I don't worry about status


My photo shows Sir Colin Davis conducting the Chamber Orchestra Anglia in Elgar's First Symphony in an open work shop yesterday afternoon at the Norwich Festival.

We talked to the 80 year old Sir Colin after he had topped two full length rehearsals with a full-on play through of the three last movements of the symphony. I commented to him that there weren't too many conductors of his status who would give up a day to rehearse a student orchestra. Back in a flash came his reply -'Oh you see, I don't worry about status'.

The student musicians really played their heart's out for Sir Colin. But, as my photo below shows, they do seem to have picked up some of the bad habits of their professional colleagues. (Why is it always the brass players?)


More on Sir Colin and Elgar 1 here.

Photos (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Comments

violainvilnius said…
Brass players don't exactly have that much to do - do you see those long bars of rest? And the notes don't look like rocket science either....
4:17 pm
Unknown said…
I applaud Sir Colin for his attitude, but I wonder: how on earth does a chamber orchestra manage Elgar 1?
7:34 pm
Pliable said…
Jeffrey, it was a very much augmented chamber orchestra for Elgar 1.

If you look carefully at my header photo you will see some players who are a little older than the normal 25 years upper limit for the Chamber Orchestra Anglia.

There were even two harps!
7:40 pm
Steve Freeman said…
Denis Wick (previous 1st Trombone LSO) put it this way. Playing symphony brass is like flying a Jumbo. Long periods of boredom with nothing to do, followed by a few minutes of terror when you land the plane.
10:09 am
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