Nearing the final Performance

by Barbara Rose Shuler

Back again after a break for deferred maintenance on home, family and non-Bach work. Every summer the usual rhythms and tasks of life are set aside for weeks, including time with my patient but neglected husband. By 12 days into the festival, I usually take a short break to buff up the house and garden, prepare for August work and spend time with family. The 12-day timing habit is apparently so ingrained that it took over even though it makes sense this year to push to the finish.

This week David Gordon forwarded to me a revealing time-lapse video showing the activity of the stage crew on a single busy Bach Festival day. There is no question, everyone works extremely hard during the festival including the musicians, artistic and admin staff, board members, volunteers and even patrons, many of whom try to fit as much as possible into their time.

So, it wouldn’t be fair to say the stage crew works harder than the fully immersed artists, staff and volunteers. However, these women and men do work hard and provide an essential ingredient that ironically goes unseen if done well—and their work is very rarely not done well—so most people don’t think about this behind-the-scenes work much or understand its importance to the smooth functioning of the festival.

Precise choreography takes place each day setting stages at the various venues, making sure every chair, music stand, keyboard, etc. is placed exactly where it needs to be followed by quick exact changes between sections of a concert or recital. Members of the production staff, led by longtime stage manager and festival treasure Michael Becker, undertake this complex scheduling and organizing.

Doug Mueller, who has been producing videos of the festival, created this time-lapse film of Saturday, July 25, the busiest day for the stage crew. It is posted on You Tube and worth a couple of clicks to get the idea of the quick changes and precision of the efforts to keep performances on the Sunset stage alone running smoothly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDuLHnUXGk0

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Barbara Rose Shuler writes Intermezzo, which chronicles classical music, in the Monterey Herald's Go! Magazine each week. She can be contacted at wordways@comcast.net.
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Bachanalia (Commercial Break)

by Barbara Rose Shuler

And now for a look at tickets, raffles, auction, stuff to buy, videos, and more!

Main concert tickets are still available for Thursday's Vivaldi "Four Seasons'" program and the Haydn "Creation Oratorio" Friday evening and for Saturday's Best of the Fest concert.

You should still be able to purchase seats for the remaining daytime concerts: Heroic Beethoven recital on Thursday, Passing the Mantle on Friday, Viennese Matinee Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon’s Vocal Fireworks celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Adams Vocal Master Class.

Executive director Camille Kolles says raffle tickets are selling well but you’ll want to get yours for a chance to win from among 100 artworks — watercolors, prints, oils and acrylics and three-dimensional artworks inspired by the natural beauty of Carmel and the Bach Festival experience. Raffle tickets are $5 each or seven for $30. Winners will be picked on Aug.2.

The silent auction is under way for bids on jewelry, fine art, travel experiences, dinners, wines and special tours. Bidders can bid online or in the lobby of the Sunset Center Theater during the Festival.

Don’t forget to visit the new Bach Boutique at Sunset Center featuring new T-shirts, new fleece pullovers, new mug design, music, books and much, much more.

From David Gordon, Esteemed Bach Festival Dramaturge

Just a reminder, for people who can't make it to the lectures: visit the unofficial Bach Festival video web page at:

http://www.dailymotion.com/carmelbach

The site also includes videos from previous years (which are also on the CBF site)

Of course these 2009 videos are also available on the Festival website as of yesterday.

www.bachfestival.org/index.cfm/education_video.htm

Sunset box office is open Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sat. 10a.m.-4p.m. and 6p.m.-8p.m., Wed. 10a.m.-4p.m. and Sun. 12:30-:30p.m.

The Bach Festival office will be open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. now through Friday.

Contact the festival at: www.bachfestival.org or call 624-1521.

Sue Mudge and Tower Music

by Barbara Rose Shuler

Trombonist Suzanne Mudge--who now lives in Bend, Oregon--has been made her imprint on the Carmel Bach Festival as a superb architect of the outdoor Tower Music brass serenades. This cherished festival institution is inspired by the medieval tradition of announcing a special event with brass music from the tower of a castle or church.

In 1984, when Mudge came to the festival at the invitation of maestro Sandor Salgo, Tower Music used to be done “on the fly” with the brass players working their way through a stack of music and making decisions after they arrived in Carmel.

“It wasn’t last minute but it was never planned in advance,” she says.

A few years later, maestro Salgo asked Mudge to take part in the leadership of Tower Music.

“One of the things I wanted was to put some thought and care into planning Tower Music,” she says. “I really believe that it is a wonderful tradition. It’s so important for people. I take it very seriously. I am trying to expand our repertoire and plan for really interesting works like Peter Warlock’s Capriol Suite or the Procession of the Nobles by Rimsky-Korsakov that we did last year.”

Mudge says she thinks the original tradition of having four trombones play Tower Music started before maestro Salgo was hired in 1956.

“Tower Music took place in the second story of Sunset in a tower of sorts and was played over the parking lot,” she says.“It went from a trombone ensemble to a brass ensemble back in the 70’s.” .

In preparing the repertoire for the serenades, Mudge must first determine what night the individual players will be available. For instance, if the Bach’s B Minor Mass is being presented on a certain day, she won’t ask the trumpets to join the ensemble because they are going to be too tired. So she schedules trombones for that concert.

