While You May Be Resting STL Symphony Blog While you may be resting after a long day, remember that the St. Louis Symphony and Chorus, guest conductor Christopher Warren-Green and guest vocalists are at work at Powell Hall getting their Handel down in the evening, and saving all the best for performances of Messiah Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra ; 5 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

All-Time Favorite STL Symphony Blog St. Louis Symphony cellist Alvin McCall remembers a recording of Messiah to have been one of his all-time favorites when he was about 10 years old. "I played it forever. I think it was a Colin Davis recording with the LSO. I fell in love with it back then, and it hasn't changed." After playing many Messiahs over the years, McCall still looks forward to Handel's greatest-hit-of-all-time oratorio. "Even though the violins have most of the tunes, Handel gives the cellos some nice accompanying lines. It's nice to sit back and listen to the singers and play." Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra ; 5 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

After Work STL Symphony Blog St. Louis Symphony English horn player Cally Banham's morning concertizing was done, but she rushed from backstage to the balcony to hear her orchestra play Hindemith's Mathis der Maler Symphony. After the finale she said to me: "Isn't this hall fantastic? And doesn't the orchestra sound great? They just keep getting better and better." You can hear how great they sound on Saturday. Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra ; 5 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Classical Comedy STL Symphony Blog David Robertson gave the musicians some insight into the comedic elements of Richard Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, first violinist Helen Kim told me. Till is, as the title suggests, an archetypal prankster, one who upsets conventions, institutions and all formality. Groucho Marx comes to mind. And like the Marx Brothers, Till Eulenspiegel is very funny, and funny in the most bass ways. For example, Robertson explained to the musicians, a punctuated low note is representative of Till letting a fart. Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra ; 5 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Turn the Pages in Quotation Marks STL Symphony Blog Something new under the sun today: Kirill Gerstein viewed the music to Thomas Ades' In Seven Days on an iPad perched above the keyboard; he used a foot pedal to turn the pages. Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra ; 5 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Favorite David Robertson Metaphor of the Day STL Symphony Blog During rehearsal of Hindemith's Mathis der Mahler Symphony: "...play like you're carrying something precious with each note." Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra ; 5 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Cyber Monday STL Symphony Blog Rather than taking to cyberspace on this Monday after Thanksgiving, St. Louis Symphony staff were getting their hands into boxes of garland and ribbon and lights and bright, shiny balls to decorate Powell Hall. A lot of the morning was spent fluffing ribbons that had lost their fluff over the year. Powell Hall gets in the mood for the holidays. YO Manager Jessica Ingraham decorates a tree Front of House Manager Leneia Weston makes a wreath Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra ; 5 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Applause STL Symphony Blog I asked Gil Shaham about the "correctness" of applause following the first movement of the Beethoven Violin Concerto. Shaham responded with a story, perhaps apocryphal, of the first performance of the concerto, by Franz Clement. As the story goes, not only was there sustained applause, but Clement stopped the show with a little improvisation, including a trick in which he turned the fiddle upside down and played it. Oh, those wild, unbuttoned, 19th-century Viennese. Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra ; 5 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

1806 STL Symphony Blog Gil Shaham was shaking his head vigorously, side to side, in a mock Beethoven-like intensity during Friday morning rehearsal of the Violin Concerto. It is hard to comprehend the reality of that intensity. Consider this: in 1806, among the works Ludwig van Beethoven completed were his Fourth and Fifth Symphonies; the Razumovsky String Quartets; a revision of the opera Leonore, including the Leonore Overture that is most often played today; the Fourth Piano Concerto; and the Violin Concerto. And that is only a selective list. A year for Beethoven, a career not even imaginable to most. It makes you shake your head. Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra ; 5 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Happy Thanksgiving STL Symphony Blog A joyous holiday to all. The orchestra returns Friday morning to rehearse Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major with Gil Shaham.  Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra ; 5 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story