Thursday 10 June 2010

Back home: I've been far too busy to post anything here for ages, which is a bit ironic given that it's meant to be a Concerto Caledonia blog. When the band are actually working I'm too busy to write anything, hence the twitter feed. DG and Suzie both made it safely to Heathrow this morning (by different routes) and are about to board the same plane to Halifax.

Anyway, here's a selection of pictures from the week and a bit since the previous post.

Monday 31st: back here getting getting to grips with a lot of tunes by Robert Mackintosh

Wednesday 2nd: we moved the rehearsal to my future place of work for a change of scene ...

... and proximity to good ice cream.

Thursday 3rd: CDs arrived!

and after 5 hours of driving behind a caravan (Loch Lomond, 25mph) and a horse truck, we just happened to be in exactly the right place to recreate the inside cover photo with some hairy guy

and had a great gig at Dornie Hall (thanks Lynne) and a night in Norman's amazing B&B. 

Friday 4th: after another 4hrs driving, we arrived at Ardkinglas to find a pixie called Suzie waiting in the window.

Somehow before the day was out we fitted in a rehearsal, a fiddle workshop, a gig, and Olga's Russian banquet which prompted Greg to tell his stories of playing in the Rostov String Quartet. We finally all sloped off to bed weak from laughing. Or was it the wodka?

Saturday 5th: The sun continued to shine, and Steve Portnoi arrived with his carload of digital equipment. Audio manufacturers can have a puerile sense of humour.

We started recording with David Sumsion's wonderful Muir Wood square piano, which never seems to go out of tune.

Sunday 6th: my new camping stove gets pressed into service at lunchtime

the view from behind the harpsichord

the balcony was a haven of rest ... and midgies

Monday 7th: dance band front view

looking from the control room across to the studio: unconventional sightlines. 

Steve got his camera out in the lunch break.

Tuesday 8th: haven't reached total exhaustion yet