Acoustic in Not the Paleo Diet of Music / Az akusztikus zene nem Paleo Diéta

The title of this post is a sentence taken from my first TEDx talk. Last Saturday as the first speaker of the newly formed local TEDx VoyagerWay group I gave a talk with the title “LIVE, UNPLUGGED AND CLASSICAL”. A string quartet made of principal players of the Huntsville Symphony shared the stage with me. They played the Intermezzo movement from Mendelssohn’s 2nd string quartet. In may talk I advocated for LIVE performances (with lively demonstrations on the spot), for UNPLUGGED music (and the perfect music machines, classical instruments) and for CLASSICAL music. I am going to make the YouTube video available here as soon as possible. I believe I did make a point, and I also had lots of fun doing it despite the fact, that I have not done such a long scripted presentation in a long-long time.
The day before the talk I conducted the HSO in two Barber pieces and in the Organ Symphony by Camille Saint-Saëns. Nathan Laube played the organ solos beautifully, and he even added a solo organ number to the concert written by Vidor. The concert took place at First baptist Church, Huntsville,
http://www.fbchsv.org
where the orchestra has not played for a long time. The church is beautiful and it sounds really good, and our audience did not mind the free seating either.
Our 2nd Causal Classics was on April 2 at the Botanical Gardens,
http://www.hsvbg.org
where the audience got to sit IN the orchestra, next to our players. We have repeated this type of event for the third time, and it has been always a huge hit. Amy Schwartz-Moretti, former concertmaster of the Oregon Symphony joined us to lead the group, and also to beautifully perform the “hidden violin concerto” in the middle section of Haffner Serenade. Our next, and this season last Casual Classics is on Sunday. We will be performing at an old style American mercantile store called U.G. White downtown Huntsville.
http://www.ugwhite.com
We are teaming up with three authors from Alabama who will read their own texts and poems. Words by Jacqueline Trimble, Harry Moore and Jeanie Thompson will be matched with music by Still, Barber, Bernstein and Dvorak.

http://www.hso.org

But before spoken words and music, the HSO is off to a n exciting adventure. We will be presenting the full movie score of E.T. —The Extra-Terrestrial by John Williams for which show the entire movie will be shown on a big screen hanging above the orchestra.
“E.T. phone home!”

http://www.hso.org

A második és harmadik link a Huntsville Symphony hétvégi koncertjeit mutatja. Szombaton az “E.T. a földönkívüli” című ma már klasszikus mozit prezentáljuk élő zenével. Vasárnap harmadik, ebben a szezonban egyben utolsó “Casual Classics” előadásunkat játszuk, ahol három alabamai író-költő olvassa majd saját művét. Jacqueline Trimble, Harry Moore és Jeanie Thompson írásaihoz Still, Barber, Bernstein és Dvorák zenéjét társítottam. Az E.T. a Von Braun Center nagy koncerttermében, az “Alabama Storytellers” pedig egy régi, igazi amerikai vegyeskereskedésben lesz majd, Huntsville belvárosában.
Itt:
http://www.ugwhite.com

Múlt hétvégén Nathan Laube orgona szólójával játszottuk Samuel Barber: II. Esszé zenekarra, és Toccata Festiva című darabjait, valamint Camille Saint-Saëns “orgona Szimfóniáját” a First Baptist Churchben. A tempolom gyönyörű orgonáján (a 60-as években épült) Nathan eljátszott egy Vidor szólódarabot is. a Huntsville Symphony nem játszott ebben a templomban hosszú évek óta, és most nagy örömmel, és a közönségtől csupa pozitív visszajelzést kapva játszhattunk a remek akusztikában.
Az alábbi linken megnézhető maga az épület.
http://www.fbchsv.org

A hónap a “Casual Classics” sorozat 2. koncertjével kezdődött. Amy Schwartz-Moretti, az Oregon Symphony volt koncertmestere (ma egyetemi professzor) vezette az együttest, és játszotta a szóló hegedűt Mozart Haffner szerenádjában. A Botanikus Kert főépületének egyik helyiségében:
http://www.hsvbg.org
A közönség a zenekari zenészek mellett, között foglalt helyet, majd két-három tételenként engedtem nekik, hogy másik helyre üljenek. Ilyen jellegű koncertet most csináltunk harmadjára, és mindig nagyon népszerű. Hol máshol tapasztalhatná meg egy zenehallgató, hogy milyen egy zenekari zenész bőrében lenni?

Posztom címét első TEDx előadásomból kölcsönöztem, melyet múlt héten tartottam, mint a helyi TEDx VoyagerWay csapat által felkért első előadó. A zenekar szólamvezetőiből alakult vonósnégyes segítségével demonstráltam az ÉLŐ, az AKUSZTIKUS és a KLASSZIKUS zene fontosságát, és próbáltam bizonyítani azt, hogy a technológia fejlődése nem teszi, nem teheti idejét múlttá az akusztikus hangszereken élőben előadott klasszikus zenét. Az előadás YouTube videóját amint lehet közzéteszem itt is.

