2005年09月06日
In Japan
Finally I find some time to write again. It's been so busy since I arrived! Luckily I think I've finally cracked the jet-lag problem - I learnt a lot from 2 trips to Australia this year and this time in Japan I had no jet-lag at all. Just as well really as I wouldn't have coped if I had been suffering.
Had a lovely few days with the NHK orchestra. I really enjoyed the rehearsals and the concerts - probably partially to do with the music but of course the orchestra ARE wonderful and it was also a pleasure to play with this conductor, Maestro Steinberg, for the first time. These last 2 days have been hard - trying to get up early to find time for practise and to go to the gym to stay in shape. I actually practised after the Tokyo concert - I'd hardly ever practise after a big concert like that - would much prefer to go out to eat and drink with friends!
So today I'm supposed to go Kagoshima and am worrying about jishin and the typhoon!
Well I must go and pack and get ready and then of course practise.
Hope everyone is well.
投稿者 Freddy : 09:18 | コメント (3) | トラックバック
2005年08月31日
En route
Well I am already packed and ready to go!! I'm very excited to be coming to Japan again. It's quite funny as the last couple of times I've travelled a "long way" I've been to Australia - and each trip has been for about a month. So this time as I packed for Japan I was thinking about what I'd need to take and basically what I'd do after the flight. On my way to Australia, after 12 hours of flying, I'd prepare myself for the next 12 hours but this time I realized that after the flight I'd already be in Tokyo. So it's just a matter of getting from Narita to the centre which is in fact a ridiculously long way...
I'm very excited to be playing Grieg with the NHK and also very excited to be going to Hamamatsu. I played a small recital there a few years ago but haven't been in the main hall since the piano competition. So it will really bring back memories to be back there again even though I suspect I'll be going back to Tokyo the same night after the concert.
I'm also looking foward to my routine visit to Kyushu - to Kagoshima. Something exciting about that smoking Mt. Sakura...
Looking forward to seeing everybody soon.
投稿者 Freddy : 01:44 | コメント (4) | トラックバック
2005年08月19日
Raining in London
Seems like the summer's over for now - yesterday life went back to normal with a bang... Had a day of non-musical things - i.e. fixing the car, meeting my lovely agent, oh yes - eating good old British food again.
Today I will try to practise again and also go to the gym. I'm basically getting ready for Japan now - trying to sort the visa out, trying to get repertoire ready, trying to get my hair cut! Hope it's still warm in Japan.
投稿者 Freddy : 19:36 | コメント (0) | トラックバック
2005年08月16日
tempus fugit...
It is already the last day of my holiday... I suppose it's good that I don't want to go home - i.e. this trip wasn't too long! Yesterday the lifeguard put up his red-flag for the first time which meant many people, including myself, were argueing with Angelo about whether or not we could go into the water. I, typically, was determined to have a swim (mainly for exercise) and have to say that Angelo was probably right! Although the waves were tiny compared to the surf in Surfer's Paradise, Gold Coast, they were small and inconsistent which made breathing very difficult.
There was a concert here last night and tonight arrives an old acquaintance of mine, a pianist, to give a few concerts over the next few days - I wonder if we shall remember each other as we met almost 10 years ago.
So I will try to enjoy my last day - beach/swim, Foccacia, more beach, Beethoven Hammerklavier, WoW & dinner...
投稿者 Freddy : 17:43 | コメント (5) | トラックバック
2005年08月12日
To my surprise I can connect to the internet here! I hope it's a legal connection as I'm not sure who's internet it is - however no-one's tried to throw me off this network!
I think I'm the kind of person that always finds it hard in the beginning to "enjoy" a holiday as when I work I'm always travelling anyway and so often I wish of a holiday where I simply sit at home all day. However this time, partially due to my time in the Gold Coast in Australia, I'm really have fun here. The sea is beautiful and the village is really charming. I am forced to practise my Italian as very few people speak English plus I get the impression that the people here are not so thrilled to find an English person here either!
I still practise piano a bit as I brought my holiday piano - a Yamaha P60 - with me. It works really well plus I can play it silently if I want. I hear from a friend that it is really, really hot in Japan and that everybody is melting!
