In August 1983, I visited Edinburgh for the first time with Durham County Youth Orchestra. We were playing a set in the now defunct festival of British Youth Orchestras schedule held in the (now re-developed) Tolcross Theatre. As part of the trip we went to see the Philadelphia Philharmonic Orchestra in the Usher Hall. The headline piece was Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.
Many people talk about the track or song that changed their lives. Usually its a Hendrix / Zeplin / Sabbath / Pistols / Maiden track. In my case it was this utterly stunning piece of music. I was 13. School sucked, bullying was hell and '80s pop was shite. This blew my mind to a place its never returned from.
Years later I was advised by my then Bassoon teacher to buy a study book of extremely hard bassoon solos. The ROS intro was one of them. Like any young guitar hero pretender I had a go and after much practice I got to a point where I could play it (badly). Years later I raised this bar to below average.....
By this time I was a convert. Stravinsky was on my regular playlist. I'd explored his whole back catalogue and was a firm fan. Every so often I returned to that mighty work. It got me through all sorts of times good and bad and I fantasised about destroying that intro.
Time rolls on. Stirling Orchestra was my outlet for all things classical and I was happy to do my bit as best as I could. Stravinsky seemed an impossible dream which I knew would never be realised. In the meantime I was mainlining Shostakovich and another study book was obtained to allow me to dabble in his mighty works.
This book provided an insight into another Stravinsky classic - the Bercuese in the Firebird Suit. I bashed away at it one evening in 2015 for no other reason than it was there. Little did I know that this was to become an obsession that dominated my life for months.....
2018. The programme for Stirling Orchestra was announced and how we laughed. Stravinsky's Firebird Suit no less. We all knew it was impossible (but we all knew the compulsive attraction of such an unbelievably hard piece). I wasn't even in the frame for the first Bassoon part so I didn't care (I did) but circumstances changed. Suddenly it was up to me.
An obsession developed into a full blown life changing fixation with this incredible piece of music. I put in the hours. I sweated blood. I could play it blindfold. The concert came.
I'm no stranger to Hr Max. You hit that hill, increase the pace steadily and revel in the feeling of your heart bouncing off its age related rev limiter. Hitting Hr Max whilst sitting still is a strange feeling. Apparently drug addicts do this every time they take a hit. Maybe that's why so many people have put themselves on the line for the sake of entertainment - hitting that high with no artificial additives, time after time.
As I played that solo, in front of my fellow orchestra members, my parents and a large number of strangers, my heart rate hit maximum, the adrenalin surged and.... it worked. It could have been better. It could have been worse. But I played that solo. We played Stravinsky.
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