Still on the road

I'm finishing up my time in Vermont, where I've been premiering a Double Concerto by David Ludwig with the Vermont Symphony and Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson. Which has been very cool on many different levels - first of all, because David and I have been the best of friends for over a decade, and it's fun to collaborate with a colleague you are so close to (and he writes absolutely wonderful music!), and second of all because I grew up on recordings of the famed Kalichstein-Laredo Robinson Trio, and it's amazing to be at a point in my career where I'm collaborating with artists that I admired as a youngster!

We just played a matinee in Rutland, where we'll also be spending 6 hours tomorrow recording the Double Concerto. As we're an hour and a half out of Burlington, the Vermont Symphony's home, we're all ensconced in the local Holiday Inn - soloists, composer, conductor, recording engineers (who just arrived from New York), as well as the entire orchestra. Which has lent the hotel halls the atmosphere of, say, a Youth Orchestra tour, in the best sense. Musician are excitedly visiting back and forth - I saw a case of beer being lugged up the stairway, bags of wine and snacks purchased at the Hannaford down the street. At this point in my career, hotel living has lost its luster (I often wake up in the middle of the night having no idea what city I'm in until I rouse myself to look at the the Hotel Services booklet to see where I am), but put an orchestra in a hotel and they'll find a way to have fun. It's nice to see that kind of enthusiasm, particularly when you're a little travel-weary - I'm just looking forward to being somewhere (anywhere!) for more that 5 days at a time (which I might have around February 15)!