“Some years I try to think up themes on which to base programs,” she says. “A few years ago I did `Music: Ancient, Old and New.’ And, I have done more transcriptions of late to enlarge the repertoire.”

In her program notes this year, Mudge describes this process for the 2009 festival:

“Inspiration can come upon us in the most unpredictable ways. I usually seize on an idea during hard exercise or sometimes upon waking at 2am, but it was during an instant chat on Facebook with a local Carmel writer that inspired this year’s overall theme. She loves music from the Baroque era and is also a Tower Music groupie, so I threw a few titles at her as possible choices for this year. Two of those titles from Handel’s repertoire set me to thinking about the four elements.

“Suites from Handel’s Water Music and Fireworks Music will be featured as part of our repertory theme of the Four Elements — Air, Water, Earth, and Fire. In fact, we will have a bit of fun connecting these four elements with our repertoire choices and we hope you will enjoy the ride.”

An ideal evening to see the trombone section in action is Wednesday nights before the traditional concert at the Carmel Mission--a magnificent old world setting for the festival brass. Remember these delightful open air courtyard serenades, not only feature the innovative programming and musical direction of Suzanne Mudge, but they are free!

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Barbara Rose Shuler writes Intermezzo, which chronicles classical music, in the Monterey Herald's Go! Magazine each week. She can be contacted at wordways@comcast.net.
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Secrets of Classical Trombonists

Here is the article in from Herald, referred to earlier in this blog, which can now be release for Classical Music Matters readers. It is written by Loel B. Shuler, who attended the festival main concerts with me and helped with the coverage:

Having been down that path myself I know that to become a trombone player is to join a heavily male dominated club. When a young girl is choosing an instrument to be her primary musical focus, the slide trombone is far down the list of possibilities--ahead of the tuba but not much else.

So all the years that I, with thousands of others, have been a fan of the Carmel Bach Festival’s gorgeous Tower Music and its delightful director Suzanne Mudge, I have suspected that there are many fascinating stories connected with her life as a “girl” trombonist. We are a rare breed. And to have carried musicality as far as she has is uncommon for one of us

So I jumped at the opportunity to join Barbara for a sit down conversation with Mudge in a corner of the Sunset Center Lobby. By the way, being in the stillness of that beautiful, spacious milieu with no one else around is a special experience all by itself.

My first question: When, where, how, and why did she decide to take up this unlikely instrument?

“In the fourth grade I played a violin. The violin didn’t seem suit my personality although my Mother recalls the teacher telling her that I had near perfect pitch. I don’t remember what I did in fifth grade. Musical activities in her Laguna Beach elementary school were mostly after-school enrichment.

“In the sixth grade I switched to percussion.,” she says. “In Junior High, seventh and eighth grades, I started out with percussion and then my little circle of friends began talking about different instruments in the band and they decided that girls can’t play trombone, ‘of course not, that’s a boy’s instrument’.

Mudge said that really ruffled her feathers. She describes herself as a tomboy into athletics and sports.

“I had a great arm. I could throw a football as far as any boy,” she says. “`I said ‘of course girls can play trombone.’ I blew them off, went to the band director and asked to play trombone in the band.

“The band director sort of went ‘Oh! Okay!’ My parents didn’t bat an eye. They just went down town to the music store and rented an instrument for $10 a month. I made the switch. And by the eighth grade I was playing in the band.

“And I’m not sure yet if the joke is on them or me.”

That long, strong arm was significant. In order to play a slide trombone one must at a minimum be able to reach 6th and 7th positions. When you think about it, this makes it an impractical instrument for small short-armed people and very young children.

It turns out, however, that once hooked one can find the trombone a versatile, fascinating, and demanding instrument. It’s curious historical origins as a sacred instrument, oddly named “sackbut,”with only a few exceptions kept it out of ensemble and symphonic repertoire until Beethoven introduced it into his 5th symphony.

The trombone section of any symphony orchestra spends a lot of time listening enviously to composers such as Mozart from the warm-up room yearning to join their compatriots even if it only means counting endless measures. The satisfaction of being in the music is addictive, a high to which only musicians are privy.

Even while band playing in high school, Suzanne’s major interest was classical and symphonic music.

“When I started hearing things like Stravinsky, the Bruckner symphonies, the Mahler symphonies this really entranced me,” says Mudge.

She was not keen about the marching band and dropped out until a new director came along with the promise of more and better concert work in exchange for doing the football games, etc.

I wonder if there’s a trombone player anywhere today, in this country at any rate, who didn’t run the gamut of the marching band and the football game. Some of us loved it and some of us didn’t.

Mudge knew some musicians look down on female brass players.

“I always had this feeling that I had to play twice as good to get the job,” she says. “I was never a sensational player, not a prodigy. I was never a star. But I was a good player.”

Her biggest challenge with gender prejudice was in Los Angeles playing with a group called Bones West run by bass trombone player George Roberts.

“He would often bring into rehearsals players who were trombone legends,” she said. “And there were a couple of them who would come in and look at me and say, ‘What are you doing here? You should be home raising a family!’

“I did go through some stuff. One teacher, when I suggested I’d like to conduct, exploded ‘Don’t even think about it. Women will never be conductors!”

Today along with performing in numerous groups and teaching privately, Mudge also teaches beginning band in two elementary schools.

