All for Posterity
Warning: mktime() [function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in /home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line 24
Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in /home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line 30
Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in /home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line 32
Monday September 25th, 2006
Recording sessions. Photo sessions. Two things that musicians relish. What better way to spend a day (or three) than leaving audible or visible evidence of our flaws? Of course some actually do relish this thought. We call those narcissists.
I recently went through some sessions recording the Faure A Major Sonata and the Chausson Concerto for violin, piano, and quartet with pianist-uberblogger Jeremy Denk and the Jupiter Quartet. Show up to the Academy of Arts and Letters, say hellos, warm up, try to be ready to be “on” by 11am. Piano being tuned. 11am: tune. 11:20 (yes, 20 minutes for a fastidious quartet and violinist to tune properly by our recording standards!):
first sound check. 11:25: listen to first sound check, make set-up adjustments, “too close violin.” “too distant quartet.” “piano muddy.” etc. You get the picture. 1:30 (we could have run-through the concerto 3 times by now): Take 1!
Head was spinning by the end of the first day. Body was numb after the second. Spirit drained after the third.
In a few weeks I’ll probably get the first edit from the sessions and then the hours of listening will be almost as fun as staring at pictures of myself to decide which will be used for print media publicity, which will go on the cover of the CD, which will go in program books. No, that one looks like a smirk. That one looks condescending. Eyes too small. Violin hicky. Shiny scar. Glasses crooked. In the end I lament not having Brad Pitt’s parents and Kate Moss’s makeup artist.