No. 16 – Quartet

CONSTANZA:
Ah, Belmonte, my beloved!

BELMONTE:
Ah, Constanza, my beloved!

CONSTANZA:
Can it be? What rapture!
To hold you close to my heart
After so many days of unhappiness!

BELMONTE:
What bliss to find you!
Now all grief must vanish!
Oh how my heart rejoices!

CONSTANZA:
See how my tears of joy flow freely.

BELMONTE:
Angel! Let me kiss them from your cheek.

CONSTANZA:
Let them be the last ones.

BELMONTE:
Indeed, you shall be free this very day.

PEDRILLO:
Now, Blonda, have you understood?
Everything is prepared for flight.
We will be here on the stroke of midnight.

BLONDA:
Don’t worry, all will be ready,
I shall count the minutes;
If only the moment were here already!

ALL FOUR TOGETHER:
At last the sun of hope
Illuminates the gloomy skies.
Full of rapture, joy and bliss
We can see the end of our suffering.

BELMONTE:
Yet, in spite of my happiness
My heart within my breast
Is full of secret care.

CONSTANZA:
What is it, dearest? Tell me,
Quickly, explain yourself.
Conceal nothing from me!

BELMONTE:
They say ? they say ? that you …

CONSTANZA:
Go on!

PEDRILLO:
(indicating that he risks being hanged)
But Blonda, oh that ladder!
Are you really worth it?

BLONDA:
You fool, have you gone mad?
It might be better
If you had turned the question round!

PEDRILLO:
But Master Osmin??

BLONDA:
Let’s hear it!

CONSTANZA:
Will you not explain yourself?

BELMONTE:
They say??

PEDRILLO:
But Master Osmin??

BELMONTE:
That you??

PEDRILLO:
But Master Osmin??

BLONDA:
Let’s hear it!

CONSTANZA:
Go on??
Will you not explain yourself?

BELMONTE:
I will. But do not be angry
If, having heard a rumor,
I should dare to ask you
In fear and trembling
Whether you love the Pasha?

PEDRILLO:
(to Blonda)
Has Master Osmin never,
As one might well believe,
Exercised his lordly rights
Upon you as your owner?
That would a poor bargain!

CONSTANZA:
(to Belmonte)
Oh, how you grieve me!

BLONDA:
(to Pedrillo)
Here’s my reply to you!
(slaps Pedrillo’s face)

PEDRILLO:
Now I am in the picture.

BELMONTE:
(on his knees)
Constanza, oh forgive me!

BLONDA:
(angrily walking away from Pedrillo)
You don’t deserve me at all!

CONSTANZA:
(sighing as she turns away from Belmonte)
Have I remained faithful to you?

BLONDA:
(to Constanza)
The rogue has dared to ask
Whether I have remained true to him!

CONSTANZA:
(to Blonda)
And Belmont has been told
That I love the Pasha!

PEDRILLO:
(rubbing his cheek)
I’d take my dying oath
On Blonda’s fidelity!

BELMONTE:
(to Pedrillo)
Constanza is true to me,
There can be no doubt about it.

CONSTANZA – BLONDA:
When men become suspicious
And have no faith in our honour,
And look upon us with mistrust,
It is not to be borne.

BELMONTE – PEDRILLO:
When women are aggrieved
Because we think them fickle,
Then they are really true
And free from all reproaches.

PEDRILLO:
Dearest Blonda do forgive me!
Look, I put more faith in your fidelity
Than upon my own head!

BLONDA:
No, you can’t get away with it.
Suspecting me of doing that
With that foolish old buffer!

BELMONTE:
Oh, Constanza, my beloved!
Can you ever forgive me
For having asked such a question?

CONSTANZA:
Belmonte! How could you believe
That anyone could steal this heart
Which beats for you alone?

BELMONTE – PEDRILLO:
Oh, forgive me!

PEDRILLO – BELMONTE:
I am repentant!

CONSTANZA – BLONDA:
I forgive
Your remorse.

ALL FOUR:
Well, let this be the end of the matter!
Long live love
Let us value nothing else!
Let nothing kindle
The fire of jealousy.

That’s all. Problems solved, everybody lives happily ever after. Love prevails. In about 10 minutes real time, Mozart manages to bring two couples back together and clear all misunderstandings. Opera at its best. Whatever happens before and after is just another “pirate story” (full of amazing and genius musical numbers of course).

I am awestruck by No. -16 Quartet.

Conducting ‘The Abduction from the Seraglio’ energized me beyond belief. I am ready for the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. We’ll be playing Enescu Romanian Rhapsody #1, Dvorak Symphony #8 and the World Premiere of my newest composition: Clarinet Symphony at MUPA (Palace of the Arts), Budapest on February 3.

http://www.mupa.hu

I love my job!