Doing a »Cameo« performance tomorrow...

[Frederik Magle]

Nikolaj Znaider called me today and asked if I could jump in and play the organ-part of Fritz Kreisler's Concerto for violin and orchestra in C (In the style of Vivaldi) tomorrow. I said yes, so I'll be off for rehearsals tomorrow and do a "cameo" at the concert tomorrow evening at 7.30 pm (19:30).

haven't gotten the organ part yet, so I'll play it prima vista at the general rehearsal...

(I've written some more about the concert on my blog)

[Art Rock]

Good luck! Sounds like fun.

[Krummhorn]

Congratulations Frederik
What a wonderful opportunity, sans the 'organ' as it were ... but we organists sometimes have to improvise with what is at hand. Wish you all the best during rehearsal and the performance in the evening.

[rojo]

Boohoo, wish I could be there!

Go for it, Frederik!

I'm off to read your blog now...

[Frederik Magle]

Thanks all!

The concert last night went very well. The musicians of the "Nordic Music Academy" did a splendid job - the string orchestra had a wonderful tone and I'm impressed by the high standard. Nikolaj has done absolute magic with them, and it was a very fine debut for him as a conductor. The way he motivated all the musicians - who are dedicated young students - to give their very best, creating a homogeneous and beautiful sound, was extraordinary. The orchestral tone was on level with the best of orchestras anywhere.

Unfortunately the "organ" slightly dragged down the otherwise high level of quality. I put "organ" in quotation marks because it was really just an electric piano using a pipe organ sound and small build-in speakers. The sampled "organ-sound" wasn't all that bad, but it was nevertheless quite clear that it wasn't a real organ and the lack of external amplifiers and speakers possibly amplified (no pun ) the sense of that, especially because the volume had to be turned all the way up and the lack of "body" and richness in the tone.

With that said, I still think the concert overall was very good, and judging from the response so did the audience (of approx. 1000 people)

[rojo]

Was it recorded, Frederik?

Too bad you didn't get more time to prepare instrument-wise; was the part not very difficult at least? Nice of you to do the job on such short notice, I'm sure Mr. Znaider (and the crowd) appreciated it.

[Frederik Magle]

There is a video recording of the concert. Don't know how it's turned out though, but I'll find out.

Well, the organ was part was very easy but also great fun to play. There really wasn't anything to do about the instrument that was provided on such short notice. Still it was a real pleasure to take part in the concert.

[rojo]

You know I'd love to see/hear it; keep us posted! (Did someone mention youtube? )

[Krummhorn]

Frederik ... glad to hear things went well for the performance. And what a superb attendance, too ... hope the video can be shared on here somehow.

[Sybarite]

Sorry I didn'rt read about this earlier, but congratulations. I'm delighted to hear that it went well.