I was around Michael here and there, always in connection with Ives. At one point several of us were talking in the basement of the Chicago concert hall, where he was rehearsing the Fourth Symphony toward the recording, and Michael had his arms around a concrete support post. I asked, "So Michael, how long have you held this post?" Got a chuckle out of everybody. But he wouldn't take that lying down. He disappeared, and came back a minute later saying, "Ives is driving me from pillar to post!" He couldn't let anybody else have the punchline.
During that same visit, Celibidache came to town with Munich for a concert. Amazing sounds, outlandishly slow tempi. At intermission I passed Michael in the hall and he muttered: "An hour and a half of coitus interruptus."
After the Fourth Symphony concert I went out to dinner with Michael and Manny Ax, among others, and had the singular pleasure of hearing the two of them swapping Jewish jokes through the whole meal. Later I reminded Manny of that and he exclaimed, "Michael is the *king* of Jewish jokes!" I thought that was extraordinarily generous of Manny.
One more: at a party after a New World Symphony concert (Ives's Fourth), Michael declared that Ravel had written the tune for a familiar pop standard, can't remember which. "Yeah," I said, "and Stravinsky wrote 'Marzy Dotes'", which is a 40s novelty song. Once again, Michael would not be topped. "Stravinsky *did* write 'Marzy Dotes'!" he exclaimed. On the spot he sat down at the piano, started playing the famous repeated chords in Le Sacre, and over them laid in the tune of 'Marzy Dotes'. It was hilarious.
Well, I can't stop without one more: during one of the breaks in recording the Fourth with Chicago, we were treated to Michael playing "Misty" on the resident quarter-tone piano. Unforgettable. #MichaelTilsonThomas #CharlesIves #ClassicalMusic #OrchestraLife #BehindTheScenes #MusicHumor #ConductorLife #ChicagoSymphony #SergiuCelibidache #EmanuelAx #Ravel #Stravinsky #NewWorldSymphony #LeSacreDuPrintemps #MusicStories #ClassicalMemories #MusiciansLife #ConcertHall #MusicHistory #PianoMoments #JazzStandards #Misty #ComposerLife #ArtOfConducting
What a totally thrilling concert with the @apsu_symphony featuring Frankenstein: The Movie Score with visiting composer Michael Shapiro who was kind enough to spend 3 days on campus with us. The students played with great dedication, focus, and brought to life by lightning-strike this true masterpiece of cinema and music for lively audience. Thank you @chappmaestro for your generosity this week!!
Last night was also the podium debut of two new graduate orchestral conducting students @ale_23drums and @alexanderthegreat0296 who led strong performances of Mozart 40 (first movement)… AND a brand new full orchestration of music from the critically acclaimed video game The Baby in Yellow with music by @ginxel and orchestrated by @tony_manfredonia and paired with visuals from @teamterriblegames . This is a FANTASTIC new piece of university/youth orchestra literature that our students loved playing!!! High School and Middle School students who come to the new APSU Full Orchestra Honor Festival in February will have the opportunity to perform it too! Conductor friends — do consider this great new piece (coming soon to UNC Chapel Hill with @evan_harger_ )!
Happy spooky season. More photos from the road soon…
📸 @lauraleeschnitzer@tyler_beverly_33 (sorry Tyler, i tried to include the horn section photo but it cropped out everyone because horizontal!)
