Travel and Scams.

I'm pleased to report that the wife is back in the French Chateau and being pampered by daughters Nos 1 & 2. She will enjoy that, and I hope that now she is in the care of those two they will start to wreak some sort of revenge for their upbringing on at least one of us! She (the wife) has to go back to hospital for a check-up on Wednesday and has more pills to take than hours in the day, but progress is being made.

Friday night I didn't sleep well as I knew a taxi would be knocking for me at 4am. I woke just before 1am and that was it. I chucked a more few things into my bags that I had remembered whilst asleep (more business cards etc) and awaited my transport. I'm quite pleased to be writing this as the taxi driver missed a roundabout, in some style, at 50 mph. I could now be in Redhill hospital with large parts of me splattered over the side of a cement mixer.We arrived at the airport before 4:30 and to my horror I found that the queue for Difficult-Jet already stretched outside the terminal! If they employed a few of the people doing crowd control to work on the check-ins .... I mustn't rant.

I did get to check-in on time (security doesn't actually do a cavity search, but it comes close these days) only to find the flight delayed by 45 minutes. No problem! I was mightily entertained by Gatwick’s travelator to gate 112, it goes over a taxi-way. If you use it at the right moment, you can see what a plane looks like from above.

The trip to Sofia was uneventful, we arrived at Terminal 1, typically of Difficult-Jet this is the old grotty one; so much so that there were no signs on what to do to transfer to Bulgaria Air. I checked my ticket and it did indeed mention my flight to Bourgas departed from Terminal 2, it was pouring outside and the place was thick with taxi touts but there were no signs for a shuttle bus. With the aid of a pretty lady and a taxi tout I found that Terminal 2 was 5km away, there was indeed a shuttle bus that ran from outside the departures entrance (of course!) and after getting a bit wet and taking a confusing call from Bulgaria Air (initially I thought she said my flight was cancelled) I found the shuttle bus and jumped on.

Sofia airport Terminal 2 is modern, it even has shops! I got there about 12:30 local time, my flight to Bourgas was at 9pm, only eight and a half hours to wait. Why not go into Sofia I hear you cry. Well, I had a heavy suitcase and a significant amount of cash on me, I really didn’t want to be pick-pocketed. So I opted for the boring wait and the outrageously expensive airport food. £8 for a coffee and a sandwich.

The wait was spent listening to Figaro (just wonderful) and Rosini’s Stabat Mater. Why the latter, why not? It was there. I was also scammed, and in French too. I’m quite pleased with myself, not so much for not falling for it, more for not falling for it in French! A gentleman came to sit next to me whilst he was on the phone, when he finished he started talking to me whilst I was in the middle of Figaro Act III . My first thought was – this is a scam artist. He started with an interesting sob story that his bus to Sofia from Varna was delayed and he missed his flight to Algeria, he showed me his Algerian passport and his visa which had run out and said he was studying mechanical engineering in Varna. The next flight was not for a week and he couldn’t get the ticket moved to another airport because – of course – there would be an extra charge. He didn’t have enough money with him and his card wasn’t working, there is no Algerian embassy in Sofia and the Moroccans said he would have to wait at the airport for a week. We chatted about this for a while, and he even asked me what I was doing in Bulgaria, all very pleasant. Then the sting, could you lend me the money? “Je ne peux pas!” was repeated endlessly at this point, he apologized nicely and moved on. I saw him around the airport for some more hours, and he did ask me one more time. My French must be improving.

At last 7pm came and I could check in, and we boarded at 8:45. The flight made an additional stop at Varna so we were late into Bourgas, then on to the hotel and to bed by 12:30. I don’t enjoy travelling much any more, I think I’m getting old.

Family Drama!

Life is never simple. The best laid plans etc etc. I could go on and on and perhaps I should.

The long and short of it is that I still hope to go to Bulgaria but a few days ago it was looking unlikely that I would. I am in France at present with the wife and daughter No. 4, the plan was to go back to the UK on Wednesday 27th, take a rehearsal in the evening, get myself sorted out ready for two weeks away from home and fly to Bulgaria on Saturday 30th.

