Fitzenhagen and the Rococo Variations
Wilhelm Fitzenhagen was a young German cellist and composer who had taken lessons with the famous professor Friedrich Grützmacher in Dresden, and after performing at a Beethoven festival in Weimar, Franz Liszt offered him the job of principal cellist there. Simultanously Nikolai Rubinstein had tried to lure the talented Fitzenhagen to Moscow to become the cello professor at the conservatory there and in what I’d consider a very brave move, Fitzenhagen accepted the Russian offer over staying in Germany. In Moscow he became good friends with Peter I.Tchaikovsky and convinced him to write a piece for cello, the Rococo Variations.
Self-Discipline and Death
I had promised myself to start writing more often again but couldn’t keep my own promise. Also I wanted to loose weight and learn Bulgarian which I haven’t managed. Self-discipline, the highest virtue for me because I have so little of it, and the happier I am the more difficult it seems to “stick to the plan”. What to do? Be unhappy and self-disciplined? Not raise the bar up too high? Or just take little steps and do one thing at the time? Yes, this is what I am doing right now; instead of practicing for next week’s duo-concerts with my fiancée in Cologne and Hamburg I start writing this blog entry in my hotel room in the city of Portland!
Musical Projects auf deutsch
Nach Konzerten in Spanien kommt man meistens eher spät ins Bett. Zunächst fangen musikalische Veranstaltungen offiziell erst um 20h30 oder sogar 22h30 an, und zwar bestimmt nicht pünktlich, dann sind die Zuhörer und Orchestermitglieder weniger scheu, nach dem Konzert noch mit dem völlig durchgeschwitzten Cellisten (in diesem Falle stand  Prokofiev’s Monster-Cellosinfonie auf dem Programm, also Flüssigkeiten im Überfluss….) über alle möglichen und unmöglichen Dinge zu sprechen, und schlussendlich gibt es insbesondere in Städten am Meer (in meinem Falle La Coruna) großartige Restaurants, in denen dann zu spätester Stunde (ab Mitternacht) noch meeresfrüchtelnde Festmahle mit fröhlich sprudelnder Weinquelle unmöglich vermieden werden können, da man die großzügigen Gastgeber nicht vor den Kopf stossen möchte; nur nebenbei sei erwähnt, dass es gerade diese spätabendlichen kulinarischen Aktivitäten sind, die mich bei Konzertangeboten aus Spanien ohne zu Zögern immer zusagen lassen
Hinzu kommt, dass die Qualität der Orchester in den letzten Jahren derart gewachsen ist, dass diese sich auch vor verwöhnten deutschen Ohren überhaupt nicht verstecken müssen, ganz im Gegenteil. Selten ertönte die beliebte “Peter-und-der-Wolf”-Blech-Stelle im letzten Satz derart klangschön und präzise wie gestern in La Coruna.
Musical Projects
Concerts in Spain promise a very late night, because first of all they start officially at 20h30 or even 22h45, often not too punctual. After the performance members of audience and orchestra appear to be less shy than elsewhere to talk to the sweaty cellist (in this specific case Prokofiev’s gigantic Cellosymphony on the program, body fluids in abundance…) about more or less everything between stolen cellos and pulpo for at least another half hour, before one finally moves either with the entourage of the Maestro (as yesterday with lovely Jesus Lopez-Cobos) or some orchestra members into one of the Spanish coastal town’s delicious restaurants.
Teaching and Performing
My father is one of the most dedicated teachers I have ever come across. Since more or less 50 years he has tought the violin, starting at the tender age of 17, and now, after retiring from playing in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for 43 years, he will still have his students at the UdK in Berlin as well as his work with the German Youth Orchestra to make a smooth transition into full retirement (as if this would ever happen!). His dedication and enthusiasm for teaching has made a very big impression on me with a very funny affect: I love to teach, and I grab any possibility of a masterclass to teach – nevertheless because of my father’s dedication I refuse to take a teaching position. I would not be able to fulfill it with the same responsability and care he has shown and which I am convinced is necessary; students seek and need a lot of attention and help, and with me travelling extensively and trying to be as dedicated a father as I can be, I know some of the three things (family, playing, teaching) if not all three would suffer.
