Driving for music : the orchestral memoirs of a bus-driving violist

ISBN:

Call Number:

Keywords:

Abstract:

<ul class="productList productLarge"><li class="productItem" id="catProdTd_11052040"><div class="shop-product-large"><div class="product-large"><div class="details"><div class="description">Peter van Drimmelen’s orchestral career spans thirty-five years; latterly with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra from 1987 to 2014. Over those years he has played the Beethoven symphonies 750 times. During the lean years he drove buses to make ends meet. His memoir records the unexpected and funny aspects of orchestral life: the concert when the conductor dislocated his shoulder and a choral conductor in the audience stepped in to sight-read and conduct a difficult score; the solo violinist who broke a string in a critical passage; turning pages during a performance to be surprised to find photos of topless women. It also records the tedium: the piece where the violas ‘rest’ for 175 bars, don’t go to sleep; being stranded at snowbound airports; and recording music for the final ‘Hobbit’ film (reading material is essential). [publishers blurb]</div></div></div></div></li></ul>