Friday 24 June 2011

The Summer Job




Straight from the recording studio at the BBC's new Media City home in Manchester to Bregenz for what has become a semi-regular gig. The concert went well, despite my singer's paranoia, but I was glad to get my head and my car back on the road and head to the warm and lovely South.

Bregenz is a special place. At the far Western corner of Austria it nestles at the foot of the mountains by Lake Constance. Though it is only a small town, each year it hosts a large and important international opera festival set on the huge stage on the lake (see my post a couple of months ago) and inside the arresting modern Festspielhaus.

I'm staying a little way above the town on the slopes of the Pfaeder, the mountain which looms directly over the town, and have beautiful views down the considerable length of Lake Constance. My nearest neighbours are a small herd of cows whose bells, real bells, clang throughout the day and evening, their various tones giving an audible sense of the relative size of the animal. A lovely musical noise.

Saturday 11 June 2011

Out of retirement.

I'm coming out of retirement and singing for my super again. I don't very often have either the opportunity or the desire to do this any more, but there are some pieces which I have performed over the years which I cannot resist the opportunity to reprise. Tonight's piece, Dream House by American composer Steven Mackey, is one such as I performed the world premiere in Amsterdam in 2003, the American premiere in Boston in 2007, and recorded the piece two years ago in New York. I'm not ready to let anyone else do it yet.

So tonight we are performing the piece at the brand new Media City in Salford, home to the BBC Philharmonic, who will be accompanying us. The piece calls for one solo voice (the unbelievable Rinde Eckert) and ensemble of four (Micaela, Heather and Mike from the wonderful Synergy Vocals plus me, an erstwhile member), a quartet of electric guitars (Catch Electric Guitar Quartet from Amsterdam) and a very full symphony orchestra. It's loud, puzzling, exciting, and ultimately joyful and great fun to perform. Steve is conducting so it's going to be a great night.

My career as a Director took over from singing many years ago now, and I frankly don't maintain my voice properly, so these rare gigs are very scary. I become the worst kind of paranoid singer, worrying about every catch of phlegm in the throat, every little tickle, and terrified that the top of the voice will not come out right or at all! This piece involves many styles of singing too, from the close harmony work I did in Swingles, to some sections that require full out singing. It is challenging rhythmically and you really need to know the voices around you.That kind of quick switching between vocal styles of production is difficult.

It is interesting to come back to a piece every few years as it demonstrates how once's voice changes over time. Sections that used to be near impossible or cause worry are now easy, where as some simple passages which I used to be able to easily float are now very problematic. The muscles change and harden with age (and underuse!).

Each time I sing again, which works out to be once every 18 month to 2 years, I swear 'never again'. I don't particularly like myself as a performer and, were I directing me, I really wouldn't like me! However it does me good each time to remind myself what the performers I work with in my other life have to go through. It's a good exercise and every director should try it.

Wish me luck - the panic is rising!

Blackbirds update

Three little blackbird chicks making an appearance just before I left! Beautiful to see up close. Shame I won't watch them develop, but at least I've seen them.

Wednesday 8 June 2011

Precious days at home

I'm entering my last precious day at home before heading to Bregenz (via Manchester) for the Summer.

In this game, home takes on almost mythical status as a place of refuge, a touchstone, shangri la - all because one rarely gets here! We give up many things for our profession which everyone else would consider normal, but of course  experience huge benefits in return. For me though the ache to really develop the garden and to have animals around the house again gets more and more acute.

There has been some consolation in this brief time at home in the form of a pair of blackbirds who have become regulars. Last year they nested (though I know not where) and raised a couple of fledgelings in our back yard. Early this year they nested in the discarded Christmas Tree, which I was tardy to dispose of, and again raised two ugly and noisy chicks who fluttered and squawked behind the many pots until they could fly away. The handsome Mr Blackbird was kept busy feeding them until they were bigger than he.

Barely before this year's fledgelings have taken to the wing, and whilst her partner was still busily sating the appetite of their first brood, Mrs Blackbird was pulling her old nest to pieces and building another. This time she chose a clematis growing from a pot and clambering messily over trellis in the backyard for cover. The nest is a deep construction - almost a foot - which clings precariously to the wide-weave trellis and the thin, brittle clematis.

She has happily built despite our constant interruptions and, for the last week, sat snugly in her nest awaiting the occasional visits of Mr Blackbird who lets her fly off for a few minutes, fetching her back sharply if he thinks she is taking too long.

We have sat out just three feet away from her for many hours enjoying the Summer Sun and she seems quite unconcerned. In fact checking in with Mrs B first thing in the morning and last thing at night has become an enjoyable habit. Quite like having a pet.

I shall miss seeing how this latest brood (?) develops and it will be left to our visitors to see Mrs B feed and raise her chicks.

I hope she comes back next year.