What a great experience! The Barber (vln) was the best we've ever done it and Dr Phil was terrific! I even felt good about the big solo in the 2nd mvt, and the horns were glorious when they come in later - I swear Howard Shore stole this stuff for his LOTR score. Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.
The Brahms 3 went pretty well too, there were a few terrifying moments, but when I think of how far the symphony has come it is so exciting. One of the more exciting bits is that our 2nd clarinet had his appendix out the day of the concert, so there was much scrambling around to find a replacement that could play that night, sightreading! This was further complicated by the fact that the Big Symphony was playing Don Juan at the same time, so 3 of the best players in town were occupied. This isn't the biggest clarinet mecca, so people were getting stressed, but one of the retired players was in town, he still subs with them and is playing a fair bit. Fortunatly he got the word at 4pm and was in his tux on stage at 6:45, seeing the Barber for the first time! Fortunatly he had played the Brahms many times, but I'm sure that was an adrenyline rush for him.
Now on to Annie Get Your Gun, and my (hopefully) not too sucky clarinetting on 4 numbers.