Breaking Bows and Strings in London
“What a passionate performance! You must be a very passionate man?” was the question (in French, oh mon Dieu!) in a radio interview during intermission in Brussels ten days ago. My answer wasn’t flattering to myself, but what do you expect me to say? “No, I am not passionate at all, rather very boring.” Well, this is what I answer when I am being asked questions like that, especially since I felt pretty empty and thus boring after the Walton performance. I had to think of this interview because today I did something seemingly very passionate: first my bow broke in the middle of the first movement of Brahms’ F-Major Sonata during my rehearsal with Steven Osborne two hours prior to our lunchtime concert at the Wigmore Hall in London, and then, within 2 minutes of our live-broadcast concert my D String broke. Passion? Or just bad luck?? Nine years ago I had bought this gorgeous bow made by Nikolaus Kittel, the Russian “Tourte” as he has also been labeled, which broke three months afterwards. I couldn’t believe it and actually broke into tears because this bow was the first “thing” I really loved. I felt (and still do feel it) that he is the perfect alongation of my arm, and that all the music and sounds I want to create go directly from my arm through the bow into the string. Hans-Carl Schmidt in Dresden fixed it back then and it held up for 3 years, then broke again. My violinmaker in Berlin did the next few jobs, because every other year it would give in into the stress of being played every day for many hours in, yes, let’s call it a passionate way.
ECHO Gala
I just finished a far too long day; at 2:30 am I returned to my hotel in Brussels after exchanging the Meeuwissen cello with my Goffriller, packed my suitcase, slept 4 hours and took an early train at 7:18 am back to Berlin. After my flight into Brussels was even cancelled last week and I missed half of my first and only rehearsal for the Walton Concerto, I was happy to take the train back home, even though I wasn’t all that lucky – some problems with the powerline delayed us for an hour. In Berlin I had half hour to shower, switch to a more formal look and drive with my little car to Dresden where that evening the popular ECHO-awards for various recordings were handed out at a gala event in the famous Semper-Opera.
Correction
I would like to apologize for having completely misunderstood and misrepresented the following facts: my manager had informed me that the Cleveland Orchestra changed the program for June 2010 and that they weren’t going to need me anymore to perform the Concerto by Matthias Pintscher. I assumed by having recently read articles about how the financial crisis affects US orchestras that this must have something to do with budget cuts of the Cleveland orchestra. This is completely wrong, and neither has the Cleveland orchestra laid off anybody.
Time flies, and some cellist is getting lazier and lazier
Actually I wanted to write at least a little bit of something after last week’s Brahms Double in Berlin with the RSB, again Marek Janowski and lovely Arabella Steinbacher, especially since it is always very meaning- and also stressfull and special for me to play in my hometown, in “my” hall, the Berliner Philharmonie in which I have heard so many unbelievable concerts, seen the greatest players and conductors, in short: where I received my musical training, at least partly.Thinking of the musicians I have had a chance to hear in there, just to name a few of the real good, dead ones: Vladimir Horowitz, Claudio Arrau (he even kissed me on my forehead :)), Emil Gilels, Pierre Fournier, Paul Tortelier, obviously Mstislav Rostropovich, conductors like H.v.Karajan, Jochum, Giulini and so many others – sooo lucky having grown up in this amazing city with wonderful orchestras performing more or less 10 concerts each week.
Being or at least acting important
Gosh, I need a break – recording one program, performing a full recital with another one with no time in between, wears the most resilient musician down. Last night Markus Becker and me played the opening of the Reger-Festival in Weiden (near Nuremberg), and if somebody would have listened to our rehearsals, he or she wouldn’t have believed that we were attempting to play that repertoire in concert the same day. We had good excuses for not being ready though; both of us just came out of tough recording projects, him doing Reger-Bach arrangements for Hyperion, I did the two very difficult Prokofiev Concertos. But at the end of the day, the audience in Weiden didn’t know about this and deserved a good concert.With the last amounts of concentration left, after working hard all day (again I must have played the cello for at least 8 hours including the concert) we pulled off the miracle and played actually really well. I was especially nervous because it was the first time since about 17 years that I was playing a recital with the music in front of me. I had spoilt myself by always knowing the sonatas I was performing by heart, which gave me another authority and view over the piece, at least this is the feeling I have while playing. But for yesterday’s concert there was no chance to re-memorize the Sonatas by Strauss and Reger in half a day, even though I knew them a year ago. The 5th Bachsuite I had to play by memory since the music is all packed in some moving boxes, but the rest of the concert I had to endure looking at the music once in a while. I survived and the concert is history :)
Loosing 3 kilos in 6 days just by recording Prokofiev
When I arrived last night at home in Berlin after having been gone for the week, my roommate looked at me and claimed that I had lost weight. This morning after sleeping like a child for almost 9 hours I verified her claim: 3 kilos (6,6 US pounds) in 6 days – and that without sports or dieting, just pure and utter stress. What had happened?
