One of the greatest ITG meetings ever. Too many highlights to go through, but two stand out. Lunch with Gordon Mathie (former Detroit Symphony conducted by Paul Paray) and Frank Kaderabak (Philadelphia Symphony with Eugene Ormandy) and hearing them reminisce. Gordon talked about the Mercury recordings and how Bob Fine used a single Telefunken mic. Not only did Bob Fine keep his hands off the controls when recording, Gordon said he looked up during the Bolero recording and saw Bob walking around the hall nowhere near his recording equipment. Then Frank recalled his first rehearsal with Philadelphia Orchestra. Frank had played in good groups before (Detroit and Chicago) but the sheer power of the Philadelphia string section made his jaw drop. He had never heard such string sound. Such nice men with so many great stories. It was wonderful to speak to them about those glory years of recordings.
The other highlight was the Bill Chase Tribute band. Headed by lead singer G.G. Shinn from the "Ennea" album and featuring Andrea Tofanelli on lead, grown men were reduced to tears to hear their favorites brought back to life. Starting with "Open Up Wide" heading through 4 tunes from "Ennea" and ending with "Get It On" was just unreal. Shinn must be 60, but sang like he was 20 and Tofanelli tore the roof off the theater with double Cs and triple Gs. Never heard anything like it. SteveK and bpape would have been in heaven!!!!!!
Missed the heatwave; you probably don't want to hear about me standing on the Columbia Ice Field during a snowstorm on Thursday.
