Yesterday evening (Saturday 5th June) one of my absolute favourite concertos was on the program in the concert that I played with the Neu Philharmonie Frankfurt. Once again the orchestra did a super job with The Hallows Concerto, and Maestro Roland Boer was such a great asset to me in the performance and we both acknowledged that we have evolved with the concerto over the last 18 months. The acoustic of the Congress Hall in Hanau (famous for being the birthplace of Hindemith, and for being one of the 'gold' centres of Germany) was a real assistace, giving the music real time and space and allowing the listeners great opportunities to enjoy Rolf Rudin's magnificent scoring.
Here is the concert programme from the evening:
http://www.euphonium.net/download.php?id=42
It is very hard to programme this concerto, mainly because of its length, at around 30 minutes, but also because it requires a very large orchestra, plus harp and piano. And, of course I was a little uncertain how the audience here would react to such a mammoth concerto, played by an instrument they didnt really know. I could tell from the very beginning we had the opportunity to create a very special atmosphere in this good acoustic. It went very well and the long applause at the end of the performance indicated they really enjoyed it.
I spent a few hours with the composer this weekend and we discussed the availability of the solo part, as many players have been asking me for it. It would be great to think that this concerto could be played more often. The good news is that the solo part is virtually ready for printing and the proof copy I saw was excellent. To make a piano transcription is a massive undertaking and Rolf tells me it is probably realistic to say the piano edition could be 12 months away. However, we hope players will be eager to learn the solo part and even commit playing it with an orchestra before the piano part is available. To facilitate this I recorded the dress rehearsal yesterday morning and will be making some sound clips available so players can get a good idea of how it sounds.
The next ttime I play it will be in the middle of July at the summer classical miusic festival in Montepulciano and conducted by Roland Boer , who understands this music so well now, and I'm thrilled to be playing it with the RNCM Symphony Orchestra. This is a superb group of course, and will be the first time in nearly 20 years at the RNCM as a teacher that I will have played with them.
Meanwhile I'm pleased to see the profile of the euphonium raised in the classical music world in Germany, and as I walked around the town of Hanau on the morning of the concert I came across the poster advertising the concert:
