Author's posts
Dec 23
Recording the Tchaikovsky Symphonies | Part Seven
Recording The Tchaikovsky Symphonies | Part Seven “Manfred” Symphony, op. 58 You will recall from the last blog post that we re-recorded the “Pathetique” Symphony in the late fall of 1986, after having put it on tape the previous August. The reason for this was that our chief conductor Mariss Jansons felt that …
Dec 09
Recording the Tchaikovsky Symphonies|Part Six
Recording the Tchaikovsky Symphonies|Part Six Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, op. 74 “Pathetique” By this time, it was clear to all of us in the organization that we had two symphonies left to record. Symphonies 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 had been recorded (the Second and Third had not yet …
Dec 07
Recording The Tchaikovsky Symphonies | Part Five
Recording the Tchaikovsky Symphonies | Part Five Symphony No. 3 in D major, op. 29 At this point in time, the Oslo Philharmonic and Mariss Jansons were on a roll (figuratively) when it came to recording the Tchaikovsky symphonies for Chandos. It was the early winter of 1986. Symphonies No. 5 and 4 …
Nov 24
My Musical Career|Part Twenty-Eight
My Musical Career | Part Twenty-Eight Touring with the Oslo Philharmonic – U.K 1984 In my previous post, I talked about some of the highlights of my first seasons with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. My first tour with the orchestra was an overnight run-out to Gothenberg, Sweden. My first “big” tour with the …
Oct 12
Recording the Tchaikovsky Symphonies | Part Four
Recording the Tchaikovsky Symphonies | Part Four Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 2 in C minor, op. 17 “Little Russian” Now that we had three of the Tchaikovsky symphonies on tape – by this time two had been released, and the 1st Symphony was due for release in the late fall of 1985, the orchestra …
Oct 08
My Musical Career |Part Twenty-Seven
My Musical Career|Part Twenty-Seven Playing the Bartok Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (orchestral version) and Other Highlights… One of the biggest challenges facing me that first season with the orchestra happened relatively early on. I was fully aware of it as I had been sent a copy of the season’s program during …
Oct 06
Recording The Tchaikovsky Symphonies | Part Three
Recording The Tchaikovsky Symphonies | Part Three Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 1 in G minor, op. 13 “Winter Daydreams” With the Fifth Symphony released, and the Fourth Symphony already on tape, it was time to for Mariss and the Chandos team to decide which of the symphonies to record next. Should we go for …
Sep 18
Recording The Tchaikovsky Symphonies|Part Two
Recording the Tchaikovsky Symphonies|Part Two In my last post, I wrote about how the Tchaikovsky recording project got started. It began with the desire on the part of both orchestra and conductor to record the standard repertoire, which lead to the orchestra waiving their fee and paving the way for our recording of Tchaikovsky’s 5th …
Sep 13
Recording the Tchaikovsky Symphonies |Part One
Recording The Tchaikovsky Symphonies|Part One During my fifteen-season tenure as timpanist of the Oslo Philharmonic, I had the honor to participate in over forty recordings with the orchestra for the following recording labels: Chandos, EMI/Angel, Sony Classical, and the Aurora label as well as the Norwegian Cultural Council. Most of these were conducted by our …
Sep 12
My Musical Career|Part Twenty-Six
My Musical Career|Part Twenty-Six That First Season……. That first full season with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra was a very interesting one., musically and personally. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I began my tenure as principal timpanist with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra (called solopaukist in Norwegian) on September 7, 1983. The program for that …
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