Wednesday was the first rehearsal of the year, and we got our new music, hurrah!

I am a complete sucker for ancient airs and dances, and lo and behold, we are playing Delibes’ dances ‘in the ancient style’ from the play Le roi s’amuse. I’d never heard of it, but really, when you’ve heard one suite of ancient airs and dances, you’ve pretty much got a good idea of what the rest of the genre’s like. It was very enjoyable to play until we hit the Lesquercarde, which is insanely fast pizzicato with stretches and reaches all over. I got lost in the third bar and spent most of the piece staring at the little black squiggles on the page wondering where the hell we were. Well, maybe it just seemed insanely fast because I couldn’t keep up. And when I did figure out where we were, I promptly lost it again because there was a stretch across three strings and I couldn’t figure out the fingering in time, and… oh, look, here I am lost again while the rest of the orchestra carries on. The rest of it was lovely. There’s a bonus piece after the Finale for mandolin and accompaniment, and our conductor asked somewhat jokingly if anyone knew a mandolin player. Somewhat to his astonishment there were two people in the orchestra who each knew someone different. This piece calls for the first two cellists to pluck a very soft accompaniment to the as-yet-unheard mandolin solo, with the section coming in tutti now and again. The accompaniment alone was beautiful and meditative. There are good things about sitting second chair, and this is one of them… assuming we do the mandolin piece at all. I’m just thankful it’s an easy piece to play, otherwise I’d have been sinking into my chair with embarrassment after mangling it.

We also played through Ravel’s Pavane, which is typical of the French school of the time. It’s very impressionistic, using bits of musical phrases to make a larger, well, impression of something else. It reminds me of playing Delius’ On Hearing The First Cuckoo In Spring. And like that piece, it will take attention from everyone in order to fit the little sighs and quotes from all over the different sections into the right place to make up the greater sense of music. But it’s lovely to play. (And I giggle every time I read the full title: Pavane pour une infante defunct. A defunct infanta. It amuses me, just as the term ‘neiges usagées’ does. It means ‘removed snow’ but the literal translation is ‘used snow’. It’s no wonder the Ravel is usually translated to be ‘Pavane for a Dead Princess‘.)

What else? Oh, our overture is the Caliph of Baghdad comic opera overture by Francois Adrien Boieldieu. (No, I hadn’t heard of the opera or the composer before last night either.) Very snappy, fun to play. And we didn’t get to the Fauré Pavane .

In case you hadn’t figured it out yet, the concert has a French theme. The secondary theme is dance, as all these pieces were either written for ballet (the Delius), have a dance somewhere in the work (the Boieldieu), are written on dance forms (the Ravel, Fauré, and Delius), or have been choreographed for dance (I hadn’t known that Balanchine had choreographed Gounod’s first symphony for New York City Ballet).

And let it be said here and now that while I appreciate the time and effort that goes into professionally hand-written scores, they reproduce terribly and are hard for me to read. Things just aren’t as clear and well-defined as a printed score.

It feels good to be back. I was leaden by the end of the night, though. If orchestra is going to be my Thing this year, it may have to be the only Thing until I get the fatigue and pain under control.

I found a second-hand cello listed for sale within my price range, and I’m trying to figure out if it’s worth setting up a date to try it. The seller is in Sherbrooke, and so either she’d have to come to Montreal or I’d have to go out there. The cello was purchased new in ’99, has an intermediate bow, and is a Karl Weber model 27. I know nothing about Karl Weber cellos other than they’re done in a workshop in China, so I’ve been trying to find out more, but there’s no info available on-line. I suspect it’s equivalent to my current cello, which is an anonymous make of Hungarian origin. Thirty-five to forty years of playing has developed its tone, though, whereas this other cello is new and won’t have that played-in bonus. What’s catching me is the fact that it’s a solid top, whereas mine is a laminate. It all comes down to what it sounds like and feels like, though, and if it were local I’d set up an appointment to try it and decide that way. Right now I’m trying to figure out if it’s worth the time and effort of someone commuting. If it’s another entry-level instrument, even a high-end entry-level, then chances are very good it will sound only as good as/worse than my current instrument. At the moment I’m leaning towards not bothering, and waiting. I’m not ready to start my search yet: I don’t have the energy or the right mindset. This cello would cost half of what I’m projecting as my max budget, which again, while thrifty, I suspect means not buying as high quality as I could. When in doubt, pass.