One of the questions that Minnesota Orchestra players are often asked these days is why we sit the way we do, with the second violins opposite the firsts and the basses on the stage right edge rather than the left. We’ve answered that one here on the blog at least once, but for those who desire a more complete (and completely hilarious) explanation of orchestra seating charts, Rainer Hersch has got you covered…
He’s definitely not wrong about the bar in the rehearsal area…
Hersch does entire concerts of music-based comedy, though for some reason he doesn’t seem to work a lot in America. (Perhaps we could change that, Ms. Principal Conductor of Pops and Presentations?) Anyway, here he is working some of his best material Down Under with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, who definitely seem to be enjoying themselves…
Hi Sam, thanks for introducing me to Rainer Hersch. These clips here are absolutely hilarious and Hersch is a brilliant comedian. I would not mind going to these performances at Minnesota Orchestra at all!
Victor Borge’s successor. I second the motion for bringing him here. He could do a routine on the conducting technique of different conductors–maybe do Osmo’s pppp direction 2 inches from the floor so the orchestra players have to stand up to see where he went…
BTW, since you used to work there: What is the deal with the Attack Site designation that Google has given artsjournal.com? Google can be pretty arbitrary about this kind of thing, but there can be good reasons too.
WBS, I wish I knew what’s up with ArtsJournal’s Google block, but I don’t. I left my editor’s job at the site at the end of 2008, but it’s remained my homepage ever since, and I’m basically seeing what you’re seeing. I chose not to bug Doug McLennan about it today, since I assume he’s logging hundreds of e-mails an hour right now asking why AJ is blocked.
If I had to register a guess, I’d say their code got hacked, and Google picked up on the third-party bugs. AJ supports a ton of separate pages, and also hosts dozens of blogs which are all under the control of the bloggers themselves, some of whom are none too tech-savvy. I’d be willing to bet that the infected pages are on the blog side of things – I’ve been bypassing the warning screen to AJ’s front page for the last few hours with no ill effects…
Thanks for sharing this!
Sam, I missed hearing about Mahler this week. I loved the concert! The marimba concerto was really interesting. The Mahler was interesting, too, but quite convincing, primarily for its clarity in illuminating contrasting musical ideas. The orchestra sounds awesome, and the ensemble playing is absolutely the best I’ve ever heard it. So, didn’t you or the musicians enjoy the Mahler this week? The 7th is my favorite of his symphonies…. Cinda
Cinda, I don’t often write about the music we’re rehearsing and performing while it’s still going on, partly because I don’t feel that I have a complete picture of most of the music we play until after the week is over, and partly out of respect to my colleagues in the orchestra, who might not want the details of our rehearsal process splashed all over the web.
That having been said, I love playing Mahler, exhausting as it inevitably is. While the 7th isn’t one of my personal favorites, I’m very much enjoying the performances, and the audiences have been great so far…