It’s a well-known fact that composers dread first rehearsals of their works. John Adams wrote a few months ago about his recent work for the LA Phil, ‘City Noir’, and told of his experiences with even such a great orchestra. He recounted the first rehearsal, along with all of the difficulties the players experienced with the new piece. Everything fell into place eventually, but it was only after a good amount of hard work. That first reading caused even Adams to question a number of things in the work — Should I really have put that note there? Are the horns going to be able to play that passage? Why did I double that line?

This past week has boasted three first rehearsals for my upcoming grad recital: the string quartet and wind quintet last Saturday, and the motets for choir last Tuesday. I went into each rehearsal sort of dreading that first reading, but was pleasantly surprised when each of the three turned out great! The musicians are all working very hard, and really understand their respective pieces quite well. It’s going to be a great recital!!

Upcoming projects: two commissions (one piano solo and one song) and a new work for a trumpet/bassoon duo from Peabody.  More on those later.

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