Around this time last year I was contacted by the
Taranaki Symphony Orchestra and asked if I would be interested in performing
with them as a soloist. I was thrilled with the offer as it is a big step up in
my performance experience to be offered such an opportunity.
The piece they had in mind was Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5. Now those of
you who know me well will be aware that Bach is not my first choice of music to
play. The man was brilliant and his music offers a widely varied choice of
repertoire, but Baroque music has not ever been my favorite. However, after
listening to the piece and reviewing the score I decided it was something I was
willing to tackle. Despite some struggles and frustrations along the way, I am
definitely glad I made that choice.
The concert was Thanksgiving weekend, although it was
not a holiday weekend here. It was the night of the Christmas parade though, so
there was lots of traffic in town and we had a good sized enthusiastic crowd.
All played well and I feel the night was a success. For those of you who could
not attend, below is a link to the recording. But first, a few notes about the
piece.
This concerto is for flute, violin, and harpsichord
soloists supported by a small string orchestra. The orchestra’s conductor was
the violin soloist, and the flute solo was played by the orchestras first chair flutist. I
jokingly told my family that the soloist line-up sounded like a bad joke since
we all have different nationalities. However, I think we worked well together and it was
an excellent learning experience for myself.
It is thought this particular concerto was the first
piece written to really highlight the harpsichord as a solo instrument, rather
than just a continuo (accompaniment) part. The piece has three movements, with
the first movement featuring the harpsichord in a flashy, technical cadenza.
Learning the piece mainly on piano and then
transferring to a harpsichord was a challenge and yet it made so much more
sense on the harpsichord. Once I was comfortable with the new instrument, it
was so evident the piece was composed for harpsichord over any other keyboard
instrument. The primary challenge in adjusting to the harpsichord was the difference in the keyboard. The keys are shorter and narrower, so while it was easier to master
the highly technical sections, it was also challenging to spatially adjust.
What I loved though is the lightness of the keys on a harpsichord. The cadenza
in particular had a number of extremely fast technical passages, so it felt
like my fingers could literally fly over the keys and not worry about missing
notes due to weighty keys.
It was a lot of hours spent practicing, and there were
frustrations along the way in regards to practice availability with the
harpsichord, concern over the instrument holding tune, disagreements on balance
between the soloists and the orchestra, and creativity on how to lay out my
music to minimize page turns and maximize my ability to see. But it all came
together in the end and I enjoyed the honor of performing as an orchestra
soloist for the first time in my musical career.
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| Still had to turn pages but not nearly as many.... :) |
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