H a n n a h C o l l i n s

Time for another Transatlantic Trek…

Redbird: Jeffrey Foucault, Kris Delmhorst, Peter Mulvey & David Goodrich playing White Freightliner Blues (Townes van Zandt)

Due in no small part to the shock of being too old to pay the youth fare on Thalys train tickets, I’ve recently been inspired take advantage of as many student discounts as possible, particularly on concert tickets.  Happily, with so many great venues nearby, this little project has allowed me to see several artists who I had been  hoping to catch for years and has given me the chance to get more familiar with the general European concert-going experience, all at nice bargain prices. At the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, for example, a 10 euro student rush ticket can get you a first-class concert (like Mitsuko Uchida playing a stunning solo program of Schumann and Beethoven, plus Bach and Chopin encores), a complimentary beverage during the intermission, and a public transportation pass for the evening.  As I often forget, the program booklet is not always included in the package and may cost a couple of extra euros (kind of like a baseball game, but without the scorecard).

Every time I go to the Concertgebouw, I find myself pondering those timeless questions that have passed through the minds of millions of visitors:  who was in the meeting to decide which composers’ names would appear on the walls of the Grote Zaal? Did anyone lobby for the British? Did anyone get blackballed? And who decided it would be a fun idea to make soloists negotiate that enormous flight of stairs to enter and leave the stage?  I’ll bet a lot of performers have seriously regretted not testing out their concert shoes at the dress rehearsal.

The big event of this month was the Amsterdamse Cello Biennale, a huge international cello extravaganza housed at another terrific venue, the beautiful and hip Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ.   The festival featured a competition, masterclasses, workshops, and the most cello-centric program of concerts possible: cello solos, duets, quartets, octets, duodectets… cello concertos and double concertos with chamber orchestra, symphony orchestra, wind ensemble, new music ensemble… cellists playing jazz, raga, tango, chinese folk music, opera… plus all kinds of other ridiculousness. It was a real pleasure to see so many friends and heroes creating great performances and fascinating conversations together. I challenge anyone to find another group of instrumentalists who enjoy being around each other as much as cellists do AND who sound as good when playing together en masse.

Anssi Karttunen performed several brand new works including selections from his 50th birthday present – a collection of 30+ variations, each by a different composer, on the Chiacona for solo cello (1670) by Giuseppe Colombi.  An amazing gift for an amazing musician.  I cannot wait to see this volume out in print.  Here is his performance of the Chiacona followed by 10 of the new variations including contributions from Kaija Saariaho, Tan Dun and Magnus Lindberg. For more information on this project and the variations performed here, go to the bottom of this page. Stay tuned until the end for a post-game interview.

featuring the carving skills of H. Shaw and leftover pirate candles. ARR!

I spent last weekend playing chamber music at Moulin d’Andé in Haute-Normandie surrounded by scenery fit for a fairytale, complete with a 12th century mill, an unexpected rainstorm, et un canard qui rit. The only thing missing was a source of magical powers… unless I misinterpreted this warning sign on the back door:

I’m back in the Netherlands where the weather is beautiful but the news is grim, at least in the music world. After months of negotiations following close elections in June, the final stages have been reached on a new governing agreement which will create a minority coalition government run by the Christian Democrats (CDA) and the Liberals (VVD) with support from the very, very, divisive Freedom Party (PVV). I find this whole system very complicated and would recommend further reading to anyone interested. The pact is worrisome for many reasons, especially the proposed concessions to the far-right (see further reading). In addition, the new government has announced its intention to trim the budget by cutting EUR 220 million in arts funding and completely abolishing the Muziek Centrum van de Omroep (Netherlands Broadcasting Music Center), which includes the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Radio Chamber Philharmonic, the Radio Choir, the Radio Music Library, and the Metropole Orchestra. I never thought I would see something like this proposed in the Netherlands!

Needless to say, emotions are running high for all kinds of reasons. A few parliament members are still resisting the new pact so none of these measures have passed yet, but it doesn’t look good…

As a result of the fact that I rarely listen to music directly from my computer these days, my iTunes “most played” list is a revealing snapshot of the soundtrack that powered me through all of the late night study sessions (and study breaks) of my college days. It’s an eclectic mix of reassuring favorites, new discoveries, and songs that I kept on hand because they were just barely not interesting enough to distract me from the adventures of cell biology (and other exciting tales). Guster makes a solid showing on the list as an old discovery (thanks RAD). Glad to hear they will be releasing a new album next month along with a video to accompany each song. The first one, made by the artists of One Degree Off, is out already:

For those of you who like Web Gems, this Yahoo Sports blog entry (via SCM) features a nice stash of great catches: two recent feats from Japan, links to two MLB grabs and, most amazing of all, this from a Triple-A game (check out the left fielder’s reaction):

Thoroughly enjoying the great summertime tradition of thinking about music all day in beautiful places (so far this year: an English seaside village, a national park in Quebec, and the White Mountains of Maine). For all of you sentimental nerds out there, this video (via EF):