Alban's Blog

Holidays combined with Work in Paradise

foto-96.jpgNow I finally understand good old Pablo (Casals) who moved to Puerto Rico when he was 80 years old, got married to a young Puerto Rican and died there 16 years later. OK, I am far from being Casals, and I am not 80 yet, neither have I moved here – but being 4 weeks in a row at the same place has almost got the feel of living here, especially since I did indeed married a young Puerto Rican (14 years ago) and do live right now in the house of her parents. Sure, I knew the island before, but this is the first time that I have had the luxury of spending plenty of time here while having to practise – and it is so much more fun than I thought it would be.I just made it my custom to sit for three hours from 10 until 1 pm after having had a huge cafe con leche and two mangos from the garden on the terrace overlooking all these gorgeous palm trees and the other gigantic rain-forest-like plants while practising away, learning fervently the new piece which today officially entered my brain – I have learnt it by heart at last. One month of practising it more or less every day (with interruptions of travel and laziness) I have accumulated about 60 hours now, and I am so relieved to know it 2 weeks prior to the recordings already. For the first time in my life (!) I am too early with having learned a piece, and it feels great. Maybe it has to do with age, that I become more responsible with deadlines, or just luck that I had 4 weeks off, I don’t know, or maybe it is indeed the good vibes of Puerto Rico, the beach in the afternoon, the crazy pool-games I am playing with my son János, and last but not least the delicious food of my mother-in-law Carmen.

Only downside is the incredible humidity (feels like 110%…) which made my cello expand and somehow the string height increase that I could hardly push the strings down two octaves above the open strings; well, I thought it was the humidity, until today I tried to save my poor bridge which looked strangely bent. I took it off to “massage” it a bit and straighten it up, and immediately the soundpose fell down. My violinmaker in Berlin, Ingeborg Behnke, took the time to talk me through the process of checking different things which my poor old Goffriller, et voilá, the neck is loose. Rather bad news, since it requires a bigger operation I am not ready and willing to perform in Puerto Rico. This afternoon we found a lovely luthier here on the island who will run some glue right between neck and corpus (of the cello, obviously… :)), cut me a substitute bridge so that I can continue working without ruining my poor hurting fingers.

So today I had no cello to work on but I had promised myself to finish memorizing the Chin Concerto; so I practised without the infamous piece of wood between my legs, going through the piece bar by bar with and without music, and tonight, at the beach, I forced the last page into my brain, while the waves were giving me a very welcome background sound – so soothing and pieceful, the perfect setting for the ending of a gorgeous work which I can from today on call my own!

Comments

  • Guanaco

    I did the same thing to my cello the day before our orchestra’s spring concert. I was able to reset the soundpost in time for the concert using some laboratory tongs – “not bad for an amateur” according to my luthier, who reset the soundpost and replaced my wobbly bridge several days later.

    I lived for many years in Jamaica (a long time ago) and your description brings back so many fond memories of the Caribbean.

    I always look forward to reading your latest blog entry. Thank you for taking the time to write for us.

    Reply
  • Alban

    I am very impressed – you managed to get the soundpose up’n running? Incredible, I didn’t even consider trying it – I guess I was happy not having to touch this cello for two days and instead trying the “mental work” which I am always too afraid of doing, because I HATE using my brain, but it does me well…
    Yes, yes, the Caribbeans, rather enchanting! Jamaica – we went there in 1998, and the day after our arrival my wife found out she was pregnant; good memories 🙂

    Reply
  • Manfred van Os

    Lieber Alban Gerhardt,
    so gut wie Ihr Englisch ist meines nicht, deshalb erlauben Sie mir, dass ich diesen Eintrag in unserer gemeinsamen Muttersprache schreibe.
    Hoffentlich erholen Sie sich gut in Puerto Rico. Neue, andere Eindrücke geben einem die Kraft, die Aufgaben der Zukunft zu meistern. Sie kommen ja wahrlich in der Welt herum, aber was sehen Sie davon? Geniessen Sie daher die Zeit mit Ihrem Sohn. Sie Beide profitieren davon. Hier in Billerbeck ist es seit Wochen sehr feucht und warm. Wenn das so weitergeht, dann bekommen wir auch im Münsterland den tropischen Regenwald :-))
    Ich will versuchen, zu Ihren Konzerten in Minden oder Paderborn zu kommen. Spielen Sie auf Ihrer Echo-Preis-Verleihung im ZDF?
    Herzliche Grüße und erholen Sie sich gut.
    Manfred van Os

    Reply
  • Alban

    Lieber Manfred van Os,

    thank you for your entries – please forgive me for responding in English but since most people understand it I make my life easier by sticking to one language 🙂
    I found your entries in my obviously bad spam-filter (maybe because it was in German?) and now I am afraid that other messages of readers went by unnoticed – the spam is really, really awful on this site, at some point it was 500 per day and I gave up checking on it. Today, just by accident (and because the coffee was too big and the e-mails too few…) I checked the spam for the first time, and there was your message…
    Sorry for all these I didn’t find, it is NOT meant as a censorship – anything gets posted, also critical stuff, except spam.
    I don’t know if I will be playing at the ECHO-Award ceremony – I am free, but it will be probably somebody who records with a major label, and I am with Hyperion, an indepedent label. We’ll see.

