LONG travel day- leave Morelia, Mexico at 5am, fly to Houston (U.S.
Immigration pulls me out of line randomly, I’m asked if my tenor is a
baritone and what the clarinet is, then the official say, “Well, there
both reed instruments, right? See, I was paying attention in school.”),
fly to Chicago (where United Airlines
refuses to let me take both the bass clarinet and tenor on board the
plane; forced to check in the bass clarinet and the woman adding it as
“luggage” tells me that I should tape my name and information to the
side of the case because if the airline rips the handle off it there
will be no way to locate the instrument; very reassuring); fly to Paris,
arriving at about 21 hours after departing Morelia. Try and rest, have
a soundcheck with Free Fall (Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, Haavard Wiik) in
the afternoon, run the themes, group sounds good and can play
acoustically in the La Dynamo venue, as we prefer. Concert opens with
“Soffio Di Scelsi,” a trio with the same instrumentation led by Bruno
Chevillon and inspired by Scelsi’s music and history, theatrical. Free
Fall’s set feels very strong and I don’t think it’s just because I’m
sleep deprived, audience is fantastic and asks for an encore- great
start to the next European work. Free Fall live in Krakow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_C1HHOIFuU
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