“As a teacher I have to be careful who plays trombone because if you don’t have a really fine ear it’s not going to be a good experience for anyone.,” she says. “With most instruments you strike or press the right combination of keys or valves and out pops the note. With the trombone you have to be able to hear the note to be and then put the slide pretty close to pitch.”

It can be nerve-wracking in an orchestra to sit through long stretches sometimes whole movements and then come in on cue, unwarmed –up, with a soft and beautifully toned perfect sound.

“It’s scary!” Mudge observes.

About teaching beginners she says, “I had to learn really fast how to teach all the instruments. Flutes, reeds, brass players I’m pretty comfortable with because I’ve grown up with them, but the woodwinds I‘ve had to work at.

“I always pooh-poohed teaching when I was younger. But, you know? Teaching rocks! It’s cool. I can’t imagine not teaching anymore. I love working with kids.”

Once they graduate from band to orchestra trombone players have to learn to play in tenor and even alto clefs as well as bass. And for their own edification they usually add treble.

“In graduate school” says Mudge, “I had a good friend who was a horn player. She was playing some really cool etudes and I wanted to play them myself. So I went into a practice room with her and learned how to transpose them.”

This is what a trombone player with a strong classical bent does. To play the wonderful music written for other instruments, you must adapt the score. This quickly becomes a passion. You might call it the secret life of a classical trombonist.

It’s this passion that brought Mudge to the Carmel Bach Festival during the tenure of beloved former music director and conductor Sandor Salgo almost a quarter of a century ago.

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Barbara Rose Shuler writes Intermezzo, which chronicles classical music, in the Monterey Herald's Go! Magazine each week. She can be contacted at wordways@comcast.net.
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Eroica Reveries

by Barbara Rose Shuler

Last night, I attended the Beethoven concert again, the Eroica symphony and his 4th piano concerto with the fabulous virtuoso playing of David Breitman. When I first heard this concert, during the funeral march of the Eroica, a flood of sensations and realizations swept through me that seemed to reduce into a brief moment 18 years of intensive coverage of the festival for print and broadcast media. Hard to describe but it was something like drinking warm spicy spirits that distilled the essence/legacy of the Bruno Weil years at the Bach Festival.

Something similar happened to me in Venice a few years ago during a performance of a Vivaldi cello concerto. My inner field of awareness altered suddenly and the city of Venice seemed to be opening up her Soul in a whirl of images, recognitions and feelings that I tried to write about later.

These are interesting but quite disorienting experiences.

These inner whirlings during the funeral march led, among other things, to a realization of how quietly heroic Bruno has been at the Bach Festival--in that way Beethoven seems to be describing in his third symphony – of a person serving the purposes of truth, freedom, beauty and high human virtues. No Napoleonic grandiosity; just a steady, compelling motion toward greater excellence under a lamp held high shining with the light of these aspirations.

Sandor Salgo left a legacy of heroic greatness as well over his 36 years, lifting the Bach Festival to a first-rate event while cultivating its vibrant connection to the local community. When the torch passed to Bruno 18 years ago, he faithfully built on the Salgo inheritance drawing upon a new generation of 18th century scholarship and historical instrument virtuosos to take the ensemble to the next levels. He not only understood and treasured the unique spirit of Carmel Bach but he founded a festival in Europe in its image – the Klang and Raum Festival of Bavaria.

Looking back 18 years through a time lapse lens, you also could say Bruno conducted our new hall into being.
He certainly gave the downbeat when he said he had taken the music of the festival as far as it could go without an acoustically excellent space in which to play it and hear it--adding that he would not stay on at the Bach Festival unless a commitment to a new hall were made.

With the rallying call, “Acoustics! Acoustics! Acoustics!” consensus was built for the project, money raised, expert designers hired and in a few short years, we had a new jewel of a facility.

That and much more surged through me as Eroica played. I had planned a different piece about opening weekend for a Monterey Herald article. I was intending to emphasize schedule details, free stuff, the new format for the program book, the raffles, ticket sales issues, etc. More light and practical than thoughtful. But the Beethoven reveries altered my tone.

Here is a shortened version of that article, which has received positive comments:

Patrons gathered at dusk last Friday evening to celebrate the opening of the Carmel Bach Festival on the spacious terrace of Sunset Center. Brass Tower Music warmed the open air with courtly dances of John Adson and Peter Warlock while celebrants sipped champagne or Bellini cocktails and nibbled tasty bites.

Like an elf from a magical otherworld, a tiny young girl materialized under a camellia tree near the steps to the upper patio transfixed by the music leaning into it from her secret bower.

Friends greeted one another happily and basked in the harmony of the evening. The festival youth chorus sang a short set of works, directed by John Koza, sweet pure voices to delight the heart. These opening moments of music and greeting that come every summer touch into a tradition that reaches back 72 years.

As music director and conductor Weil says, the festival is unique in the world, a musicians dream come true. “It's the real friendships that grow that make it so special,” he says. “Nowhere else in the world I have I found this.” The secret of the great performances here, according to Weil, is that everyone pours themselves fully – heart, soul and spirit – into the music.

Poignantly, Weil, who cherishes the Bach Festival as the most personally rewarding work of his musical career, will be leaving at the end of the 2010 festival, making this year’s programs the beginning of the conclusion of his tenure of almost two decades. It is wise to leave at the height of accomplishment, he says, not the downturn.

