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Enrique Diemecke
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where have your travels taken you since febuary when we seen you last |
Maestro Welcome to our blogging session! It's great to be here. Clay -- Since I was here, I went to Spain. I was in Madrid and Valladolid, and then France. Then, I went to Mexico City, Bogata (Colombia), and twice to Argentina, and then to Brazil -- Rio and Sao Paolo. |
Andy Heller
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Important Media Guy Hi, Enrique. Just wanted to say I miss the chance to interview you once a month. Welcome back to town! Hope you're enjoying our fine Michigan weather. |
Enrique Diemecke
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... I was giving concerts and making recordings with different orchestras and various programs. I had some very interesting soloists. One is a flute player from Israel that performed with me in Spain. And then a pianist from Argentina that we traveled around the country. In Madrid, I did performances of Zarzuala (the Spanish operetta). |
Enrique Diemecke
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... Amy -- I feel that the baton is a bit of a dry tool to communicate with the musicians. It is good for certain things but for expression, I feel far more comfortable without a baton. |
Enrique Diemecke
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... I want to thank you all for connecting to this blog. I want to take the opportunity to talk to you about the season we are about to begin. We call it "It's in the Stars" for several reasons. One, the meaning of destiny that puts us in a situation of making music and sharing it with all of you. The other meaning is the composers as the stars. They left us with such great music that we can perform and enjoy. And the other stars are the performers. Soloists, conductors, orchestra members. And finally, the other stars are all of you! We together make a constellation that revolves around the beauty of music. |
Helen Bas
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... Hi there. I was wondering about the marimba concerto on this week's concert. I have never heard it. Can you tell us something about it? |
Pam Howe
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... Enrique, I love your statement that the stars are the composers. We often think of the artists and musicians as the stars of the concerts but we forget that the composers who crafted such beautiful notes for the musicians to play. We all know of your infamous love of Mahler, but I was wondering if there were any other composers whom you really loved as well. What pieces are you looking forward to conducting this season? |
Amy Trottier
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... I love that last quote, "We together make a constellation..." Mind if I use it? I'll quote you of course! |
Enrique Diemecke
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... Andy -- It's good to hear from you. I was just asking about you this morning. Where are you now? I did an interview with Brenda this morning and missed seeing you! |
Helen Bas
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... Andy - did you know that Enrique loves snow more than we do? We keep trying to talk him into taking it with him when he leaves after a concert. |
Enrique Diemecke
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... Helen -- The marimba concerto was written by a German/Polish composer just two years ago. It was written in four movements and each movement has a different element of rhythms and melodies coming from some Slavonic and others from jazzy elements. It has a small little touch of Latin American since the marimba is very popular in the southern part of Mexico and Guatemala. |
Enrique Diemecke
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... Pam -- For me, every piece is very important and the ones I have to look forward to conducting or performing are the ones I'm doing at the moment. We are doing Romeo and Juliet by Tchaikovsky that has always been a favorite of mine, but I'm pairing it with Beethoven's Fifth, which is a great symphony to play. And having a new piece in the program gives me the opportunity of seeing things in a different way that the performance of pieces that are more familiar to both performers and audiences are, to me, going to be more fresh. |
Helen Bas
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... Besides being a conductor and violinist, do you play other instruments? What are they? Do you still play them? |
Pam Howe
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... Enrique - I think it is an important point to make that the Marimba Concerto is a recent composition. I think the general public often has this concept that classical music is dated, from a far gone era. It is still a very vibrant genre with new pieces written everyday. I also am excited for this concert. I love the marimba for it's depth and complexity. |
Enrique Diemecke
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... Yes, I LOVE snow. I cannot deny that. I love the purity of the color (of course, when it's fresh). But it's also pretty when the sun comes out and the color of the skies changes. It's also because living most of my life in a tropical weather where you see only green the whole year round and it's too hot for my taste gets boring after a while. So the change to the snow also ties up with the fairy tales of Christmastime. To see a white Christmas, to see the pine trees covered but not totally with the white stuff is something we don't see at all unless it is in a retail store trying to sell you gifts for Christmas. |
Helen Bas
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... Good point, Pam. Do you suppose that when Mahler, Beethoven and Holst were young, their music was viewed as radical and "that new-fangled teenage stuff?"  |
Pam Howe
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... I think sometimes we Michiganders forget the beauty and majesty of snowy days and white Christmases. Thank you for the beautiful sentiment, Enrique. So does that mean we will see you more often this winter, especially with the recent purchase of your home in Flint? |
Enrique Diemecke
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... Isolde -- Holst actually called attention to the world as a composer when he did his famous composition called "The Planets." But I knew his work by playing the French horn in wind ensembles. I immediately saw the importance of a composer that could write for an ensemble with mastery and knowledge of the instruments. So "The Planets" that are based in the astrological aspects of each planet and not in the astronomical makes it more attractive to the people that like astrology. Each movement represents a character from astrology. |
Pam Howe
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... Helen - Probably. I love to read the program notes before a concert and I am surprised by the number of instances where the symphony or concerto was not well received and it wasn't until more modern times that the piece has become a favorite of audiences. |
Helen Bas
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... ANd Enrique, when we got more snow than we want, we'll save it for your new yard!! |
Enrique Diemecke
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... Helen -- Actually, some of the compositions that these composers did in their premieres had a hard time with some audiences. They were kind of ahead of their times. Or maybe not so much ahead of their times but ahead of the people's taste. So they sounded challenging, avante garde, even. But throughout the years this music has been settling into the ears of the listeners. So, the new composers have to understand that sometimes they are going to be not so well received. There were times when some composers were criticized because they were writing music to please the listeners when everyone was expecting the opposite. Nowadays, we are seeing that the 3 main ingredients of music: melody, harmony and rhythm got lost in the search of looking for new ways of expression. Now that we are in the 21st century, composers are looking to the great masters of the 17th and 18th centuries that base some of their music into the folk music. We can see the music of Bach, Handel and Vivaldi, they used dances that were performed in the streets to either celebrate or to commemorate something. |
...bump...
