Conductorily Yours

May concerts excellent!

2011-05-09T14:05:00.000-07:00

The Cloud Peak Symphony performed a concert Friday. May 6, at the WYO Theater and Saturday, May 7, in the Buffalo High School Auditorium. We performed Haydn's Symphony No. 86, a movement from Telemann's Wassermusik, an arrangement by Tim, and a nice medley of songs from "Cats." It was great!
I am hoping to post a few minutes of the Cummings piece as filmed by my wife's fancy phone. T

Exciting Concert Ahead!!!

2010-10-18T12:52:00.000-07:00

Our November 6 &7 concerts in Sheridan and Buffalo will feature a wonderful Sheridan High School student performing Mendelsohnn's Violin Concerto. He is wonderful to work with and the piece is flying out of the instruments. The Cloud Peak Symphony strings will also perform Grieg's Holberg Suite. The orchestra will open with Beethoven's Overture to Fidelio, and close with Bizet's "Farandole." I am beside myself with glee, or whatever TV show you watch ... me ... Big Bang Theory.

Joyous rehearsal had

2010-04-19T16:12:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a great rehearsal. Wonderful to have the Buffalo newcomers there, as well as the regular gang! Strings, I have emended Emendation to relieve us the strife of the "black notes" passage. I trimmed measures 57 through 64. It still makes sense, in a hairy-legged sort of way. See you Sunday!

Lost in a sea of recording -- Movement and Moment

2010-04-03T11:22:00.000-07:00

When young I had no choice but to listen to classical, orchestral music via the recordings – in my case, on 8-track tapes from the auto department of a K-mart 120 miles from home.

Wilhelm Furtwangler (d. 1954) was one conductor in the olden days, and Sergiu Celibidache more recently (d. 1996) that heard and felt the flattening effect of recorded orchestral music, and strenuously objected to it. At a first hearing, Furtwangler insisted that the audio technicians had made the recorded piece unrecognizable.

Recorded music helps point the intellect in the direction of how the piece goes, but, it sacrifices the moment that the music produces in terms of space and movement and placement. These very real aspects of music are compacted and delivered in a recycled, mangled cube of sound in much the same way that automobiles are crushed and returned to the smelters – the subtleties of their design and their very purpose for existing is lost to that father of mediocrity – convenience.

For example, how can it be that the back row filled with trombones, trumpets and horns can pronounce a fanfare, and be answered by the strings with no loss of volume or power? This is a trick of the mixing booth or of the synthesizer. In the auditorium, the strings have their own strength and tension, but it is not to the equal volume, and not the same kind of strength that the brass can put forth. We are accustomed to this now, so in real life, after our impression has been mashed together by recording norms, the strings tend to fail us.

We can't really believe that a solo clarinet on stage, situated in the midst of other winds and surrounded by a sea of strings would sound as though the bell of the horn is 18 inches from our face. Celibidache compared this compacting effect to a photograph, and asked, who would prefer to look at a photo album of the Alps for three days rather then spend three days in the mountains?

I tend to congratulate the audiences of the Cloud Peak Symphony for coming to an actual performance that is not as convenient as flipping on a player at home. “Thank you for joining us in this conspiracy to commit music,” I have said in opening remarks.

In the concert hall, the word “movement” is not only a technical term for a division or section of music, but also a word that describes the experience of living the sound.

Written notes on notes I have written

2010-03-31T09:02:00.001-07:00

In my concept of my own music I hear a more robust, muscular sonority from the strings. At first rehearsal, I am usually surprised by the shy sound that we produce together at the first read.
I cannot lay blame for this on the players. In other, better music, especially Haydn and Mozart, I most frequently use the term “finesse” to evoke a joyfully measured forte. “Excitement, not anger,” I will say. “In Haydn, ‘f’ means ‘finesse.’”
So I present them with a 21st Century piece written by a conductor who is trying to somehow pay his musical dues to the orchestra by contributing a composition – since the only instrument I play well at all is the orchestra itself – and suddenly I want the strings to sound not as sober or sweet, but maybe a little drunk and brash.
In rehearsal of “Indication for Strings,” I admonished them to “punk it out,” and play what we all agreed was “dirty strings.”
Even in the current work we are rehearsing, “Emendation,” we need to come to terms with this shy sound and be done with it. The music needs more horsehair in it, with about 90 percent of the bow in play.

