If I say ‘Shosty 5’ about every double bass player gets another look in their eyes, their body language changes and it either shows fear …. excitement …. or both! 😉
The 5th Symphony by Dmitri Shostakovich was on the program last week together with the Polovtsian Dances by Borodin all conducted by our beloved Maestro Gueller. The City Hall was shaking from its fundaments to the roof! Our lower brass excelled, the wood winds shined and the bass section rumbled! What an epic performance with compliments from the audience all over. And to top it all Maestro Gueller honoured the bass section by giving us his bottle of Le Lude MCC 🍾 🎉
My history with Shosty 5 began a bit more shaky than the concert last Thursday. I remember practising the excerpts which are asked for auditions and not understanding the music, finding it hideous, struggled to play it properly and they gave me pure fear! But I needed to conquer it somehow if I ever wanted a job somewhere as it’s pretty standard on Dutch audition lists. Wrestling my way through I learned a big life lesson: ‘ If you’re struggling with passages don’t give up, don’t let them defeat you but tell yourself you’re gonna nail them and keep working at it!’. And my fear of Shosty 5 turned into excitement 😁 and now I love playing this symphony!
The fabulous thing about last Thursday was also the vibe on stage. Our cellists in front of us we’re gunning it, the percussion section was jumping on the stage to bang their gear to oblivion (special mention of Dylan on Bass Drum!), my section was dropping that bass like they should and all on stage were on the edge of their seat it seemed. These are the moments I feel so lucky to be part of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra and am so happy I get to live in beautiful Cape Town because of this!
After all this we started the morning after with some Händel, because in between our Symphony Season we also have the opera Alcina on our menu this month and some other bits and pieces like a short outdoor concert at the Silos at the Waterfront. (come chill out this Friday 4 November, we play 7pm-8pm).
Now I’m going to find a gap in our busy schedule to pop open that Lude with my bass section…wish me luck 😉
To be continued 🙂
Roxane Steffen 