What a wonderful rehearsal! I was so pleased with how the run of the First Half went, and although there’s plenty for us to work on, I thought the overall sound, performance, and ensemble was brilliant.
What we did on 28.02.22
The run was very successful, and I was blown away by the great quality of playing right from the get-go with the Weber. There are a few things in the Weber we’ll work on over the coming weeks, but it’s in a good place. The Dvorak Slavonic Dances, while a bit rough in places, were an overall success. The detailed work we did in the second half of the rehearsal – particularly in finding the contrasts between the sections – needs to be applied right from the start. I think that now we’re more familiar with them this will become easier each week. I know it’s a huge endurance test, but at least you now know what it’s like to play it all the way through.
What we will do on 07.03.22
Goodness… March already! As I said in the rehearsal on the 28th, we’ll be doing a run of the Second Half of the concert – the Dvorak Symphony no. 8.
19:30-19:40 – Brahms Hungarian Dance no. 5.
*Please note that this will just be used as a warm up.
19:40-20:25 – Run the Second Half (Dvorak Symphony no. 8)
20:25-20:35 – Break.
20:35-21:30 – Work on the First Half, according to the run.
*potential Trombones to go early if Movements 2 & 3 need work.
The Spotify Playlist
is here. Hopefully it’s helpful in learning the music, and refining our interpretation of it.
Piece of the week
is something we listened to in the car driving home last night – Barber’s Adagio for Strings. Originally written as the second movements of his String Quartet, Barber reorchestrated it for String Ensemble in 1938, sending a copy to Toscanini who performed it later that year.
For those who don’t recognise it, it’s one of the most stunningly beautiful works in the string orchestra repertoire. Listen here.
See you all on Monday 7th!
– Ben
