Last night was the first rehearsal for The Fiery Furnace with the orchestra. It went really well. I was very nervous to hear the orchestral part for the first time. Principal concerns were balance between the orchestra and vocalists, how quickly could the orchestra pick up the difficult bits, and how would the pacing work. After a few comments on beat patterns for mixed meter passages, Maestro Ling took the chorus and orchestra through the piece. I was stunned that they read the 34 minute piece all the way through only stopping once. Wow!
The orchestra sounded great. Hardly anything tripped them up and no one got lost (there are lots of quiet passages for the soloists when many instrumentalists don’t play). I was very pleased with almost all of my orchestrational decisions. The balance with the chorus worked very well (only a couple of spots to tweak the orchestral part). Although the vocal soloists were not at the rehearsal, it seemed like the balance for their passages will come together very easily. The chorus also sounded great. The a cappella prayer early in the piece keeps getting better. It’s a very powerful moment. It was also great that the chorus seemed to have no problems getting their pitches from the orchestra.
I am absolutely delighted. Months of work and it is all coming together. The chorus continues to love the piece and I am getting great comments from them.
Random notes from the rehearsal…
The brake drum was definitely too high pitched and when played loud and exposed it sounded like a loud cowbell. I chatted with the percussionists after rehearsal and they are going to see what big bits of metal they can scrounge that will give a deeper more violent sound.
A few mistakes in the parts surfaced after the first read through. I hate mistakes in the parts. I always work very hard at editing the parts so we won’t lose a minute here or there answering a question that I should have clarified in the notation. Oh well… No matter how hard I try, there are always a couple of mistakes.
I had a hard time deciding where I wanted to be during rehearsal. Everyone says the best sound is in the balcony, but I can’t be there during rehearsal. I tried to sit half way back but then it was impossible to hear any discussion on stage. I ended up sitting in the second row and found I could hear things fairly clearly and could be in on any conversation that took place.
Maestro Ling generously gave my piece the entire rehearsal. The San Diego Symphony has done a wonderful job about allowing enough time to prepare the piece.
Maestro Ling wants to take one of the fast sections at a blistering pace. It sounds great and has terrific energy. Its nice that he wants it to go faster. Usually I am the one asking for players to blister their fingers for a faster tempo.
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