Still Obsessing

It's been a week since the concert of the season, and I still cannot get Augustin's performance out of my head. I know I raved about his playing in my previous blog, but I thought I would also add a few "behind the scenes" moments. Augustin's virtuosity aside, the Shostakovich violin concerto is an absolute panic to prepare. It is written in such a way that it is always on the edge of catastrophe. The orchestra is absolutely spent by the end of the piece because of it's razor sharp intensity.

I was also pleased for Michael Gilbertson. New music is always a risk and you never know how it is going to be received. On the first rehearsal of his work "Vigil" I could sense a collective question mark coming from the orchestra--the sort of wondering if I had completely lost my marbles. Like anything else though, the more we became familiar with the piece, and the better our execution, the more Michael's work came to life. By the end of the run, it had become one of my favorite works of the season.

I am proud that the oldest work on the program (Firebird) was a mere 93 years old. Which goes to show you that a symphony orchestra isn't just a museum piece but is a breathing, living organism which is still creating wonderful works of art.

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