals and brass. Also up-size it with a little bit of a faster tempo in the first movement.
Um, the Beethoven 5 with alto sax.... gross. lol. Now, if you have such crazy ideas, why not pass them on to Mr. Graf? tell him we'd like a day to mix with the orchestra, ask them questions, get different players to play for us, (from memory preferably) etc.
Hey- if anyone thinks they would like to be a part of such madness, I will definitely pass it on...though you may encounter some resistance on the memory part!!!
Surely there are hoardes of ppl that agree with me...!
Do you know Sergei... what's his last name.. Galperin or something like that?[You know, the Russian in the first violins.] On the July 1st Dollar concert in 2005, he came out with the wrong tux on... he had a white bowtie and tails, and everyone else had regular coats with black ties. He went back and changed his tie, and sat beside someone to hide his coat tails. Anyway, a couple of months ago I introduced myself and asked if he remembered the incident. He thought it was hilarious that i would have the audacity to introduce myself by telling him of something embarrassing he did a year ago! Quite a hilarious guy. He was telling my brother, "So, he comes up to me and says, 'I think i recognize you! A year ago, you came out with the wrong bow tie on!'"
johnps
(I'm 17, from Santa Fe... near Galveston.)
Even if you live in Santa Fe, it's possible you'd see Sergei just on the street! He's quite the man about town. I run into him all the time outside of the orchestra. One time we were on the same flight to New York. Of course, I've known him beyond the years he's been in Houston- he also went to Juilliard.
If we have our "mixup" concert, maybe you could get him to play the sax part of something...on the violin! He'd do it too...
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