And attitude.

Presently, the sound is afraid of the notes. I would love to reverse this and make the notes afraid of the sound.
If my players were Olympian athletes, I would want all discus throwers. Rhythm, finesse, speed and strength meet, and the disc is hurled as far afield as possible. In this way, a mezzo-piano whole note should smack the back row between the eyes such that they momentarily live the sound.

The Sheridan paragraph from Leonard Bernstein's biography

2010-03-29T14:42:00.000-07:00

"On their roundabout way home from Taos the Bernstein brothers visited Gus Rudolph, a Tanglewood student, at his ranch in Sheridan, Wyoming ... 'We plunged into the strenuous Wyoming life, working in effect as hired ranch hands from dawn to dusk and then drinking beer in town at night with the local cowboys.' Bernstein used a snapshot of himself on horseback as his 1949 holiday greetings card." (Page 182, Leonard Bernstein, by Humphrey Burton)
He had with him the uncompleted score of his second symphony, "Age of Anxiety," with which he was tinkering while on the road.
Bernstein, his brother and poet Stephen Spender drove here in Lenny's Buick convertible.

Piano Audio Recordings Not For Me

2010-03-23T01:39:00.000-07:00

I studied for a time with Canadian Composer David McIntyre, a student of Aaron Copland, and who subsequently introduced me to Lukas Foss and Gregory Millar. (Hey, if can't drop names in your own blog you wind up doing it indelicately in forced conversation).
I was auditioning for a collegiate choir in Canada where David was teacher and accompanist/arranger/composer. Without knowing he was brilliant -- plus the fact that he looked to be about 12 at the time -- I plopped my score from Bernstein's "Simple Song" from the Mass onto David's piano in prepartion to belt out the baritone.
"Oh, Bernstein," David said.
"Yeah," I said. "Think you can handle it?"
What a fool I made of me!
David taught me the value of placing myself under the more direct influence of music. He was an encouraging, quiet and profound musical presence in my life in those days.

Therefore, I have to say, I have avoided piano audio recordings like the plague. It is much so much more exciting and immediate to sit in the same room, in close promximity to the artist -- with nothing but our humanity and the inate spirituality that chaperone's all music into one's soul between us. This is electric and personal. It is important for me to see the artist's movements in the playing and performing. The artist and the piano become singular as the player becomes more essentially musical, and the instrument accomodating and welcoming to the personal. The result is not merely music, but an experience in musicality.
Better to be in the concert hall, if not actually on the stage with the performer, as I accidentally was back in 1976 when Igor Kipnis performed on his harpsichord in the Fine Arts Center at the University of Wyoming during its Elizabethan Days. By chance, myself and some of my motley friends were seated on overflow chairs on the stage. I was arm's length from the tip of his right shoulder. The recording would have induced irresistible napping, but on stage with Igor was captivating.
I have just heard an afternoon of Chopin performed at the WYO Theater, but, I would no more buy the CD than I would purchase an audio recording of a Broadway play. The motion and contribution of the key ingredient is absent -- the musician.
Now, the DVD is another matter. CD, borning. There is just too much missing. It is like eating a photograph of a good steak.

Sunday's rehearsal and Josh Wright

2010-03-22T02:12:00.000-07:00

We had another good turnout at the last rehearsal in Buffalo, with 17 of us.
We went through "Phantom" twice, and worked on the four movements of the Haydn symphony.
This coming Sunday will be a strings-only, plus flutes rehearsal, where we will take a good look at Emendation, the Holberg Prelude, and work in places in the Haydn.