    Beste Grüße auch an Sie,
    Alban Gerhardt

    Reply
  • Pablo Hernandez

    Hello Alban:

    Even though I am a professional photographer, I have been playing the cello for 15 years, I began playing when I was 11. Throughout the years, you have become one of my favorite cellists (among a few others like Yo-Yo Ma, Lynn Harrell and my first cello teacher Orlando Guillot). I always enjoy your blog entries, but I definitely enjoyed this one with all my heart since I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. I enjoyed it that much because every time I hear or see somebody from other country, fall in love with Puerto Rico, that makes me feel even more proud of my beautiful country. I would love to see you playing the cello in Puerto Rico. I have never had that opportunity. Maybe we can even talk for a few minutes. I wish you success both in your family life and in your cello life :D.

    Best wishes,
    Pablo Hernandez

    Reply
  • Michael Chen

    Hey Alban:
    I can’t comment on the technicals regarding the cello but as far as “mental practice” and practicing on a “wounded” instrument, you ARE in very good company! I remember reading that Walter Gieseking once learned a concerto he had to perform in New York(?) while traveling aboard a ship without a piano. I believe Charles Dutoit also told the story of his ex-wife Martha Argerich’s student days and how she learned a difficult concerto piece almost overnight in her room, again without the piano, prior to the public performance the next day. In terms of “wounded” instrument, Alfred Cortot once said a pianist should never blame the instrument, no matter how out of shape the instrument at hand was. A good pianist should always be able to adapt his/her skill to the instrument. Now , I am not sure how far one can take that suggestion seriously when applied to the Cello!!!LOL

    cheers,
    Michael

    Reply
  • Alban

    Hey Michael,
    I completely agree – to blame ones instrument is the easy way out and a very stupid thing to do, because especially as a pianist there is nothing you can do, you have to deal with the instrument you have got and try to make it work. Best way to make something work well is if you believe in it.
    This is the reason I have been playing on a cello with a broken neck for probably about 2 months now – I ignored the fact that it became more and more difficult to play on it, blaming myself and pushing it to the limits, until now, here in Puerto Rico, I could not push down the strings anymore without being in pain… Well, this is stupid, I know, it also has to do with my laziness in shlepping myself to the violinmaker. For years I never went to a luthier for a soundpost adjustement (you can play around with the soundpost to get the best possible sound out of your instrument) because I just couldn’t be bothered, and it is the same today – maybe once a year I go to have the sound checked and I am always amazed how much better the cello sounds afterwards.
    Best wishes,
    Alban

    Reply
  • Alban

    Hi Pablo,
    well, it has been a while that I have not performed in Puerto Rico which I regret very much, but I guess that right now there hasn’t been enough interest – also I am not good in staying in touch with the important people who could invite me (Casals-Festival), or rather, I am totally incompetent in doing that. I have the addresses of the right people to contact but I am far too lazy in doing that.
    Sure, whenever I play here again, please feel free to come backstage and talk to me. Good for you to keep up the cello while having another creative profession, photography!
    Cheers,
    Alban

    Reply
  • Pablo Hernandez

    Hi Alban,

    Thank you so much for giving an answer to my comment. To be honest, cello performance was my primary profession, but when I was studying cell performance in the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, I had to retire after the second semester due to health problems. I have been able to leave most of those problems behing, but I left my cello studies behind as well. The beautiful thing of all of this, is that after quit music I finally realized that love music and the cello with all my heart, something I was not able to find out before in my life. Life continues and my passion for cello too, that is what counts.

    Best wishes for you and your family,
    Pablo

    Reply
  • Thomas Walter

    Hi Alban,

    its great to read how much you respect your instrument and push yourself to the limits instead of complaining about it. While reading the article it came to my mind ones more that I personally should just do all what I’m able to do and not wishing me a new instrument 🙂

    At this moment I listen to your cd of Volkmann concerto; are that cadencas you play your own?
    I the old Schott publication of the concerto a printed others.

    Nice greets!

    Thomas

    Reply
  • Alban

    Hi Thomas,

    sorry for the late answer – no, I am not playing my own candenzas of the Volkmann concerto, it’s just the ones written in my edition (don’t remember which edition that was, sorry…).
    Yes, it is better to try to make the best out of one’s own instrument, since that is what we have to work on. Whenever I give a masterclass, I always play on the student’s instrument to demonstrate what is possible to do with a lesser instrument when using the bow the right way… 🙂

    Best wishes,

    Alban

    Reply

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