June 2005

June 30, 2005 02:11

This past week I played a concert in the mountains of Switzerland. I am always amazed by the beauty of this country. When I arrived on friday in the Alps, the family I was staying with had not yet arrived, so I dumped my luggage and violin at the trainstation and told the guy to watch the fiddle with his life. I had never done anything like that before, but I did not just want to hang out for 7 hours till the family would arrive and I decided to take the chance, while it was such nice weather to hike a little bit.
So after putting on my hiking boots I set out for a gorcious trip from Gstaad up the Wispile Alp and walking to a little lake called the Launensee where there is a gorcious waterfall. In recent weeks I had been quite stressed about some personal things, but after about 1 hour in the mountains, I noticed my breathing slowing down and being able to start to really enjoy the magnificent views. Part of this hike I had done the year before, right after the concert at the Menuhin Festival, so I did know a little bit where I was going, because I am not used to walking on my own in the mountains.
Once I got back to Gstaad it started pouring, timing could not have been better. Saturday the weather was bad, which was allright with me, since I had some serious practicing to do for the concert next day.
The concert was in the church in Saanen, a town where Menuhin used to spend its summers. The church itself was build in 1604 (!!!) and is what you imagine these alp churches to be like, with old frescoes etc.
On Sunday, before the concert I first played during the church service some movements of Bach. It was the first time for me to play the Preludio, which is based on Catate nr. 29 :Wir danken Dir, Gott! (We thank thou, God), fully as a piece of worship and not as a virtuoso solo piece. It had a complete different feeling to it. Also, the acoustics of standing next to the organ, high up in the church, made the notes seem to fly. The harmonic structure of the piece seemed so much clearer.
Shortly after the church service, I played the recital. On the program was Bach 2nd Sonata, Yun Koenigliches Thema, Kreisler Recitativo and Scherzo, Paganini Caprices and Ysaye V and as an encore I played the Sarabande from the 2nd Partita. During the recital I also told a little bit about the pieces; How Bach devoted all his pieces to God by writing SDG (Soli Deo Gloria) beneath all his pieces, about Yun's life and his fight for freedom, and how the theme of this particular piece comes from Bach's Musikalischen Opfer, about the violinists Kreisler, Ysaye, and Paganini and a little bit about my violin, and where it comes from (the owners were celebrating that day there anniversaries and had invited lots of people to the concert and we had an incredible party afterwards).
Monday and tuesday I spend with my friend Esme, who lives now in Lausanne. Her balcony overlooks the Lake of Geneva and the French Alps, incredible. I spend lots of time reading and just relaxing a little bit. Yesterday I met my future collegues in the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. This orchestra is going to be so much fun. People are incredibly nice and there is a freshness about their way of looking to be a musician, almost a little bit like an utopia. I love the fact that poelpe are not in it because of the money, but because of their ultimate love for music. How many orchestras do you know, have a birthday calander in their bathroom? Right now I am listening to their newest CD with works of Tchaikovsky and Verdi, and especially their viola group is amazing! I am really looking forward to next season working with them!
Today is the final round of the National Violin Competition. One of the V-com members, Bob van der Ent, will be playing Wieniawsky 2nd with the Conservatory Orchestra of The Hague. Birthe Blom and Cecilia Bernardini, the other finalists are playing Bruch concerto, and all three will be playing a newly composed Dutch piece. During the jury meeting, all previous prizewinners of the past 20 times it has been held will be playing Telemann Concerto for 4 violins and Bach's Preludio (x20...) This afternoon we will have the rehearsal. I am curious to see what Bach times 20 sounds like...
But it is always such a pleasure to play in the main hall of the Concertgebouw, and I am excited to see many people. One of my old teachers is on the jury and another one is leading this old prizewinner group and there are many old friends who are playing as well.
If you happen to be in Holland, come listen. The three finalists are very special people and you will see 3 very different but interesting characters and I think you will hear 3 very different and beautiful violin concertos!
But first I am going to go shopping, by myself a new top for the concert tonight :-)

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June 11, 2005 23:40

Right now, I am in Tartu, in the southeast of Estonia. I have been working with the Collegium Consonante, a young orchestra from Tallinn. On Friday we had a regular concert, although not so regular for me. First of all, normally I am either the soloist, or I play in the orchestra. In this particular concert I was tutti player, concert master and soloist.
The most unusual was the performance of the Vivaldi. Vivaldi inspired the 4 Seasons on poems, and it describes very well that somewhere there are wasps and flies or dogs barking, other places he describes different kind of birds and other places for instance thunder. We used some electronic sound effects, so you could actuall hear the wasps flying right before the second movement in the summer. And the thunder was very real, not only did they put the sound on it, but also light effects. This we had not rehearsed, so I was consistently surprised during the concert about the light effects. I was very glad the conductor insisted on me using the music, otherwise it might have been a mess...

Today I have a day off, we drive back to Tallinn and tomorrow morning very early I will fly back to Amsterdam. A friend of mine is having her final examination and she organised an entire orchestra, to accompany her. On friday my travels will bring me to Switzerland, for a solo recital in the church in Saanen. Menuhin played here often, he always stayed in Saanen in the summer. Whenever you walk through the town, there are little remembrances about his time there. Very impressive to be able to play here. A couple years ago, during a vacation, I sneaked into the church to play a little bit. Now I get to do it officially. I am looking forward to it!

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June 8, 2005 14:40

Greetings from Tallinn, Estonia. I am here to play at a festival this weekend, both in the orchestra and as a soloist. Tonight we rehearsed Vivaldi's Gloria with Choir and it was amazing. When we started I just had one of those moments in which I am so happy to be a musician. I have not felt great the past weeks, but when the music started it was just gone. I was simply happy, incredible what harmony musical harmony can bring!

Tallinn is a beautiful middle age town, I just walked a little bit past the old city wall. It is quite incredible, feels like you are in a fairy tail. On top of that, Estonian beer is pretty good. The concertmistress is Latvian, her husband is leader of the celli, and we had a good time going out after the rehearsal. It is very strange, rehearsal ended at 11 pm and it was still light outside, and still now (1am) it is not completely dark, and subsequently it feels weird to go to bed. But I probably should...

A couple months ago, I came for the first time to Estonia, I am glad I got to go back, this time I can see a little bit of the country. Most of the rehearsals are in Estonian, but I keep thinking of the Swedish chef in the Muppet show, because it sounds very simular... This weekend I will be going to another town where I am playing: Tartu (tell ne that does not sound like the swedish chef...) and monday back for a couple days to Holland. Then I get to go to my favorite country in the world: Switzerland. I decided today I would love to play Stravinsky Elegie on the recital, so I have some practicing to do next week. But for now: goodnight!

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More entries: July 2005 • May 2005

June 2005

June 30, 2005 02:11

June 11, 2005 23:40

June 8, 2005 14:40

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