What’s New
This morning I had the opportunity to attend an open rehearsal
by the CSO under Pierre Boulez in preparation for this weeks
concerts.
The program includes a piece by Boulez written in 1948, one
by Bartok from 1937 and Stravinsky’s Firebird from 1910. All
of these pieces would be considered new music by most of
the CSO audience. I’ll enjoy hearing them again Saturday night
at the real performance, but I wonder if most of the audience
will appreciate them.
For rehearsal, the Firebird was performed first, although it’ll
be last for the real concert. It’s one of those ballet scores
that seems kind of empty without seeing the dancers, but
the finale is still awe inspiring. 1910? Indeed.
The Bartok Concerto for two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra
was new to me, but I was happy to see percussionists
Cynthia Yeh and Vadim Karpinos featured up front with the two
pianos played by Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Tamara Stefanovich.
At rehearsal there was much discussion about the pianos.
The one in the front already had its lid removed, but the one
behind had it’s lid on and Pierre-Laurent couldn’t see the Maestro
over it. So four union guys pulled the hinge pins and took the
lid off. It’s a great piece with a subtle ending.
Boulez’s Livre pour cordes was all strings and was very pleasant
considering it was composed the year I was born 
–
Bruce
