So I had this old Mac G-3 tower that had been cluttering my closet for years. I'd been putting off taking it in to Tekserve to have all the files on it transfered to DVD. Don't know why. Maybe because it ways a ton? Who knows? Anyway, I finally took it in and had them retrieve all these old files. And as I put the DVD into my computer to see what I'd been missing all these years, a big chunk of my history came flashing before my eyes and ears in the form of HTML for old long-discarded web pages, MSWord docs of rehearsal notes and schedules, press releases, outlines of shows and a handful of mp3s of tracks recorded for a CD we put out in nineteen-ninety-something...
It was the opera company we'd built and nourished for over a decade in Boston back when such things as a nine-month developmental rehearsal process for a new show didn't seem insane.
We were young and smart and talented and -- most of all -- wildly ambitious. We mounted all sorts of pieces in all sorts of unlikely settings no one believed made a lick of sense. But somehow we managed.
And as I listened to a couple mp3s from our CD, Horizon Arriving, I was reminded of what I most loved about that elastic ensemble we'd created. I loved (and miss) most the pleasure of improvising with people who are all part of a clost-knit ensemble. Making new music from scratch with people who, by committing to rehearsals together once a week for 50 weeks out of the year, had learned to hear each other like nobody's business.
God I miss those folks and the fun we had. Here's a short mp3 of one piece that was entirely improvised -- start to finish. We called this track "Desination: Tierra del Fuego."
What's most remarkable to me as I listen to this is not any one detail of the actual music, but the coherence of the whole fabric, created spontaneously in Jeanine Cowen's recording studio by 5 singers. They are: Mary Ann Lanier, Jon Rosenthal, Sylvie Stewart, Merle Perkins and Yours Truly. Thanks, guys. Miss you all a ton. :)