So as the beautiful brass melodies caressed the breeze causing the little elf child to hug herself with delight beneath the camellia tree, a sense of change also filled in the air. Weil will have only one more opening night in Carmel as will his concertmaster Libby Wallfisch, mega-star of Baroque string playing. We don’t yet know who Weil’s replacement will be, though the search committee has narrowed the candidates down to a handful from which to choose.

Weil’s trajectory has always been towards greater perfection of the music. He has guided and improved the quality of the ensemble each year so that now he truly offers the best of all his years in Carmel. Friday and Saturday evenings were luminous musically, especially the Haydn Creation Oratorio. Weil seems to be reaching for the firmament to give us something deeper and more inspiring than ever on the eve of his departure.

It’s a precious experience we have here with the Carmel Bach Festival, a rarity in the world that even many local music lovers don’t realize. And it is about to change. These are among the last concerts of the Bruno Weil years and, sadly, due to the economically necessary decrease of performance weeks from three to two this season-- and next we are told--the opportunities to hear recitals and concerts are fewer than before.

Though the Bach Festival will continue building on the new excellence it has attained, Weil and Wallfisch will be with us for only a few short weeks this summer and next, As my Midwestern grandmother used to say, “It’s the last day in the afternoon.”

Don’t let this opportunity pass you by.

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Barbara Rose Shuler writes Intermezzo, which chronicles classical music, in the Monterey Herald's Go! Magazine each week. She can be contacted at wordways@comcast.net.
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The Singing Revolution

by Barbara Rose Shuler

The Bach Festival’s film presentations this year included the heart-touching French movie The Chorus and the stunning 2006 documentary called “The Singing Revolution” about the Estonian struggle for independence from the Soviets.

In spite of some techno-glitches, which necessitated skipping some important sections of the film, the presentation was a gripping revelation about the power of song and the will and tenacity of the Estonian people.

“This singing together was our power,” says one man.

Estonia is a small country on the Baltic Sea and for thousands of years has endured invaders greedy for the strategic advantages of its gateway location to the inland regions.

The forces of Hitler, Stalin and the Soviets almost annihilated this tiny republic during the brutal 20th century. Locked behind the Soviet curtain of silence, most people outside of Estonia had no idea about the monstrous violence the Estonians suffered for over 50 years.

The Estonian Song Festival, “Laulupidu”, founded in 1869, became a unifying force for the nation entire. Forbidden to sing anything but Soviet propaganda songs, one hundred years later in 1969, 30,000 singers took the stage to sing one song in an astonishing act of non-violent resistance. Estonia led the way with its singing revolution, inspiring the oppressed of other republics to throw off the yoke of the Soviets, ending its hideous era of aggression.

This is a film about hope, freedom and the might of music to change the world. Produced by James Tusty and Maureen Castle Tusty with narrated by Linda Hunt, the film was released in 2006 and in my view should be seen by any human who loves freedom and certainly everyone who loves music.

I just found the film on Netflix and noticed that you can purchase it on Amazon as well.

Thank you, Bach Festival for showing this film!

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Barbara Rose Shuler writes Intermezzo, which chronicles classical music, in the Monterey Herald's Go! Magazine each week. She can be contacted at wordways@comcast.net.
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The Colorful 4 Seasons!

by Barbara Rose Shuler

Thursday night conductor Andrew Arthur and members of the festival orchestra teamed up with David Gordon and the tech crew for a gentle multimedia presentation of the Four Seasons by Vivaldi spiced with works by Bach.

Gordon read aloud from the sonnets that supplied the basis of these musical portraits of the seasons. Not the most impressive poetry ever penned but full of vivid images that Vivaldi scored into musical masterpieces.

Here, as an example, is Gordon’s “adaptation” of the sonnet for the first concerto "Spring":

Allegro
Springtime is upon us
and the birds salute her with festive song!
The breath of the West Wind
caresses the sweetly murmuring streams.
Thunder and lightning, the chosen heralds of Spring,
spread a dark mantle over the heavens.
And then, when the storms fall silent, the little birds
return once more to their lovely songs.

Largo
On the flower-strewn meadow,
with leafy branches rustling overhead,
the goat-herd dozes, his faithful dog by his side

Allegro
To the merry sound of rustic bagpipes,
nymphs and shepherds dance
beneath the brilliant canopy of spring.

Projected onto backdrops were color splashes for each season along with the name and image of the lead violinist for each season concerto: Spring Evan Few, Summer Gabrielle Wunsch, Autumn Emlyn Ngai and Winter Edwin Huizinga.

The overall effect was appealing and festive. Nice touch to allow these brilliant festival violinists to be showcased in this way. Arthur displayed his virtuoso abilities in the Bach harpsichord solos.

The cycle of repeat concerts began last night (Friday) with the second performance of the magnificent Haydn Creation Oratorio, which will be presented one more time July 31. Tonight the sold out Beethoven program takes place. Hard to get tickets this late in the cycle with a two-week festival.

I am really missing that third week! I know the musicians are as well and it is sad to hear that next year looks to be a two week festival again.

