Today I felt the genuine freedom of retirement and enjoyed the ability to do things during the day that I previously only thought about doing.
Part One of this adventure was the Open Rehearsal of the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center. The Philharmonic performs in Avery Fisher Hall which is on the right side of this photo of Lincoln Center. I became a "Friend" of the NY Philharmonic this year and one of the benefits is tickets to selected rehearsals. Nearly all the attendees were obviously retirees who also share of love of music. There are some disadvantages to this audience as I sat in front of a nearly blind old woman ("What does this say? I can't read it") who would ask the question from her nearly deaf husband who would respond helpfully but very loudly. This was while we were all supposed to be quiet.
The Open Rehearsal offered the benefits of hearing beautiful performances but also watching how Alan Gilbert works with his orchestra. We heard the program which will be presented as the next three Philharmonic performances:
Berg's Three Orchestral Pieces
Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony in B Minor
John Adams-The Wound Dresser
Haydn's Symphony #49 in F minor (La Passione)
The order listed above is how the orchestra rehearsed it today, but the concert will present the works in the following order: Haydn, Adams, Schubert, and then Berg. It looks like they choose the order for rehearsal based on the the convenience for the orchestra members. The Berg and Schubert pieces required the largest number of performers, so they must let them rehearse and then leave. The rehearsal last four hours and then these performers will be back tonight for another 3-4 hours. That's a long day. The orchestra members and Alan Gilbert were all very casually dressed. Sloppy t-shirts and blue jeans.
The highlight for me was "The Wound Dresser". John Adams is about my age and has composed some wonderful new operas which are personal stories behind momentous historical moments (Nixon in China, Doctor Atomic which is about the Los Alamos project, The Death of Klinghoffer). This 20 minute piece was written for Baritone and Orchestra and Thomas Hampson of the Met sang the poem. The Wound Dresser was written by Walt Whitman during the Civil War where he served in military "hospitals" in Washington DC where the wounded lay in unheated, unventilated canvas tents. I couldn't help but be moved as I thought of the parallels today with the victims of the Haitian earthquake
"Bearing the bandages, water, and sponge,
Straight and swift to my wounded I go...
I onward go, I stop,
With hinged knees and steady hand to dress wounds,
I am firm with each, the pangs are sharp yet unavoidable,
One turns to me his appealing eyes--poor boy! I never knew you,
Yet I think I could not refuse this moment to die for you, if that would save you..."
This piece was more melodic than I expected from a modern composer previously characterized as a minimalist. It was quite beautiful. And it was a rare treat to have the composer himself in the audience, and watch as Adams went up to talk about some corrections with Alan Gilbert, Thomas Hampson and the first violinist. Tonight's performance is the NY Philharmonic premier of this piece, but we actually heard the "premier" this morning.
This senile old lady (me) went and bought a discounted ticket to Saturday night's performance, forgetting that I was coming to the Open Rehearsal. I figured that Beth could take my ticket to Turandot which is also Saturday night and which she has always wanted to see. But now I'm really, really happy that I am going because I will get to see how the real performance differs from the Open Rehearsal.
Tomorrow's posting (Part 2) : my afternoon backstage tour of the Met.
Addendum: The New York Times review of Thursday evening's concert echoed many of my observations, which makes me feel a bit smug
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/arts/music/16hampson.html?ref=music
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