Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Beethovenus Interruptus

Jung-Ho Pak and Orchestra Novaban keep St. Paul’s Cathedral on their list of venues (along with Sherwood and Qualcomm auditoriums) despite a multitude of problems that the venue presents.

For starters, the lack of parking means musicians must give themselves extra time to drive around Banker’s Hill in search of a parking space without breaking the contract rule that says they have to arrive 15 minutes before their 7:30 call time. The cathedral’s narrow stage crowds musicians together, leaving them barely enough room for full-bow length. Wide pillars and a large pulpit interrupt audience sight lines, and the wooden pews make for hard, uncomfortable seating. Poor lighting necessitates stand lights. The lack of heating and air-conditioning sometimes results in a too-hot or too-cold environment in which instruments have to be retuned in the middle of a performance. Plus, the 45-foot ceilings and pkeroured concrete walls create an acoustic environment that one orchestra member likens to “a big, huge cauldron.”

On Friday, May 7, Orchestra Nova returned to St. Paul’s Cathedral with a debut of “CSI: Beethoven — Inside Ludwig’s Head.” The crowd of 420 came dressed in everything “from jeans to ball gowns,” as advised on the orchestra’s website. Some of the more experienced concertgoers brought their own seat cushion.

The first half of the program included highlights from the three “Leonore Overtures” and the “Fidelio Overture” in its entirety. When the show began, Pak, the orchestra’s conductor and artistic director, instructed concertgoers to examine a program insert entitled “Structural Comparisons of the Fidelio Overtures.” The single-sheet insert included four colored bars, each broken into two pieces — one part blue, one part red — two of which were twice interrupted by yellow lines. Each bar bore the label of one of the overtures and the date Beethoven wrote the piece. Pak asked the audience to refer to this visual representation and listen for differences and similarities between the overtures while the orchestra played.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The point, Pak explained to the crowd, was to explore Beethoven’s creative process. While audience member Patty Vainik and other concertgoers loved the “mini tutorial” format, some of the musicians felt otherwise. The musicians played short excerpts of each piece and then had to stop to listen while Pak explained them to the audience.

Cellist Mary Alice Hendricks says, “The starting and stopping can be tiring,” but that the worst part of the evening was when — in the midst of all of the page turning from excerpt to excerpt — she lost her place in the score. Pak was about to turn around and resume conducting when her stand-mate helped her find it.

“[Pak] would have waited for us, but I didn’t want to be the one to hold up the whole orchestra,” she says.

John MacFerran Wilds, the orchestra’s principal trumpet player, felt “a little bit of impatience” during the tutorial because he was tuned up and ready to play. The more Pak talked to the audience, the more likely that his trumpet would cool down. “Wind instruments need to have warm air circulating in them,” says Wilds. “The trumpet becomes flat when it’s cold.” For Wilds, however, the biggest surprise came when he had to leave the stage in order to do his distant trumpet call.

“I take this huge breath of air — because I’m playing maybe 50 yards away from where the orchestra is — and I’m going to play really loud.” But the air in the chapel was “choking with [an] incense smell, and I almost started sneezing my head off.”

At the end of the “Leonore Overture No. 3,” during a trumpet fanfare, Wilds caught Pak cuing him “about a half bar earlier” than he expected. “He’s, like, ‘Okay, you can finish now,’ and I’m, like, ‘Oh, really?’ In that hall you can get lost in your own little corner of sound.”

Kennedy says, “It’s a little frustrating and hard to play in there.” During “a sweet spot” in the “Fidelio Overture,” the flutes and clarinets were “marked a ‘mezzo forte’ in our score, which is like a medium loud. And then Jung-Ho had us mark it down to piano in the rehearsal — but then during the concert, he was cuing us to play it louder.”

Pak agrees that St. Paul’s does present a unique set of challenges. Clarity, he says, “is a constant obstacle in this hall.”

Tyler Richards Hewes, the orchestra’s executive director, says, “Overwhelmingly, what [the audience is] saying is, ‘If there’s one thing I could change about the hall, it’s cushions.’”

The evening included a brief talk by Jennifer Shen, a criminologist from the San Diego County Forensic Chemistry Unit. Shen spoke about the scientific methods researchers used to analyze a lock of Beethoven’s hair and fragments of his skull. According to Shen, scientists conclude that Beethoven’s many illnesses were the result of lead poisoning and that he did not, in fact, have the “genius gene.”

After intermission, Orchestra Nova played Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 without interruption. According to Pak, Beethoven’s “even-numbered symphonies suffer a great disadvantage in terms of notoriety,” and he claims No. 4 as “Beethoven at his most exuberant, his most joyful.”

One audience member from Temecula said that although he was impressed with the skill of the musicians, his preference leans toward a more traditional classical concert experience.

“When I come to a concert, I generally come to hear music,” he says. “Not to hear people talk.”

But the event was called “CSI: Beethoven — Inside Ludwig’s Head.” ■

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

More on San Diego inventions – Spike Bite and disappearing ink

The scandal of county supervisors at the library
Next Article

Novo Brazil puts is kombucha to good use in cocktail

Carnival a Dama brings Brazilian culture to the menu

Jung-Ho Pak and Orchestra Novaban keep St. Paul’s Cathedral on their list of venues (along with Sherwood and Qualcomm auditoriums) despite a multitude of problems that the venue presents.