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... Helen Bas said: ... Besides being a conductor and violinist, do you play other instruments? What are they? Do you still play them? |
Enrique Diemecke
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... Yes -- I learned to play a variety of instruments and I still play French horn, piano and violin. |
Pam Howe
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... I know last spring you did some recordings with Deutsche Grammophon. Are those recordings available for purchase? Do you have anymore plans to do additional recordings? |
Amy Trottier
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... I don't mind the snow in my yard as much as the snow on my driveway that I have to shovel! Does Enrique have a snow plow? |
Helen Bas
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... So if folk music is based on melody, harmony and rhythm, those must be kind of basic human desires expressed in our music. |
Enrique Diemecke
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... Pam -- So far the Deutsche Grammophon recording is available through Amazon.fr (France). I don't know when it's going to becoming available in the states. There are some others that will be coming out soon. |
Helen Bas
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... Amy - I can just see Enrique on top of a mig riding plow, conducting the snow out of his way! |
Helen Bas
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... LOL. BUt seriously, a sense of humor must be very necessary, as well as flexibility, in doing what you do. |
Enrique Diemecke
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... For sure, Helen. I always believe that one needs to take seriously, but not dull. Work is discipline and discipline brings you to do good work. But when you add some sense of humor it becomes fun! And not any more is going to be work. |
Pam Howe
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... In past years you have composed several pieces yourself, including one for former Mexican president Vicente Fox. Are you still composing? Will we be hearing any Diemecke pieces soon at an FSO concert? |
Enrique Diemecke
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... Unfortunately, I haven't been able to write anything lately. I've been traveling to various places and it doesn't give me the time to sit down and prepare anything. Composing normally comes out of an inspiration and that is not something you just call. It is something that appears. The muses come any moment and you have to be ready to write things down. And, I never settle enough in one place to be able to write those things. |
Helen Bas
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... That's too bad - your compositions have been so enjoyable. YOur first calling is as a conductor! |
Enrique Diemecke
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... Yes, Helen, it is. I took composition as part of my learning experience to improve my view to the composers and me as a conductor. Because a composer puts the notes on a piece of paper, now a computer, and someone else is going to have to interpret them. So, you have to be, as a composer, more clear of what it is you want of the interpreters to understand so they can perform your work the way you thought you conceived it. |
Helen Bas
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... I see can see how that is true. So, how will you spend your day preparing for the rehearsal tonight? And - I will see you tomorrow! |
Enrique Diemecke
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... Once I get out of the blog, I go and go through the music with my eyes closed and try to see the musicians of the orchestra. I try to see the feelings I need to put in every phrase and to feel my muscles in my body, the energy that is going to be needed to "play" the instruments of the orchestra. |
Enrique Diemecke
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... Thank you all for joining me today. I hope to see you Saturday night! And, start thinking of your next questions when we connect and blog again next month. Enjoy the concert! |
Clay
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snow just learned via email kathy prevett loves snow too so if we get alot we can share with her too. |
just jokeing kathy
Marie Alsace
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... Hola Enrique!!! Voy a tu concierto el 20 de dic. Como puedo verte un segundo en algun momento? Cuanto tiempo estaras en MI?(Tambien te escribi a tu pag web con mi contact info). BESOS!!! |
Pam
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A Marie... Hola María! Nos complace que usted va a asistir al concierto de Holiday Pops el sábado. Pasaremos en su nota a Enrique que está muy ocupada ensayando para los conciertos de este fin de semana. Espero que tengas la oportunidad de verlo este fin de semana! Hello Maria! We are glad that you are going to attend the Holiday Pops concert this Saturday. We will pass your note to Enrique who is very busy rehearsing for the concerts this weekend. I hope you get the opportunity to see him this weekend! |
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