The Great Jazz-Bach Fusion fiasco, part I

behind the scenes at the dsso

Markand Thakar

On September 20 at the opening concert by the DSSO we performed three much beloved works from our repertoire: Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, Nicolo Paganini's Violin Concerto no. 1, and Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony no. V. For me this brings to mind the last time I conducted the Tchaikovsky symphony, which was interesting indeed.

To set the scene, I was conducting the New York Philharmonic in a series of concerts in New York City parks. These included the opening of the summer season in Central Park, before an audience of over 80,000 of my closest friends. Anyone who thought the concert was exciting should have known the double-barreled drama unfolding behind the scenes.

Ten days before the first concert, Hurricane Bertha made landfall in North Carolina, generating the usual over-heated newscasts but little damage. I paid it no attention.

I did pay attention to the concert program. The New York Philharmonic's music director, Kurt Masur was a big jazz fan. Of course “German” and “jazz” are a couple of words that you don't often hear together, but you don't become the leading musical figure in communist East Germany without being—umm—adaptable, and if you get to be the music director in New York City, perhaps you’re inspired to channel your inner Coltrane. So Mr. Masur had the ingenious idea of engaging a first-rate jazzer to give his rendition of the solo part of a Bach concerto, backed by the New York Philharmonic playing the original orchestral accompaniment. And as much as Mr. Masur himself loved to swing, he was kind and generous enough to pass on the honor of conducting this ground-breaking two-world-fusion event to yours truly.

I met the solo jazz artist (he's much respected in the jazz world, and I am withholding his name to protect the guilty) in the spring to go over the piece and make sure we weren't on different tracks. We weren't. In fact the man really wasn't on much of a track at all...fairly well flummoxed by the challenge. I recall suggesting that he develop a familiarity with a metronome, along with a couple of other equally unhelpful thoughts, and prayed for the best. Our next run-through was an hour before the orchestra rehearsal, and I learned that I hadn't prayed nearly hard enough.

In the meantime Bertha had been downgraded to a tropical storm, and was meandering up the East coast. By the week of the concert she was meandering perilously close to New York, and threatening to rain out my scheduled debut concerts with the Philharmonic. I could see the headlines: “Promising Career Washed Out Before it Begins.” Even worse, I had ordered some new couches to commemorate my exalted fees for these concerts. The couches were highly decorative (note to self: no more asking sister-in-law for advice on upholstery). Nonetheless, they had to be paid for, and a quick glance at my contract confirmed the dreaded fact: no fees if the concerts are cancelled by an act of God. "Go west, Bertha. Go west! Please go west!"

To be continued…

Markand Thakar is Charles A. & Carolyn M. Russell Music Director, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra; music director, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra; principal conductor, Duluth Festival Opera and co-director of the graduate conducting program, Peabody Conservatory.