The Josh Wright piano concert at the WYO Sunday afternoon was a real treat. As I told David, I know we don't miss the music that is never written, but what a hole it would have left had Chopin never composed. Ron Krikac has floated the idea that the CPS and Josh might get together in the future for a piano concerto of some sort.

News release to the WYO Theater

2010-03-21T00:27:00.000-07:00

The Cloud Peak Symphony, celebrating its fifth birthday this year, will present two classics, a new composition and a medley from a Broadway musical at its concert at 7 p.m. at the WYO Theater on Saturday, May 1.
The concert will feature the CPS musicians performing Haydn’s Symphony No. 82, the “Praelude” from Grieg’s Holberg Suite, a new one-movement piece by CPS conductor/composer Tim Cummings, and a medley of songs from Broadway’s “Phantom of the Opera.”
“The Haydn symphony and the Grieg piece are wonderful examples of music written to express joy and warmth in a way that brings out joy and warmth in the listener,” Cummings said.
The conductor’s piece, “Emendation for Strings and Two Flutes,” composed this year, is a string chorale “with two flutes floating above it like two swans skimming the surface of a quiet pond,” he said.
The Broadway selection is arranged for full orchestra and includes the title music, and the songs, “Think of Me,” “Angel of Music,” “The Music of the Night,” “Masquerade,” and “All I Ask of You.”
“We’ll probably have some more audience participation,” Cummings said, “so our audience will have a once-in-a-lifetime experience with us … maybe for the second or third time!”

Yes, yes. It is true that I have an idea to enhance the audience's experience of one of our pieces. Not sure if I will tell the musicians beforehand or not.

Benjamin Zander on music and passion | Video on TED.com

2010-03-19T19:51:00.000-07:00

Benjamin Zander on music and passion Video on TED.com

Joshua Wright in concert this Sunday

2010-03-16T12:31:00.000-07:00

This reminder from Emily:
There is going to be a fabulous piano concert on Sunday afternoon (March 21) at the WYO Theater and it is being brought in by the Sheridan Arts Council. They have spent a TON of money and time getting this young man to come and play for the community, and they would love to share his talents with a large audience ... Ron Krikac has been extremely helpful with the situation at the college, moving chairs and music stands and smoothing feathers, and he has been one of the primary people in charge of this event. In an effort to repay him for some of his kindness, it would be great to pack the theater. So if you have the time and the $12 then please consider attending the Josh Wright concert at 2 pm at the WYO Theater.

Good rehearsal in Buffalo!

2010-03-15T13:26:00.000-07:00

There were 19 of us at the Sunday-night rehearsal in Buffalo. We made progress on all four pieces that are slated for the May 1 and 2 concerts. Other than the conductor having trouble reading all the notes on the score (the Emporer was correct, "too many notes") the rehearsal was grand.
Many thanks to Emily for organizing the space for us at BHS. The Bisons should be proud.
Also Sunday we added two more string players to our ensemble. So, we now have eight violins (4 and 4), three violas and three celli.
It was decided to have the March 21 rehearsal in Buffalo as well, since we had already scheduled that rehearsal for that date. I promised tubaist Dale that we would go through "Phanotm" twice.
Plans are to return to the Sheridan College music room on March 28.

Fanfare for the Common Clan

2010-03-09T09:59:00.000-08:00

This year, 2010, marks the fifth year of the existence of the Cloud Peak Symphony in Sheridan, Wyoming. By means of this blog I hope to blurt something occasionally helpful or at least interesting to our players, our fans and our friends.
I am daily thankful and disbelieving that I have been given the wonderful opportunity to conduct this unlikely ensemble on the eastern edge of the Big Horn Mountains. I thought I was going to have to wait until Heaven to lead an orchestra, but, happily, Heaven has touched Earth on this podium for me to enjoy! Hurrah!