December-born composers and random music-related musings

1)  As I write this, I'm listening to various tunes and incidental music by Jean Sibelius, whose violin concerto I especially adore.  Today I say it's my favorite, but I'm awfully fickle in these sort of matters.  It was, however, one of those rare pieces of music (like Bach's Chaconne) that I liked from the first listen, and from the very first bar.

Anyway, what makes Sibelius of particular interest to me is that his birthday is one day before mine.

Indeed, I was listening to Berlioz on Friday for a similar reason--his birthday is two days after mine.

And then there's Beethoven, whose birthday is a week later.

In general, I don't believe in astrology and psychics and all that, but it is fun to think that we Sagittarii have something in common. ^_^

2) I've always been curious how orchestras find/pick substitutes when a particular artist cancels a concert.

Last week, Julia Fischer played the Brahms violin concerto with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in Madrid.  However, a quick glance at the Orchestra's schedule reveals Janine Jansen was originally scheduled as the soloist.  Interesting.

This little incident reminds me of it's inverse--earlier this year I was extremely excited to be able to see Ms. Fischer play the Bach solo partitas and sonatas in Carnegie Hall, but about a month before the concert the tour was canceled.  I suppose it was a good thing that Carnegie Hall simply refunded my money instead of substituting another violinist--it would not have been the same at all!

I truly hope that Julia Fischer will play her solo Bach in New York some time soon!  Or else I really might have to try to travel to see her play...

3) Speaking of Julia Fischer, will her next recording be of  Joseph Suk’s Fantasy for Violin and Ottorino Respighi’s Poema Autunnale?  A press release about Monaco's Philharmonic Orchestra reveals this tidbit:

Julia Fischer, a young 26-year-old violinist, will be the artist in residence.  Julia Fischer is an internationally renowned violinist, one of the most brilliant of her generation, and one of Yakov Kreizberg’s closest musical partners.  She will perform in two concerts, interpreting Joseph Suk’s Fantasy for Violin and Ottorino Respighi’s Poema Autunnale on 20 November, and Brahms’ Double Concerto on 4 March.  She will also tour in Spain with the Orchestra, and will make a recording, conducted by Yakov Kreizberg.

I'm not familiar with these pieces, but I welcome any recordings with Julia Fischer!

4) A few weeks ago I happened to find a link detailing the audition process for NYCB's orchestra.  (I have no idea how I stumbled upon this.) According to the site, a violinist needs to play the first movement of the Tchaikovsky or Sibelius violin concertos as part of the audition!  I admit I'm not very familiar with the level of skill among your average professional violinist, but that seems awfully difficult--it's a ballet orchestra, after all, not the NY Philharmonic!!

Then again, NYCB does have all those violin concertos in its repertoire--Barber and Stravinsky, to name a few, so it would probably be useful to have a number of violinists who can tackle the solo.

Or perhaps the rigorous audition process simply speaks to the high level of skill of the NYCB orchestra.  I have to admit, one of my major qualms with the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra is that they can sound embarrassingly amateurish--the violin solo in the White Swan pas de deux from "Swan Lake" always seems to go out of tune on the high runs, and the horns are absolutely dreadful in "Romeo & Juliet."

Yes, if I had the money to be a major donor at ABT, that's definitely one thing I would change--beef up the orchestra into one that is worthy of Tchaikovsky's or Prokofiev's scores, and also, perhaps, premiere new scores for new ballets.