Concerts in Spain promise a very late night, because first of all they start officially at 20h30 or even 22h45, often not too punctual. After the performance members of audience and orchestra appear to be less shy than elsewhere to talk to the sweaty cellist (in this specific case Prokofiev’s gigantic Cellosymphony on the program, body fluids in abundance…) about more or less everything between stolen cellos and pulpo for at least another half hour, before one finally moves either with the entourage of the Maestro (as yesterday with lovely Jesus Lopez-Cobos) or some orchestra members into one of the Spanish coastal town’s delicious restaurants.
Alban's Blog
Cellist on Pilgrimage
After spending some cold and wet days in Calgary, where I first played half a solo recital for the sponsors (oh, I was so jetlagged that I got lost twice in my 5th Bachsuite – well, isn’t it a nice excuse, the jetlag, although I tend to get lost in that piece with the tuned down A String more or less each time I have to play it :)) and then the following days for the first time in some while the Dvorak with the excellent Calgary Philharmonic under James Judd, I was supposed to have almost an entire day at home for repacking and family purposes – unfortunately (or finally again!) we are experiencing an amazing winter in Berlin, really cold, tons of snow but with the minor side effect of cancelled flights and long delays at various airports.
If you have nothing to say…
… don’t say anything. This very wise saying I kept in mind for the last few weeks, not writing a single sentence in this little blog here – batteries and head empty, time for retreat and recharging the run-down, abused system. One of my tricks how to deal with the stress of performing and travelling, the tristesse of being alone and without family, is simple: I ignore it, I pretend it doesn’t exist, I ask from myself to be superhuman – but at the end of the day, I am not, and I felt it very strongly after my last performance in Frankfurt on December 19 with two Boccherini Concertos (radio orchestra and Markus Stenz were my partners – don’t remember how it went at all, everything blanked out). I was ready for a good rest, and luckily enough I didn’t have to look at my cello for three weeks altogether, just enjoying the Christmas days in the circle of my rather large family (4 sibblings with tons of kids on their own) and my little one at home. Even New Year’s celebration was very calm but beautiful, with a very good friend coming over with his family, cooking together, drinking, talking, playing games – and suddenly it was midnight and for once we all went to bed early.
With good reason: we had a plane to catch the next morning at 10 am. No, not the first concert of the year, God no, but something much better: skiing in France, in one of the biggest ski resorts of the world with 420km of pistes. Soooo much fun, great weather (or at least most of it), pretty cold, but incredible skiing with more pistes than I could ever have dreamt of. My son János and me went for it all day long, hardly ever repeating a piste twice going down like little devils, which wasn’t too dangerous because the strangely enough there weren’t too many people around. What better thing to do for getting your energy back?! 7 hours a day in the open, fresh mountain air, sleeping 10 hours every night, cooking, reading, playing cards while not skiing – and the most amazing part I hadn’t even realized before is that time passes very slowly, which meant these 9 days of holidays felt like a month.
No, I didn’t break anything, didn’t fall or hurt myself in anyway, skiing with passion but caution, and now I am back on track, sitting right now in yet another airport lounge (at London Heathrow) after having played yesterday the first concert of the new decade, the Walton with the BBC Wales in Cardiff, my debut in that city, not with that orchestra though with whom I have played already many times, though never in their home town. David Atherton was conducting, and with all this snow having fallen onto Central Europe I was happy my arrogant travel plans allowed me to arrive in time for the first rehearsal on Thursday early afternoon; […]
Teaching and Performing
My father is one of the most dedicated teachers I have ever come across. Since more or less 50 years he has tought the violin, starting at the tender age of 17, and now, after retiring from playing in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for 43 years, he will still have his students at the UdK in Berlin as well as his work with the German Youth Orchestra to make a smooth transition into full retirement (as if this would ever happen…). His dedication and enthusiasm for teaching has made a very big impression on me with a very funny affect: I love to teach, and I grab any possibility of a masterclass to teach – nevertheless because of my father’s dedication I refuse to take a teaching position. I would not be able to fulfill it with the same responsability and care he has shown and which I am convinced is necessary; students seek and need a lot of attention and help, and with me travelling extensively and trying to be as dedicated a father as I can be, I know some of the three things (family, playing, teaching) if not all three would suffer.
This said it might explain why I agreed to accept to teach two masterclasses and play two concerts in two rather different cities within 34 hours this passed weekend: on Saturday I tought four (highly gifted) cellists from the New World Symphony from 11am-2pm in Miami Beach, played the same evening the second concert of our Haydn D Major, flew Sunday very early (after a delightful late-night party with the young players of this highly inspiring orchestra – their Brahms IV had great passion and emotion in a way of a youth orchestra, but with the perfection of a professional group) to Montreal, rehearsed with Cecile Licad and played an afternoon recital, attended the reception afterwards and then tought 4 students of Matt Haimowitz from 7-9pm.
