Alban Berg “Lulu” Opera in 3 acts, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Daniele Gatti.
Act 1 How nice to see everyone from the orchestra again, even after only one week off since we’ve been playing Wozzeck here as well in Vienna for 3 weeks! Feels like a family to me, and I’m so happy to be here again with everyone.
This time, Lulu is on the program. Never heard it, never played it… it’s completely new for me. Of course, you listen to some recordings to have an idea of what’s going on, you practice your part, but everything still doesn’t seem very understandable!!! But we have 2 weeks of rehearsals to understand Berg’s opera and to give it back to the audience. Hope the fact to play with everyone will make me feel more comfortable.
First rehearsal: meeting with Gatti. Also, fist time for me. Of course I’ve heard about him because he’s the new principal conductor in Orchestre National de France, but I have never heard any concert with him, or even played with him.
Let’s go, first chords… first impression, Gatti is very clear, obviously knows the piece inside out, and it’s going to be very helpful. Because even if Gatti’s very efficient and clear, the piece is so difficult!!!!!!!!!!! My god, I don’t understand anything. What are we playing? Does this mean something? Is it only noise? And obviously I’m not the only one thinking this. Waouh, the next 3 weeks are not going to be so pleasant...
But, rehearsal after rehearsal, everything becomes more and more clear, everyone knows better what to play, and where. At the end of the 1st week, it feels a bit more comfortable to play, but still there seems to be a lot of work to be done…
Act 2 2nd week, the singers are joining us. Nice to finally hear the whole piece, with all the music. The singing parts are as difficult as ours, maybe even more, because it’s 3 hours of tricky music they have to know by heart!!! I’m happy to know that they have been singing Lulu last month all together with Gatti in La Scala, Milano. It’s going to be easy. But not! The parts are very difficult, and you can also feel that the tension they had last month is still very present.
To release the tension, we had the opportunity to play for a worldwide busk in the street. The goal was to raise funds to re-built music schools which have been destroyed by the storm in Tahiti. Every musician was called to play in the street, explaining the people what they were playing for, and collect a bit of money for the project.
I was immediately seduced by this great idea, and tried to organize a little concert on the street, with some friends. The whole orchestra first played with Andrew Manze, who came for a Mozart symphonic program to conduct, in the MuseumQuartier. The day after, we played Brahms clarinet quintet with my friends in Karlzplatz park. What a nice feeling to play for such a goal, and just to have fun playing together!!!
Act 3 Finally, it’s time for the performances. We have 3 performances, plus dress and pre dress rehearsal. The piece is understood now, and I have to say that I like it very much. What a change for me! The first performance is great, we all trust Gatti, and he leads us to what he wants. The orchestra sounds great, free, and fits really well with the singers. And the result gets better and better after each performance.
What a piece!!! Amazing music, amazing story, amazing structure…