Well, the last week I had spent in beautiful Bergen, Norway, in order to record for Hyperion two big concertos by Prokofiev, his op.58 “Concerto” and the more famous “Sinfonia Concertante”, both considered among the toughest pieces for cello; technically and physically that might be true. As usually I was very well taken care of by my favorite producer-team of all times, Andrew Keener and Simon Eadon, and the Bergen Philharmonic under their “chief” Andrew Litton was in splendid shape, but he schedule was grueling.We had so-called “Rehearse/Record” sessions, which means not an isolated day of rehearsals for these two 40 minute pieces of which the op.58 is practically unkown (I had never heard nor played it before) but we rehearsed a movement and then jumped into recording it. What I found especially brutal was the fact that the sessions happened each day from 10 am until 3 pm with two, three breaks in which Andrew Litton and me just listened to what we had recorded. After the session I went back to my dressing room to practise another two, three hours the next day’s movements.
What would you like to change in the music business?
I’d love to see a greater humility towards the music in this business which should not even be called like that. There are too many promoter and artists who are thinking first profit and then the music (if at all). It got for my taste a bit too “fee-oriented” instead of just trying to do justify ones existence as an artist.
How do you get concerts?
As with all soloists nothing goes without managers, and after some rather negative experiences I finally found a team which I trust to develop and to put my visions and ideas into realitiy.
My so called general management is located in London, the agency SulivanSweetland, two lovely ladies, directly responsible for finding concerts in the UK, Benelux, Scandinavia and Australia as well as my recording deal with Hyperion. In addition to that they not only coordinate my entire calendar and the already existing local representations, but they try to establish me in markets in which I am not so present, especially Asia. They put together presskits, demo cd‘s, send them with letters or hand them personally on their numerous travels out to representers, orchestras and local managers, since personal contact counts more than ever. The times where an agent picks up the phone and arranges the concerts are over for a while. It is a hard job, and I wouldn’t want to switch with them, concertizing is much easier. The two other most important managements, with whom I am in constant touch is my Germany management called markus bröhl artists and concerts. The owner is a friend of mine, who loves music and his artists more than anything, that he puts his work above everything else. And last but not least Michal Schmidt in New York who has done miraculous work in the shortest of all periods. Within a year she had turned my American career around by just informing every single orchestra about me, and within months she had filled an entire season with eight different orchestras. Most important for me is the fact, that all of them care about music and the human being behind the musician which results into me being able for the first time in my professional life to take with their support an entire summer month off – I am not twenty anymore and I need a break to recharge the battery!
Only a dead (or old) conductor is a good conductor ?
My father is an orchestra musician, plays since 41 years in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Their principal conductors have always been among the best in the world: he experienced Karajan, Abbado, Rattle. But also the guest conductors are normally the créme de la créme, especially since the orchestra hand-picks them; and still, I grew up with listening to his complaints about conductors which probably made me decide against wanting to become one, even though I think this would have been my destiny; already as a little boy I went to orchestra concerts and operas with the score in my hands.
Pretentious People
Yesterday I had some delicious "Grühnkohl mit Mettwurst" (kale with smoked sausage) at the Weihnachtsmarkt next to Deutsche Staatsoper here in my hometown Berlin together with wonderful and beautiful soprano Annette Dasch who had just made her debut at La Scala.
Willkommen zu Alban's Blog
Since a while I started thinking of starting my own blog in order to get some more feedback from fellow musicians or general audiences about the way I see, feel and understand music making, the music "scene" or business as well as general things in culture. I have no idea if there is a real interest for this, but I thought I'd check it out and see what happens...