On Monday afternoon the wife and I went into Le Mans for a walk and window shopping. Le Mans is the nearest city to our French house and is known the world over for the 24 hour car race which takes place on the outskirts of the city every June. The city itself has a wonderful old town, large sections of Roman walls and a fine Cathedral of which I am very fond. I went to look in the Classical section of Fnac (a shop selling mostly TV and video equipment but with some books and CDs) and found a 10 disk box set of Bach’s organ works for €19. I had long wanted a recording of a Bach organ work that I hadn’t identified, and was pleased to locate it quickly as the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor. Great stuff! I was blasting it out in the car on the way home, when the wife started to complain of feeling a bit poorly. She is not a great fan of Bach organ works so after a small grumble I turned the volume down a bit.

She took to her bed that evening. By the morning (Tuesday) she was very ill indeed and not able to walk nor move. She was being sick profusely and wanted a doctor. We couldn’t find one to come out so I got her to the car and wheeled her to the local town. The doctor there (whom we have seen before) jumped her to the front of the large queue (many thanks) and was sufficiently concerned that she wanted her to go to hospital. Back to the car and to Le Mans, to a brand new hospital opened about 3 years ago with an A&E department (Urgences). She was now unable to walk and had to be fetched in a wheelchair.

She was admitted. I was pretty sure (as was she) that she had a problem with her inner ear. She’s had this before and it is very very unpleasant. You feel dizzy all the time and go deaf in that ear. I knew from what the GP had said and tested for that she (the GP) was worried it was something much worse. As I write (Thursday 28th) she has had the neurological tests and everyone is certain that it is only an ear infection. While this is a relief it is still spectacularly unpleasant, and she can still barely move. She is, I am pleased to report, making progress and hopes to be discharged soon.

So… where does that leave Bulgaria?

I have a flight booked at the crack of dawn (possibly earlier) on Saturday 30th. The wife has said very firmly that I should go, and now that we are all certain there is no danger I probably will. No. 4 daughter has GCSE exams on Monday so I have to get her back. We will leave the wife in a French hospital and come home to England tomorrow (Friday). I will then have a few hours to get myself together before the flight to Sofia. I could have flown from Paris, but then daughter No. 4 would have had to get back for her exams by herself. We have very good and kind friends in France who will look after the wife when she is discharged and daughters Nos. 1 & 2 plan to come out to look after her and get her back to the UK when she is fit to travel, which won’t be for a while after she is discharged.

Yes, I do feel callous and hard-heated, and perhaps I am!

Carmen

Over the last few days I've been in France, having transported some furniture to our holiday home. I took the opportunity to look at Carmen as this is the opera for the second round of the Opera conducting Competition (see posts below).

I don't have much to say about Carmen, it is in so many ways the perfect opera. The plot is dramatic, the characters believable and the music is superb throughout. My favourite scene is in Act II when José tells Carmen he has to return to Barracks and she abuses him with great contempt. If you get a really good Carmen who is well directed and allowed a bit of musical licence by the conductor the effect of this scene can be quite frightening.

I’ve been approached to do Carmen twice, so I have vocal and full scores ready to go. Sadly neither occasion worked out, so although I have seen it many times and know it well, I have never conducted it. I will only get to do any of it in Bulgaria if I get through to the second round; time spent on the score now may not be of any use to me in the short term, but I now have a full marked up score which may be useful in the future.

I shall be really delighted if I make it through to the second round, if only because I shall at last be able to conduct a bit of Carmen!

Mascagni

In the first round of the competition we have to rehearse two works, Figaro (see posts below) and Cavalleria Rusticana (often abbreviated to Cav) by Pietro Mascagni. Figaro is to be rehearsed as a Sitz-Probe, (full orchestra but the singers are not in costume nor acting) Cav as a General Rehearsal (in the UK also known as a Dress Rehearsal) which is essentially a practice performance.

Performing Cav without any rehearsal will be a challenge for all of us in the competition, none of us will have much idea of what the chorus and principals are used to doing and the target for me will be to keep the thing going and demonstrate that I'm being clear and helpful even if I'm being ignored! The rubati in Santuza's aria are substantial and in this sort of music it's good to give the principal some room in which to manoeuvre and, at least to some extent, to let them lead. All this is usually worked out during the music rehearsals (conductor, soloists and piano) long before the stage director gets involved. Over time and the floor rehearsals a performance builds that the conductor and principal have both contributed to. I make no apology in repeating myself in that taking on an opera such as Cav where rubato is so much part of the performance without any rehearsal is a challenge.