For starters, the lack of parking means musicians must give themselves extra time to drive around Banker’s Hill in search of a parking space without breaking the contract rule that says they have to arrive 15 minutes before their 7:30 call time. The cathedral’s narrow stage crowds musicians together, leaving them barely enough room for full-bow length. Wide pillars and a large pulpit interrupt audience sight lines, and the wooden pews make for hard, uncomfortable seating. Poor lighting necessitates stand lights. The lack of heating and air-conditioning sometimes results in a too-hot or too-cold environment in which instruments have to be retuned in the middle of a performance. Plus, the 45-foot ceilings and pkeroured concrete walls create an acoustic environment that one orchestra member likens to “a big, huge cauldron.”

On Friday, May 7, Orchestra Nova returned to St. Paul’s Cathedral with a debut of “CSI: Beethoven — Inside Ludwig’s Head.” The crowd of 420 came dressed in everything “from jeans to ball gowns,” as advised on the orchestra’s website. Some of the more experienced concertgoers brought their own seat cushion.

The first half of the program included highlights from the three “Leonore Overtures” and the “Fidelio Overture” in its entirety. When the show began, Pak, the orchestra’s conductor and artistic director, instructed concertgoers to examine a program insert entitled “Structural Comparisons of the Fidelio Overtures.” The single-sheet insert included four colored bars, each broken into two pieces — one part blue, one part red — two of which were twice interrupted by yellow lines. Each bar bore the label of one of the overtures and the date Beethoven wrote the piece. Pak asked the audience to refer to this visual representation and listen for differences and similarities between the overtures while the orchestra played.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The point, Pak explained to the crowd, was to explore Beethoven’s creative process. While audience member Patty Vainik and other concertgoers loved the “mini tutorial” format, some of the musicians felt otherwise. The musicians played short excerpts of each piece and then had to stop to listen while Pak explained them to the audience.

Cellist Mary Alice Hendricks says, “The starting and stopping can be tiring,” but that the worst part of the evening was when — in the midst of all of the page turning from excerpt to excerpt — she lost her place in the score. Pak was about to turn around and resume conducting when her stand-mate helped her find it.

“[Pak] would have waited for us, but I didn’t want to be the one to hold up the whole orchestra,” she says.

John MacFerran Wilds, the orchestra’s principal trumpet player, felt “a little bit of impatience” during the tutorial because he was tuned up and ready to play. The more Pak talked to the audience, the more likely that his trumpet would cool down. “Wind instruments need to have warm air circulating in them,” says Wilds. “The trumpet becomes flat when it’s cold.” For Wilds, however, the biggest surprise came when he had to leave the stage in order to do his distant trumpet call.

“I take this huge breath of air — because I’m playing maybe 50 yards away from where the orchestra is — and I’m going to play really loud.” But the air in the chapel was “choking with [an] incense smell, and I almost started sneezing my head off.”

At the end of the “Leonore Overture No. 3,” during a trumpet fanfare, Wilds caught Pak cuing him “about a half bar earlier” than he expected. “He’s, like, ‘Okay, you can finish now,’ and I’m, like, ‘Oh, really?’ In that hall you can get lost in your own little corner of sound.”

Kennedy says, “It’s a little frustrating and hard to play in there.” During “a sweet spot” in the “Fidelio Overture,” the flutes and clarinets were “marked a ‘mezzo forte’ in our score, which is like a medium loud. And then Jung-Ho had us mark it down to piano in the rehearsal — but then during the concert, he was cuing us to play it louder.”

Pak agrees that St. Paul’s does present a unique set of challenges. Clarity, he says, “is a constant obstacle in this hall.”

Tyler Richards Hewes, the orchestra’s executive director, says, “Overwhelmingly, what [the audience is] saying is, ‘If there’s one thing I could change about the hall, it’s cushions.’”

The evening included a brief talk by Jennifer Shen, a criminologist from the San Diego County Forensic Chemistry Unit. Shen spoke about the scientific methods researchers used to analyze a lock of Beethoven’s hair and fragments of his skull. According to Shen, scientists conclude that Beethoven’s many illnesses were the result of lead poisoning and that he did not, in fact, have the “genius gene.”

After intermission, Orchestra Nova played Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 without interruption. According to Pak, Beethoven’s “even-numbered symphonies suffer a great disadvantage in terms of notoriety,” and he claims No. 4 as “Beethoven at his most exuberant, his most joyful.”

One audience member from Temecula said that although he was impressed with the skill of the musicians, his preference leans toward a more traditional classical concert experience.

“When I come to a concert, I generally come to hear music,” he says. “Not to hear people talk.”

But the event was called “CSI: Beethoven — Inside Ludwig’s Head.” ■

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Codename Stasis found its format at SDSU

Local zine tells a magical local story
Next Article

San Marcos Harvest Fest, The Distinct Modernism of San Diego

Events October 13-October 16, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader