Moscow 2007

For the fifth time in Moscow, I enjoyed 8 days recording with the Russian Philharmonic, eating wonderful food - Russian, Uzbek, and Armenian, having some good beer (my favorite - Edelweiss, locally made, reminding me of Chimay), and just walking the streets of this vibrant city. The Red Square never gets old, it is simply spectacular, especially at night. No surprise it made the final list for the modern Seven Wonders of the World. In June, the sun sets after 10 PM, and it is still light around 11:15. It is a cool feeling to be alive for so many hours in the day, and see everyone around you full of vitality well into the wee hours of the night.

I had 5 recording sessions, generally 4 hours long, and the last one 6 hours. It is intense, but thrilling to work with such good musicians and very professional players. Sure, this is work, and sometimes not everything comes out perfect from the first reading, but certainly they learn fast, and the process is rewarding. The bulk of the project was recording music by Samuel Barber: the piano concerto with Carl Cranmer (who did an awesome job) - the last movement in 5/8 gave everyone a big workout and some serious challenges - the ballet "The Souvenirs" - a delightful salon-like set of dances, the opera "the Hand of Bridge," and "Four Songs" never recorded in their orchestral version - Nocturne, Monks and Raisins, Sure on this Shining Night, and I Hear an Army. The singers were sopranos Emily Bullock, Kathleen Flynn, tenor JR Fralick, and baritone Randall Scarlata.

We also recorded the beautiful Romanza for violin and orchestra by Andrea Clearfield. The piece was only premiered this spring with Gloria Justen and Orchestra 2001, led by Jim Freeman, who also commissioned the work. Last day we recorded David Laganella's "under ethereal," a piece that feels like riding a ray of sun that continuously changes its spectrum. We Randy Scarlata we also read two of my Three Songs for baritone and orchestra, but we ran out of time to really do a CD ready recording.

I am now waiting to get the first edit, hopefully by mid-July. While waiting, I teach with Sylvia at the PA Governor School for the Arts, a totally free program for the top music and arts students in Pennsylvania. Erie is great, as great as a "lost in time" mid-western city can be. Most food has sugar in it, and the entertainment du-jour of the locals is drinking. Presque Isle is nice though, and we go to the beach a few times a week, usually in the weekend. And last Saturday we went to Chautauqua, where I attended the festival 14 years ago, and heard a great Shostakovich Cello Concerto no. 2 with Colin Carr. It was nice to hear and reconnect with him, two years ago he did Schumann with the West Chester University Orchestra in Sicily.