This afternoon, Jim and I had our first rehearsal with Symphony Nova Scotia of the Mozart Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra K 365.  The conductor is Jonathan McPhee, who is one of a series of guest conductors the orchestra is featuring this season as part of their search for a new music director.  Presently, he is music director for the Boston Ballet.  Jim and I found him to be a nice guy, very easy to work with, and also very musical and easy to follow.  The orchestra sounded very good also, and we're looking forward to the performance tomorrow night.  The dress rehearsal is at 10:00 a.m.tomorrow morning, which gives us the day to relax. 

The Mozart comes in two versions, one with strings, two oboes, two bassoons, and two horns, and a later one with two clarinets, timpani, and two trumpets added; neither version has flutes.  We're doing the second one, which gives the orchestration a richer quality, and is more like the standard Mozart orchestra, except for the absence of flutes.  The piano parts are identical in both versions.  Jim and I have played the earlier, simpler orchestration more often (most recently with Mario Bernardi in Elora two years ago), and aren't as used to the one we're playing tomorrow, but we don't really prefer one over the other; in the first version, we don't miss the clarinets, timpani and trumpets, but in the second, we love the clarinets, timpani and trumpets!  I guess that's the genius of Mozart.  One thing different is that with the heavier orchestration, Jim and I need to project just a little more; the first version feels almost like a chamber piece. 

I should explain that we flew here on Saturday, even though the performance is on Tuesday, because of the cheaper air fare accorded to a Saturday stay over.  It was one more day away from home, but it gave us the opportunity to play golf, which we were quick to take advantage of (a beautiful course called Glen Arbour). Incidentally, after the rehearsal today, the timpanist, who is a 5 handicap, invited us to play a round with him at his club on Wednesday morning; we gladly accepted, needless to say.

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