Oberlin

After an intense, two-and-a-half hour rehearsal at the Colburn School, maestra Bridget-Michaele Reischl took a few moments to speak with me about the inspiration for the program that she would conduct the following day, when the Oberlin Conservatory Symphony Orchestra would present the world premiere of Huang Ruo's Hanging Cliffs, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58, and Mahler's Symphony No. 1 in D Major at Walt Disney Concert Hall. She discussed the idea of the individual-versus-society as it plays out in the Beethoven and the Mahler, and the experience of having access to composer Huang Ruo's ideas and intentions while working through the re-creative process of Hanging Cliffs with the ensemble.

As I watch this video, with the orchestral plot being dismantled in the background, I'm reminded of a phrase that turned up frequently during the presidential campaign: the poetry of campaigning versus the prose of governance. Here we see the prose of rehearsal (well, post-rehearsal, anyway) as part of the preparation for the poetry of performance, which you'll glimpse in an upcoming video.