Music—another casualty of the economy crash!
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Barbara Rose Shuler writes Intermezzo, which chronicles classical music, in the Monterey Herald's Go! Magazine each week. She can be contacted at wordways@comcast.net.
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King Arthur’s Feast and The Mission Concert

King Arthur’s Feast for the Virgin Mary - The Mission Concert
by Barbara Rose Shuler

Yesterday evening my mother and I made our way to the Old World setting of the Carmel Mission for the traditional Wednesday night choral concert with its magnificent pageantry and cathedral-like acoustics. The festival hosts a delightful Mission Dinner each summer, this year boasting an Arthurian feast. Rima Mazzeo Crow, a friend from days of youth, catered the event with such distinctions as Pomme Dorys, Buds of Sallet, Fragisie of Fowle with Citron and Slit Sop. Very tasty indeed finished off with a Sweete Fruit Pye.

Events coordinator Ginna B.B. Gordon looked radiant and reasonably relaxed. This was good to see as we encountered each other earlier in the day, both frazzled to distraction. I was trying to deliver a time-sensitive phone number to an editor in order to get a photographer to the Mission for the story on trombonist Suzanne Mudge and Ginna was no doubt wrestling King Arthur into shape.

Bach Festival dinners have been without exception in my experience fun, delicious and educational. We sat at a table full of writers including San Jose Mercury News music critic Richard Scheinin and a lovely woman from Sacramento who turns out to be a sponsor, along with her husband, of Mudge’s Tower Music work at the festival.
It was a lively conversation as it usually is, touching on Bach, Alaska, the demise of the newspaper biz, economics, writing, festival stories, travel and more.

The Bach Festival’s Associate Conductor Andrew Megill spoke briefly and eloquently about the musical fare for the evening, a program of sacred settings to the Virgin Mary called Ave Maria culminating in a glorious version of Bach’s Magnificat.

After dinner we went to the courtyard of the Mission and listened to the trombones serenading. My mother had autographed a copy of her book “Alaska: In the Wake of the North Star” to Sue from a “recovering trombonist,” referring to a funny moment in their conversation for the Herald article, which will come out tomorrow in two sections, each with a different Shuler by-line.

Andrew Megill is a brilliant choral conductor. A few days ago a woman came up to me and said a patron wanted to know the name of a great American choral conductor and I said without missing a beat, “Andrew Megill” and meant it. When she looked a bit taken aback, I added, “Robert Shaw.”

Megill has lifted the choral sound of the festival to an impressive new level as last night’s concert showed. Unfortunately, due to the popularity of the mission concert and the shorter festival length this year, this concert is sold out.
Here’s an interesting related news flash from the festival PR department: “Public Radio International producer Malcolm Bruno from Wales and NYC is flying to Carmel to record Andrew Megill’s Mission concert centered on the Marian theme (Mark LeMaire, recording engineer from SF, will be joining him).

“This will be broadcast during the 2009 holiday season on 150 stations nationwide. Program host is Bill McGlaughlin. Carmel Bach Festival violinist and early music expert Cynthia Roberts will be adding solo violin to this broadcast. She will begin teaching in Juilliard’s new Historical Performance program in the fall of 2009.”

I hope we will have an opportunity to hear this recording. It’ll be a beauty!

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Insider's Tip: For those of you who have tickets to the Mission concert Wednesday or other recitals at the Mission, remember the seats are fashioned in a style that former Bach Festival associate conductor Bruce Lamott used to call “Vatican ergonomics.” In other words, bring pads to sit on if you want a more comfortable experience. The Wednesday concert especially may merit padding for some of you.
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Barbara Rose Shuler writes Intermezzo, which chronicles classical music, in the Monterey Herald's Go! Magazine each week. She can be contacted at wordways@comcast.net.
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"Haydn Seek!" with Bruno Weil & David Gordon

by Barbara Rose Shuler

The hit combo of David Gordon and Bruno Weil in the Aha! programs of recent vintage is a tasty part of festival. These concerts are fun, informative, and surprising.

David – who provides narrative delivered with the panache of a gifted professional stage performer – writes: “In Carmel, Bruno and I have “schemed” together for several years to create a special Haydn concert highlighting the innovative and sometimes surprising aspects of “Papa” Haydn’s musical and personal character: jokester, ladies’ man, pioneer, superstar and deeply spiritual artist.”

Last night proved delightful, revealing and musically flawless with an lively sampling ranging from chamber works to full-scale choral and orchestral movements.

Haydn served as court musician at the remote Esterházy estate isolated from other centers of musical ferment until later in his wonderfully long life. He was "forced to become original" as he said.

We learned intriguing facts about Haydn’s life such as his marriage to the sister of his beloved (who went into a monastery), a liaison that proved disastrous due to the extremely disagreeable personality of his wife. She tore up his scores to curl her hair, and line pans etc. That’s up there with the wife of the explorer Richard Burton burning his 40 years of diaries and journals. Argh!

Despite this and other hardships, Haydn sustained a remarkable joy of being throughout his life, a joy reflected in his music.

The orchestra was joined by the festival orchestra, chorale, youth chorus (yes!!) and soloists including pianist David Breitman who played his early instrument in Trio No. 39 for Fortepiano, Violin and Cello in G Major with Libby Wallfisch, and Allen Whear.

The gorgeous voices of soprano Kendra Colton, tenor Alan Bennett and baritone Sanford Sylvan were showcased.

After he left Esterhazy, Haydn went to England, crossing the channel during a fierce storm, which inspired his Madrigal: Der Sturm (The Storm--a work rarely been performed, perhaps never in this country. Wonderful dynamics in this piece!

