9:45 p.m.

Right now, we are on a flight to Boston from where we will drive to Worcester for a concert tomorrow night.  The programme is as follows:

Danse Macabre (arr. by the composer)..............Saint Saens
Sonata in D major..............................................Mozart
The Blue Danube...............................................Strauss/Chasins

Intermission

Two Slavonic Dances..........................................Dvorak
Rhapsody in Blue (original version by composer)..Gershwin

The series we’re playing on is an old established one (click here for their website), and besides us, features ensembles like the Guarneri Quartet, the Polish Chamber Orchestra, and Krystian Zimmerman.  Apparently, the hall we’re playing in, Tuckerman Hall, is a thing of beauty.

11:45 p.m. (Hotel in Worcester)

The landing in Boston was routine, but I must say something about the drive out of the airport.  The whole place seems surrounded by construction which is the result of what is known locally as “The Big Dig”.  Essentially, the entire elevated expressway system is being torn down and put underground (hence the nickname) in an effort to open up the waterfront.  The short-term result is that in order to extricate oneself from the airport, you are required to negotiate a set of mazes that would be a credit to Daedelus.  The signs just add to the confusion, with their proliferation of street names and arrows pointing in all directions.  As the “navigator”, my instructions to Jim (who was driving) were something like “OK, we’re coming up to... uh... I think it’s that way... no.. that way... uhh... left here... right... now that way... uh... QUICK, HARD LEFT NOW!!!!..... oops....”  After two minutes of this, we felt like we were in a cement mixer.

Anyway, we finally managed to escape, and actually got here to Worcester in one piece.
 

Saturday, March 25, 2000

This morning, we had breakfast with Stacia and Alex, two of our presenters, at a very nice private club where they are both members.  We warmed to them instantly, and spent a very pleasant two hours in animated and interesting conversation about this and that.  They told us that we would just love the hall where we were playing, so we were curious as to whether or not it would live up to what we’d heard.  Well... not to put too fine a point on it, Tuckerman Hall is one of the finest halls we’ve ever played in.  It not only has magnificent acoustics, it is also breathtakingly beautiful, and has recently been restored to its original art deco splendor.  The ceiling is a deep blue, with molding that makes it look like a fine piece of Wedgwood, and the whole building is somewhat triangular, which I’m sure contributes to its acoustical magnificence; that, and the preponderance of wood, with the uncarpeted (!) floors.

I’ve said in a previous journal entry that fine acoustics always inspire a performer, and tonight was no exception.  The whole programme was one of our best, and Stacia said afterwards that we were going to be asked back, not next year, but perhaps in 2001-02.  Somebody once told us that the definition of success in this business is “re-engagement”.  Next time we’ll play the Rachmaninoff.  We can hardly wait.

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