Monday 23 April 2001

Finished twiddling with the website tonight - a job begun and aborted yesterday.  Hopefully more people will have this font (Trebuchet MS) than Gill Sans which I was using before.  When I first started the site I used Lydian, as in our logo above.  It looked great, but hardly anyone has it on their computer so it was a bit pointless if no-one could see it.  As a self-taught webmeister, it gives me some satisfaction when people write and say that they like the site - I'm just busking it really.  But then it's the self-taught musicians that usually turn out to be the most interesting.

I nipped round to Marie's tonight to pick up the complete e-text of the Gentle Shepherd, which she's spent the last week typing, as we decided against using the secretarial service in the end.  So my every spare moment for the next week or so will be spent proof-reading and fitting in the songs, before we make Andrew's modest selection of cuts.  In one of the editions, I came across an extra epilogue, complete with song, which we may put in at the end.  Once we have a text, I can start work in earnest on the score.

I was playing Rameau in the SCO this afternoon - Antonini started the rehearsal very reserved and undemonstrative (is anything ever going to happen, I thought).  Then as he got warmed up and got used to the orchestra, he became more and more expansive until by the end he was making huge gestures and singing phrases in great detail.  He's very pernickety and also very patient, so we're making slow progress but it's worthwhile.  Greg and I shared our moans in the break about how frustrating it is to be surrounded mostly by people who play with very little character or personality.  That's orchestras for you I suppose - the SCO is a lot better than most in that respect, but even then it can get depressing.  I find myself sitting in rehearsals with my ears desperately latching onto the sounds of the few people I enjoy listening to, in amongst the general mush.