Lots more to say about this splendid Tuesday evening but time waits for no one and I must be off for now. Haydn Aha! will be reprised next week.
Word from the box office is that tickets are still available.

Cheers!
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Barbara Rose Shuler writes Intermezzo, which chronicles classical music, in the Monterey Herald's Go! Magazine each week. She can be contacted at wordways@comcast.net.
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Après Bach, Baking Bread

by Barbara Rose Shuler

It’s late…still reverberating from Monday night’s filigree brilliance of Libby Walfisch’s evening of Bach and Mendelssohn, who wrote his magnificent octet at the age of 16. Fiery & scintillating playing by the ensemble. A treat to see these Baroque specialists tackle the octet with such enthusiasm and panache.

It takes awhile to wind down from these long days and evenings of the Bach Festival even though it is silly to stay up late because I must rise early and start writing. Today prepared two loaves of bread to bake (a really cool recipe that is easy to prepare and produces a crust like the pros using a smart Dutch oven technique)…only trouble is that long rises timed out wrong and the loaves must be baked now as the clock nears midnight. They are an offering to my family that doesn’t see much of me at this time. What is it they say? Food is love?

I missed the keyboard delights today, except for Yuko Tanaka’s shimmering harpsichord playing in the Bach selections tonight. Yuko’s keyboard music-making is a dream, smooth as silk and vibrant as starlight.

Hey! David Gordon--attracter of large crowds and willing standers packed in close to hear his splendid lectures-- is now available in real-time transmitted video in the lobby. It’s not the Jumbotron at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance but it stopped me in my tracks to hear David talk via monitor about the young Mendelssohn and his remarkable accomplishments with the octet. Sometimes it is hard to get to the lectures by start time and with the Dramaturge speaking to standing room only, coming late isn’t much of an option…so until the crowds gather so thickly you can’t see the lobby screen, check out that option over by the refreshment booth. Frankly, I think these lectures should take place in the main theater as they do at the San Francisco Opera so everyone gets a seat who wants one.

My bread’s almost finished baking but I wanted to share an audience moment. I had spotted a woman in an attractive orange jacket with an unusual purse to match during the aforementioned live video before the performance. Afterwards, she and the man with her were talking elatedly about the hall and how beautiful it is, obviously stunned by what they had stumbled upon in Carmel.

Perhaps even those of us who love our new hall and spend a lot of time there may forget how truly magnificent the design is inside and out. What a gift! Its Bruno’s doing. He called for this hall so we could hear the music better. People responded with incredible dedication, money, skill and love for the arts. Kind of a miracle wouldn’t you say? And that is beautiful too.

Bedtime.
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Barbara Rose Shuler writes Intermezzo, which chronicles classical music, in the Monterey Herald's Go! Magazine each week. She can be contacted at wordways@comcast.net.
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"Even Beauty will die!" - Sunday Main Concert

by Barbara Rose Shuler

It’s Monday and I have just sent over a piece to the Herald, which will appear in tomorrow’s paper—thoughts on opening night of the 72nd Carmel Bach Festival. Sometimes the words take a different track than planned. It was my intent to do a lightweight essay on opening night activities with a few words about the three weekend concerts, and fold in some information about the program book, the silent auction, the great free stuff in the Discover Series, etc.

Instead, what emerged was a reflection on impermanence, catalyzed by the changing of the guard that will happen in 2010 when a new conductor receives the baton from Bruno. This is a huge change, as it was a huge change when Bruno took over from Sandor Salgo. An era is ending right now. Each concert and recital, each talk and special event brings us closer to an unknown Carmel Bach era that will begin with a new music director in 2011.

Dramaturge David Gordon has again distilled the texts for the choral works brilliantly. He takes the supertitles to a new level of elegance and directness in his translations from German to English. Some phrases remain for awhile on the screen as appropriate for the singing and occasionally you find yourself reflecting on profound aspects of existence.

Sunday afternoon the first line in Brahms Nänie “Even Beauty will die” provoked contemplation about the fleetingness of things.

Later that same day…

My mother, who as I mention once played the trombone in bands and symphony orchestras, is a particular fan of Suzanne Mudge, the director of Tower Music and a trombone player. This afternoon, she and Suzanne sat down and talked for over an hour about “girl trombonists,” Tower Music, the creativity of a musical life and the rewards of teaching.

The story will probably come out in Friday’s paper.

Time to go hear Libby play Bach!
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Barbara Rose Shuler writes Intermezzo, which chronicles classical music, in the Monterey Herald's Go! Magazine each week. She can be contacted at wordways@comcast.net.
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“Wow! THAT’S what he meant!” - Beethoven & Bruno

by Barbara Rose Shuler

Over the last two decades it has made sense to bring in an astute colleague to help me with the coverage of the festival. Writer/editors Marilyn Power Scott of Santa Barbara and Gaila MacKenzie of Carmel and Europe have assisted me at different times. This year my mother, Loel B. Shuler, is attending the evening concerts with me and serving as collaborator. She is a writer and educator, whose writings have appeared recently in the journal of general semantics, “Etc.” She also published a book about an extraordinary travel adventure she made called: “Alaska: In the Wake of the Northstar.” She has a background in music, and has played the trombone. More about that later.

Bruno’s Bach Festival magic seems more luminous than ever this season and the ensemble likewise tuned to a higher frequency of excellence. Last night’s Heroic Beethoven concert was powerful, utterly fresh and revelatory.

Here are some comments she wrote for this blog on last night’s Beethoven experience:
“To be one of the fortunate ones to have the privilege of attending the stunning performances of the first two nights of Carmel’s Bach Festival makes one experience regret and sorrow that they are not filmed and recorded so that music lovers the world over might share the transporting emotional experience of these favored audiences. Saturday night’s Beethoven treasures, the Piano Concerto # 4 and the Eroica Symphony elicited a kind of “Wow! THAT’S what he meant!”

Not only does the audience experience a sense of reveling in new understanding but one sees the individual performing musicians reveling in the same awe-filled experience. As I overheard in the dazzled crowd leaving the Sunset Auditorium last night, “watching the body language of the musicians is like watching a ballet.” The sheer evident joy in their sharing of this musical high with each other becomes magic.

This music speaks to all the senses and is the most sublime of human language. Somehow Bruno Weil seems able to conjure that actual person who was Ludwig Van Beethoven and bring him into living presence. Amazing!

There was not a vacant seat in Sunset last night nor will there be next Saturday. As I say, how sad that we cannot share these moments with more than the fortunate few.

Perhaps the transcendent joy of creating with others who are the best of your profession is something of an everyday experience for the likes of Bruno Weil, Elizabeth Wallfisch and David Brietman. But for most of the musicians privileged to participate in the Fest it must represent an incredible gift. Being on the organic inside of such music is food for the soul.

Even just watching Wallfisch, who was nearest to him, as well as other orchestra members focusing on the virtuosity of David Brietman communicated a sense of what it is to be an active part of such moments.”
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Barbara Rose Shuler writes Intermezzo, which chronicles classical music, in the Monterey Herald's Go! Magazine each week. She can be contacted at wordways@comcast.net.
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It's About Connecting! - interlude with Edwin Huizinga

by Barbara Rose Shuler

Last year, violinist Edwin Huizinga agreed to speak with me about his experience of the Bach Festival. Edwin is easy to spot in the orchestra. He's tall with shoulder-length red hair and is an impressive figure on stage, especially as a soloist in Baroque concertos and chamber works, where it is traditional to stand while playing. Here is an adapted version for this blog of the article I wrote after our time together, which gives a younger person's perspective of the importance of the Bach Festival.

This evening Bruno will conduct his Heroic Beethoven concert of Symphony No.3 in E-flat Major, "Eroica" and Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major with acclaimed pianist David Breitman. Festival Dramaturge David Gordon and maestro of this website will be giving a talk on this concert at 6:45 at Sunset Center. The talk is free and will be excellent. See you there!

Here's Edwin's story:

The Carmel Bach Festival is not just about making glorious music each summer; it's about people. It's about connecting with friends and strangers who share a love for the festival, the music and a certain ineffable quality unique to this event in this place.

The musicians also look forward to returning each summer to Carmel. The festival is as special for them as it is for patrons. A relative newcomer to the festival ensemble is violinist Edwin Huizinga, age 26, who fell in love with the Carmel Bach experience when he joined the orchestra.

A prodigy who has been playing since the age of 5, Huizinga attracted the attention of concertmaster Elizabeth Wallfisch. She immediately brought him to Carmel after identifying his talent during a master class she taught.

Sitting down with Huizinga for a conversation was a pleasure, not just because of his love of music and the festival, but also because of his deep commitment to making a positive difference in people's lives.

"There is such torment all over the world," he says. "Classical music can bring you together and open you so that you can let your emotions flow and react to beauty. Or it can allow sadness from a Requiem that's happening and you respond can to how you feel. I think if people could respond this way more to their emotions then it wouldn't be possible to have such aggressively terrible things going on all the time."

Huizinga is especially concerned that young people be touched by the liberating affects of music.

"I just think there are so many issues with emotions being shut down with children, not being allowed to show themselves, or to cry," he says. "Music lets us know when it's ok to dance, to relax, to feel.

"I love to play for kids. I tell them how fun it is. I often give them free tickets and they enjoy it. I think classical music can help our society so much."

Huizinga says Pop music mostly doesn't give you a chance to be honest with yourself.

"It's like three minutes and often a loud beat and decibel level, and its commercial," he says. "They are spending a lot of money to drill something out of you. And classical music, through a few geniuses in the universe, really touches you. It touches everyone if you let it. And if you play right for children they want it and are hungry for it. Even young adults that are troubled, if you can get through to them, also love it."

At the Bach Festival, Huizinga soaks in everything he can, especially from Wallfisch.

"I learn from her every day," he says. "She is one with her violin, such a natural player. She's so open to where music can take her. She gets incredible sounds out of the violin."
He also appreciates his time with Weil.

"All year I look forward to working with Bruno," he says. "He's incredible. I don't think I have even told him that but we have such a good time together on stage. He has such unbelievably playful musical enthusiasm. I receive it and I give it back as much as I know how. He is also incredibly knowledgeable."

"I think it is really important that the festival exists and that it is here," he says. "There are all kinds of things that every single individual brings to the festival in the audience and on stage. That is just in the air. You feel it. They feel it. That's why I am here. That's why they come back."

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Barbara Rose Shuler writes Intermezzo, which chronicles classical music, in the Monterey Herald's Go! Magazine each week. She can be contacted at wordways@comcast.net.

The Bach blitz begins! (with Haydn's "Creation")

By Barbara Rose Shuler
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Hello everyone!

It’s a pleasure to dive into blogging the Carmel Bach Festival.

A little background about me. Most of my professional life has been spent in the arts and media—writing, public and commercial radio broadcasting, voice-over work and related enterprises. Though I attended Bach Festival events before Bruno’s tenure as music director, I began covering the festival as a print and broadcast journalist the year he arrived, 1992.

It has been my privilege to cover the festival over the years for various media concerns but most prominently for the Monterey Herald, which has provided the most extensive coverage of the Carmel Bach experience of any media. And, bless them, in spite of their shrinking budgets and space, the paper still considers the festival important enough to cover well, though in a more condensed way.

Each year, I mark the calendar for the week after the 4th of July as the beginning of the “Bach blitz” as I call it, when musicians gather from all over to begin rehearsing. The editors and I decide on how the coverage will look-- how much space for reviews, advances, features, etc.

I become familiar with the program schedule and get a sense of the themes and focuses as well as the fun and interesting stuff that readers will enjoy.

Then, I set up interviews with principal members of the artistic and executive staff (a favorite part of my job!) to learn more about the music and intentions of the festival creators. After that, two intense waves of writing occur: the advances the week before opening and then the coverage itself.

This blog posting represents the first moment of the second wave, which becomes a two-week total immersion in the festival, attending daytime and evening recitals and concerts and writing, writing, writing.

Last night was incredible! When Bruno first conducted The Creation Oratorio 18 years ago, his first year, I remember being stunned by the experience, unforgettable. For me all these years, that one evening watching him lead the ensemble through this Haydn masterpiece stands out as the most powerful imprint of this conductor on my soul. Though every year, he has touched me deeply in his approach to the music here at the festival.

Last night was a moment of rare musical perfection, art at a higher turn of the spiral, an transmission of what it means to strive and create with the highest aspiration over time, refining and distilling like a patient alchemist tuned to the divine. This is what the Creation Oratorio was for Haydn, his “opus summum” as Bruno calls it.

On opening night, Bruno offered his own “opus summum” in this work he cherishes--refined further during this Haydn anniversary year through a cycle of conducting the work internationally-- to finally come, full circle, to his beloved Bach Festival with the brilliant ensemble he has built and perfected over two decades in a great hall (the renovated Sunset Center) that he called into being so we could hear the music as it was meant to be heard.

It was a very good opening night!

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Barbara Rose Shuler writes Intermezzo, which chronicles classical music, in the Monterey Herald's Go! Magazine each week. She can be contacted at wordways@comcast.net.

The Downbeat is Here!

Friday evening, 8:20pm

After consuming quantities of delicious food on the patio outside the Sunset Center lobby, the 700 audience members are now sitting in the auditorium hearing part one of Haydn's Creation. And so begins the 72nd Carmel Bach Festival.

Were you in the audience or onstage tonight? Send an email to us with your thoughts, opinions, or musings!

Meanwhile we will have new postings daily through August 2.

Final Prep for opening night

Wednesday evening, July 15

After a week of really intense rehearsals, we are nearing opening night. Last night was the final Creation working rehearsao on stage. Tomorrow evening (Thursday) is the dress rehearsal for Creation. Meanwhile the rehearsals continue for the Sunday Bach/Mendelssohn/Brahms concert, and the countless recital and chamber music rehearsals.

Tonight was a working run-through of the Sunday program. The choral ensemble - Chorale and Chorus - sounds absolutely spectacular.

The artistic team had its second planning meeting today, already beginning to create the 2010 Bach Festival. Lots of exciting plans, none of which I can talk about yet!

Everyone seemed to hit a wall of fatigue today. Tomorrow things will pick up. The silent auction display is set up in the lobby, the boutique opens on Friday.

There is an old theater saying that "The definition of opening night is: the night before you are ready to open." I don't think that's the case here, but we are working hard to get things ready.

We'll have more updates and more frequently now that things are getting up to speed.

If you'd like to write a few words on this blog, send them in an email to me, David Gordon at moderator@classicalmusicmatters.com

Let the Festivities Begin!

The 72nd Carmel Bach Festival has begun! All the out of town musicians and crew have gathered to get ready to produce nearly 100 events between July 9 and August 1.

I spent an hour with Bruno Weil this morning going over the script for the Tuesday night concert "Haydn Seek". He conducts, I narrate. We delve into the comic, romantic, and idealistic Haydn in this concert.

The stage is mostly set up, the acoustic shell is in place. Most of the stage lighting is in place but still needs to be focussed.

Rehearsals started this afternoon and continued until 9:30 this evening. The company had a great welcoming party 5-7pm, at Sunset Center. Chorale and Chorus rehearsed with Andrew Megill for the Friday and Sunday concert programs. The orchestra's first rehearsal with Bruno is tomorrow.

While Andrew Arthur led a rehearsal of Vivaldi's Four Seasons onstage this evening, Doug Mueller and I discussed our plans for creatively lighting the concert. We're hoping to create some subtle eye candy that will enhance the tone painting in the music.

More details from other contributors and from me as life becomes more interesting and we enter into the fulness of the event.

David
david@classicalmusicmatters.com
David Gordon is Dramaturge of the Carmel Bach Festival. This is his 21st season with the Festival. For the first nine of those years he was principal tenor soloist.