A perfect evening

Our open rehearsal this evening was a big success and lots of fun. Doris, Suzanne, and Dane started with part of the Kevin Puts piece they are doing, "And Legions Will Rise." What a cool piece—but WICKED hard. The piece is sort of a "catch me if you can" kind of work, where they imitate one another an eighth note (or a sixteenth note) apart. One small brain spasm and you're doomed. But so cool when it works. Then Stephanie, Suzanne, Katrin, Parry, and Randy played Kevin's "Traveler." It's a slightly more opaque piece—but full of beautiful harmonies. They were all amazed they were able to get through it in one try. Apparently the first (and only) performance of this work was conducted. I can see why. But already you can tell that these guys are listening to one another, that each one of them is trying to play the WHOLE piece rather than just their part. They'll get there—and I think the piece is worth the effort. Timothy sang part 2 of "Einstein on Mercer Street"—that's going to be hot. He sounds amazing as always. And we finished up with a run-through of the "Breakdown Tango" which everyone seemed to enjoy. Cool piece, really well written.

It's great to play all of this challenging music—I really feel it helps me grow as a player and a musician—and it's gratifying when audiences seem to get into it like they did tonight. And it's so satisfying to combine it all with really gorgeous standard rep like the Mozart, Debussy, Vaughan Williams, and Duparc pieces we're doing. Best of both worlds.

After all our patrons left, David's cooking was the new order of business. It lived up to David's high standards. Tom Terry joined us for drinks, and we capped off the evening with Katrin's amazing prune cake.

I've been doing really well on my diet... but I fear I'm doomed over these next several weeks. No time to exercise, plus tons of great food served on nice plates. Not a good combo if you're trying to slim down a bit.

Tomorrow is kind of a restful day. We've been at it so hard, it'll be good to have a little down time before the onslaught of all the concerts.