To be honest I feel rather inadequate at teaching; I know that I can analyze technical problems very well, and because of the excellent teachers I had (especially Markus Nyikos in Berlin) I can also explain and solve them. But as soon as it comes to music I feel much less able to help the players. Different reasons: first of all I don’t really like any kind of pretentious talk about music – using metaphors and images which sound good in theory and might make the teacher look good don’t really help the student much, at least in my experience. Well, let me rephrase it: I have heard numerous times empty musical comments from teachers, conductors and musicians in my life that I have become a bit allergic against meaningless images. But there are some who are masters in using them, and I have greatest respect when somebody manages to put a musical thought into words in a way, that a gifted student (or orchestra musician) can actually change the way he or her plays a certain phrase.
Carlos […]
Haydn in Miami Beach…
Wireless Internet at the pool in Miami Beach
It feels like holidays! Even though I had a very intense rehearsal today with the New World Symphony here in Miami Beach, I haven’t felt like that since a couple of months – funny, what a little bit of sun can do. After arriving here last night at around 11 pm I followed the advice of the driver who picked me up from the airport and went to two of the places where “it’s happening”. He didn’t tell me what was happening, and until now I don’t quite understand what is so special about a couple of hundred people, lots of booze and loud music. But except myself they all seemed to have a great time, “hanging out” and small-talking their way through the night – well, let’s face it, I am a complete bore, don’t dare to talk to anybody, don’t drink on my own and in the middle of many happy, sociable people I manage to stay as lonely as on a desert island, except that I might have been happier on that island.
Copenhagen’s gorgeous new concert hall
I heard the rumour that 300 journalists got get laid off because the Danish Radio Station went completely over budget with their new concert hall in Copenhagen and in order to avoid bancrupcy they had to cut down their work force. Last week I had the immense pleasure to play in this absolutely stunning looking hall which and as much as it must have heard the people who lost their job, this hall was indeed worth the effort. I have never ever seen anything like it, although the architect must have been inspired by the Berliner Philharmonie with the audience sitting around the stage – but unlike in Berlin it is much less spread out, the feeling is more intimate, and the warm colours make it look like the coziest living room space. Acoustically it felt very good on stage, and the big Tchaikovsky Suite in the second half (never had heard that piece before) sounded very impressive from my seat in the hall. No, I chose not to sit in and play because I wanted to hear the Danish Radio Orchestra in their new hall as a normal listener.
Elgar in Rhode Island with the substitute bow
Larry Rachleff, the conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, told the audience in the post-concert talk that I did these two concerts in Providence as a “run-out” from Berlin which is actually nicely put – it almost feels like that, and I love it. My manager once asked me if she should connect the dates in the US so that I don’t have to fly for single engagements across the Atlantic, and I declined that offer because it would mean that I have at least three free days in between, and in these three days I could be home, practising the piano with my son… 🙂
Breaking Bows and Strings in London
“What a passionate performance! You must be a very passionate man?” was the question (in French, oh mon Dieu…) in a radio interview during intermission in Brussels ten days ago. My answer wasn’t flattering to myself, but what do you expect me to say? “No, I am not passionate at all, rather very boring.” Well, this is what I answer when I am being asked questions like that, especially since I felt pretty empty and thus boring after the Walton performance. I had to think of this interview because today I did something seemingly very passionate: first my bow broke in the middle of the first movement of Brahms’ F-Major Sonata during my rehearsal with Steven Osborne two hours prior to our lunchtime concert at the Wigmore Hall in London, and then, within 2 minutes of our live-broadcast concert my D String broke. Passion? Or just bad luck??
ECHO Gala
I just finished a far too long day; at 2:30 am I returned to my hotel in Brussels after exchanging the Meeuwissen cello with my Goffriller, packed my suitcase, slept 4 hours and took an early train at 7:18 am back to Berlin. After my flight into Brussels was even cancelled last week and I missed half of my first and only rehearsal for the Walton Concerto, I was happy to take the train back home, even though I wasn’t all that lucky – some problems with the powerline delayed us for an hour. In Berlin I had half hour to shower, switch to a more formal look and drive with my little car to Dresden where that evening the popular ECHO-awards for various recordings were handed out at a gala event in the famous Semper-Opera.
Experiments on Stage – Too Risky?
In an interview I was recently asked if after playing the premier of the Chin Concerto by heart there were no more risks to take. I didn’t quite understand the question, and I felt it was necessary to indulge a little bit in what “taking risks” actually means. Obviously it is the opposite to “playing it safe” which already at the age of 21 I felt wasn’t my way. My father wanted me to join his orchestra (Berlin Philharmonic) and I would have been safe for the rest of my life, at least financially. I opted against it, feeling deep inside the need to keep on living on the edge, with no fixed income.