I have to say that my group of colleagues (from The Cleveland Orchestra: Amy Lee and Alica Koelz, violins, Joanna Patterson and Mark Jackobs, violas, Charles Bernard and Tanya Ell, cellos, Frank Rosenwein, oboe, and Richard Stout, trombone, and non-TCO guest pianist Tina Dahl) is a group that creates pure working and playing pleasure for me. The audience loves them all, too.
The bar is fantastic, welcoming, utterly relaxed, fun.
Rick mentioned that what we do there is just strange enough, just undefinable enough to be slightly uncomfortable for everyone involved. (One of our audience members echoed these thoughts in her blog, A Terror Musical, this morning.)
And I think that's what makes it fun. Is it a concert? Is it a bar hang? Are we socializing? Are we doing outreach? Are people there to eat? To listen? We exist in a non-category there: we're not rockers, certainly, but we're also not tuxedoed maestros. I found myself hearing our music in this context in a completely new way: Ravel rocks, and so does Bach. I love imagining someone else enjoying this thought for the first time.
Anyway, our set lists included music from:
1.
Beethoven E-flat Major Piano Trio, op. 1, #1
Thea Musgrave Impromptu No. 1 for flute and oboe
Schumann Fantasiestücke for trombone and piano
Ravel String Quartet
Bach Double Concerto (oboe and violin)
2.
Janacek String Quartet ("Kreutzer Sonata")
Rebecca Clarke Sonata for viola and piano
Beethoven Serenade, op. 25, for flute, violin, and viola
Delibes Flower Song from Lakmé, arranged for flute, oboe, and piano
Doppler "Souvenir de Prague" flute, oboe, and piano
Tchaikovsky "Souvenir de Florence" string sextet
3.
Brahms B Major Piano Trio, op. 8
Elizabeth Raum Fantasy for trombone and piano
Poulenc Sonata for oboe and piano
Boismortier Duos for 2 cellos
Arthur Foote A Night Piece for flute and string quartet
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1 comments:
Hi Joshua,
As a Detroit SO bassist who started a local Classical Revolution chapter in December, two months after reading about you guys first playing Happy Dog, I concur that it is an unusual experience. I haven't BUSKED since my days at Aspen. But this indoor vibe is completely different even from THAT! Your FANS come out and they want to hear every note so they generally refrain from talking and clinking glasses. But they are also hyper-aware of those who ARE having "fun" yet refrain from shushing them. There's tension but also wonder at the novelty of the situation.
I see there are many TVs at the Dog. I hope there wasn't a big game on! That can mean loud, random interruptions.
I think on the whole, these are watershed events where we can take classical music OFF the pedestal for awhile, amplify it a bit without imagining Beethoven spinning in his grave and perhaps greet new folk who just happened to be there with a surprise or two that clam is actually accessible.
Jeff Zook has been a generous colleague in the CRD series and I hope to encourage as much DSO participation as you have!
Cheers!
- Rick Robinson
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