Practical Concert Work

[Fred Sturm]

--On Saturday, May 29, 2004 1:00 PM -0500 "David M. Porritt" 
<dporritt@mail.smu.edu> wrote:

> Richard:
>
> In Part 1 of the series he states "....I never imagined I would spend ten
> years as the technician for one of the big five American Orchestras."
> He is a member of the Chicago chapter so unless he travels A LOT I'd have
> to guess that he is the tech for the Chicago Symphony.
>
> dave
>
>
> __________________________________________
> David M. Porritt, RPT
> Meadows School of the Arts
> Southern Methodist University
> Dallas, TX 75275

	That is probably the case. I don't like to run down any fellow tech - he 
probably is found to do reliable quality work. But Ron Coners told me last 
fall that David Barenboim insists on flying Coners out to Chicago to prep 
the piano any time he (Barenboim) plays it. Barenboim being the conductor 
of the Chicago Symphony, and a remarkable pianist as well. So who knows?
	I do hate to see anyone giving out what I consider to be misinformation, 
though. Maybe his system works for him, but my experience says that 
pianists appreciate the "finer and finer circles of refinement." Maybe you 
can get by with that kind of attitude - which I would describe as avoiding 
complaints rather than seeking perfection - but noone will leave a note for 
you thanking you profusely for a "wonderful instrument that almost plays 
itself" or the like. I'm not a starry-eyed idealist, but I do try to put 
out the special effort for those concert instruments, in hopes of helping 
someone "create magic." I don't think you can create much magic on an 
instrument prepped as he describes.
Regards,
Fred