Studying the work has been a re-discovered joy, I performed the work many years ago with its usual partner, I Pagliacci by Leoncavallo. Both are great works but when performed together Pag usually wins. Both have reasonable plots (for opera) and both have drama and passion. When paired together Pag is always performed second and just seems to have more of everything. It’s not surprising that it usually gets more attention than Cav. A recent production of the pair in London emphasized this to an outrageous degree. Cav was well sung but the production was minimal and dull, Pag was well sung with a superb production and was breathtaking. Studying Cav without its usual partner has been great in that I have not been distracted, it is a beautifully crafted piece, both vocally and orchestrally. It has made me decide that I must get more familiar with Mascagni’s other works. Usually when I do this I also decide that I must get more familiar with Leoncavallo’s other works as well, and as a result I do neither. I am now resolved to do both, but I will do Mascagni first.

There is a brief Wikipedia Article here and I’ve looked at the other operas available on Amazon; I will make a start this year. After all, I’m doing Gounod’s Faust in November and I have already listened with interest and great pleasure to several of his other works which are unknown in the UK, so I will do Mascagni. Then Leoncavallo. Cilea. Giordano.......

Competition Information.

I've been asked to post some details of the competition here. Below is a link to the main page with all the information. I'm conducting on the 1st of June.

http://musikimpresario.com/index.php?page=63

FG

More thoughts on the Competition - Figaro

Over the last few days I've been concentrating on Figaro. As always with Mozart operas the more you get into it the more fascinating and wonderful it becomes. I've known this opera since childhood and conducted most of it at one time or another (though I regret that I have never conducted fully staged performance) but still every time I look at it or read the libretto I notice some nuance or detail that had not registered before.

I've been listening to various recordings, including two with Karl Bohm conducting. Bohm's tempi are usually delightfully measured, slow compared with some modern versions. His DG recording from 1968 is beautifully recorded and sung, but as is often the case the tempi are slower than a live recording I have of his. 

This has only re-inforced my opinion that I don't have a set of tempi for an opera that are "mine"; I like to work with the singers, find out what they can bring to the role, and take it from there. In a recent production I spent a good deal of time persuading some principals to take more liberties and do more rubati to make their singing more expressive. At first they were quite taken back, but once a relationship of trust had been built the results were excellent. If I were to do the same opera with a different cast I'm sure it would turn out differently.

How this will apply in Bulgaria will be interesting to find out. Will the judges be looking for conductors who can lead the singers, or those that be sympathetic and adjust to them? An opera conductor nees to be able to do both in the right places!

I am very much looking forward to the competition, it will be a chance to show what I can do. I hope someone notices!

FG

Conducting Competition

As this event approaches I'm spending an increasing amount of time wondering how the thing is going to work. I believe there are sixty (60) entrants in the first round.

We each get to conduct a bit of Figaro and a bit of Cav, about 20 minutes each. The Figaro is rehearsed as a sitz, the Cav as a general. Several things occur to me.

1. I do feel a bit sorry for the band. 60 conductors doing their bit of Figaro is not going to be much fun for them. 

2. Who will the singers be? Each conductor will have 20 minutes to establish some sort of relationship with them. Anyone who has worked in opera will know how important it is for the MD and the principals to have an understanding.

3. Each conductor has 40 minutes of conducting to get through their abilities to the judges. As far as I know there will be no rehearsals with piano and singers beforehand. I like to work fast, but ...

Round one should sort a good deal, but it is going to be interesting to see what the judges go for. At least it's the same for everyone. I think 18 get through to the second round.

FG

Hotel

I've just been doing some research in the accomodation. They say they have wireless broadband, I hope it's easily accessible.

The website is:

http://www.marinaholidayclub.com/index.php?ch=1&l=1

Conducting competition

Hi all

I'm thinking about blogging my visit to Bulgaria for the Blue Danube Opera conducting competition. I'm setting up a few things to test, I haven't decided what to do yet.

Let me know what you think.

FG