Mad Finns and Wolves

I'm just fresh off the stage at Jones Hall, where this weekend's repertoire is Ravel's La Valse, Stravinsky's A Fairy's Kiss, and Brahms Piano Concerto. Conductor, Hannu Lintu; soloist, Hélène Grimaud . That is not what was SUPPOSED to be on the program, nor is the conductor the one that was SUPPOSED to be leading us this weekend.

By the end of May 2009, the 2008-09 Houston Symphony season may be looked at as the "oops-deked ya!" season. It started with Ike's forced two week cancellations, went on to fevered Greeks with fiendish determination, continued with unrequited reconciliations (our former music director Andre Previn cancelling his April appearance), and this week, because of a small matter of childbirth, guest conductor Xian Zhang would not be conducting. Luckily, and I mean EXTREMELY luckily for us, a favorite stick-beater from last season, Hannu Lintu, was available. Of course, with last minute artist substitutions, it is not unusual that repertoire would also change, because who has every last piece in the world ready to conduct at his/her fingertips? More unusual was the appointed soloist changing from Beethoven to Brahms a week before the concert, but hey, if you raise wolves you gotta be somewhat adaptable, no?

At the first rehearsal, the mad Finn (come on, click on the hyperlink, you know you want to), who is the repository of fiendish smiles, gave us one and said "Let's hurry up and rehearse the program before anything else gets changed." Ironically, (or not so much) the next day when the pianist was supposed to show up to her rehearsal we were informed that her plane from South America was delayed and we would have a piano stunt-double play the part of Hélène until her plane landed. When she finally did arrive for the last 45 minutes of rehearsal, she played as if we had rehearsed all week, she is another one with some mad Skillz, both with wolves and piano.

But this is all really a lot of unnecessary though colorful background for the REAL story, which is the mad Finn. He is generating a lot of buzz backstage, and the fact that backstage is buzzing at all is amazing because us old jaded orchestra players usually flee the backstage at the first opportunity...no chance to buzz.
***bzzz***
"He looks like Mick Jagger" bzzz bzzz
"with Jimmy Stewart's accent" "from the eyebrows up he could be Jim Carrey as the Grinch" bzz bzzz bzzzz

Lintu/Carrey/Jagger/Stewart. I told a colleague today how much I was enjoying the rehearsals. His reply: "Really? I can't follow him. But what a musician."

Which led me to study him harder during the concert. Why could some of us follow him and other colleagues couldn't? I started to wonder if we all looked at different body parts for a clue as to the tempo. Yes, if you looked at the end of the stick (baton), it was actually impossible. By the end of the Stravinsky, I came to the conclusion that I NEVER look at the end of the stick. I believe I was watching the twitching of the right shoulder...or maybe it was the left elbow...both knees...the lower lip? Maybe it was the general kinetics of his motion that gave me the hints I needed to musical direction...I was watching for MUSIC, not for BEAT. And there may be the answer. Leonard Bernstein's beat was also impossible to follow, but he gave the direction in other ways, rocking on the balls of his feet, twitching his torso, lifting his shoulders.

Lintu: Hair standing hilariously on end. Intense smirks, winks, grins, glares, and nods. Limbs flailing comically but always with the utmost drama and direction. Is that good all the time? Time will tell, but it sure is a hell of a lot of fun.



Finland Finland Finland..
the country where I want to be
your mountains so lofty, your treetops so tall
Finland Finland Finland,
Finland has it all

Star Wars-Episode VII :Clash of the Nerds

I think most symphonic musicians will tell you that they like to play the music of John Williams. The reasons are many: the music is well written. John Williams knows what he's doing, compositionally. We like the movies.

What happens when you pair a group of classical musicians with a group of die-hard Star Wars fans that specialize in dressing up in character? Certain similarities are made clear, as any attendee of this weekends' "Star Wars and More: music of John Williams" could see.

Top Ten Similarities between the South Texas Star Garrison and the Houston Symphony:

10. Pasty complexions due to weekends spent indoors honing our craft/costumes/practicing/welding breastplate armor/making reeds
9. Ewoks/children's choirs need to kept under firm control at all times
8. We always Feel the Force
7. Sometimes ya gotta buy an extra seat on the plane for the Wookie/Doublebass
6. You can never have enough laser light effects
5. Work your A** off all you like, but in the end, its a pile of hardware (R2D2/percussion) that can steal the scene
4. We're a big hit at birthday parties and nursing homes
3. Light sabers and bows are quite interchangeable in backstage swordfights
2. Getting up in front of thousands of people while channeling fictional characters is what we do best

and

1. When the tall scary guy in black raises his arms, we fall silent.


Below: violist Wei Jiang, Jedi in a tux
Below that: our tall scary guy in black, Maestro Michael Krajewski temporarily subdued by more Jedi Knights...or is he?