投稿者 Freddy : 23:06 | コメント (0) | トラックバック
2005年08月09日
...of on holiday
I have done ABSOLUTELY no practise at all this week and... ...I was going to say, ".. and I feel great" but actually I don't. I've spent most of my time in front of my computer generally wasting time.
Tomorrow I'm off on holiday finally so will hopefully be able to relax and enjoy travelling for once. I hope everyone reading this is having or has had or will have a fantastic holiday too. I suppose the only down-side to my holiday is that I'm almost 100% sure there won't be any sushi there but there will be many of my other loves - great wine and wonderful Italian seafood.
I now have to start packing and try to find out where this hotel is - I wiped the e-mail with the address details so I have no idea where to start looking. Google maybe...
投稿者 Freddy : 05:00 | コメント (0) | トラックバック
2005年08月05日
Gym day
...well... I decided not to bother with the 5km but to stick to 3km but to add back the rowing and cycling which usually crops up whenever my gym does one of their "competitions". As it turns out I had a concert last night which was the last concert of my trio with its current set-up. In the future it will have a new violinist and a new 'cellist so yesterday was a both sad and happy day for me.
A friend of the trio gave a very generous gift of a 1976 Echezeaux, Romanee Conti as a goodbye gift.
Anyway this concert meant that I got home late, I had to get up early for a haircut (as 9 o'clock was the only time he could do) which meant I haven't slept enough which basically didn't help me out in the gym. So I ran 3km and felt tired, cycled 5km and felt very, very tired and then tried to row 2km and gave up after 1km... Well I suppose it's not so bad.
I'm meant to be practising Beethoven's Hammerklavier but find it much more fun to practise World of Warcraft... Shame on me!
投稿者 Freddy : 23:26 | コメント (2) | トラックバック
2005年08月02日
August
I have finally finished this season - I feel exhausted! My last concert was in an old English town at their festival. I played Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto with a new conductor and a friendly, familiar orchestra with many friends playing. I wasn't expecting much from myself as I was tired but the concert seemed to go so well - everything seemed to work and it was really fun to play.
So I am now on holiday. I'm still here in London but will soon go off to the sea and the sun and the sand. I am determined to improve my hopeless running this summer and I've decided to run 5km instead of the pathetic 3km I usually do. We'll see what happens...
So the next concert I see in my diary is Japan!! I can't wait actually - Grieg concerto in Tokyo. I'm looking forward to seeing many old friends again, my uncle too, and eating lots of tasty Japanese food! You know you can't really find Ramen here in London...
Hope everyone has a great summer.
投稿者 Freddy : 19:39 | コメント (1) | トラックバック
2005年07月30日
It's easy to forget how beautiful the Grieg concerto is. I went to Oxford last night which is also such a beautiful town... It was inspiring to perform in the old theatre for the first time in my life.
投稿者 Freddy : 17:55 | コメント (1) | トラックバック
2005年07月29日
...back to school
I suppose I should really say back to work as Finland seemed more like a holiday than work.
I have a busy 3 days now - concert last night, Grieg concerto tonight and Rachmaninov concerto no. 2 tomorrow! Last night was quite funny in fact. I normally do check the program when I arrive just to make sure that I know exactly what the audience expects. Yesterday however I some how forgot, probably due to British traffic which is HORRENDOUS. It took me 3 hours to drive 115km of which most was motorway...
Anyway I was about to walk onto the stage when I saw the promoter, a friend of mine, holiding the program... "Good", I thought but when I looked one of the pieces was not the one I thought. You can imagine what I was thinking as I sat down as I didn't really know what to do. In the end I played the other piece and it went fine.
投稿者 Freddy : 20:20 | コメント (0) | トラックバック
2005年07月27日
Life is Finnish-ed!
Hello everyone. I've been trying to add to this page but because I've basically forgotten how to read Japanese I always end up deleting my entry. This is my 5th attempt now... Patience...
I've been doing my summer "rounds" and just had a lovely trip to Finland. My sister lives in Finland and after the last ten days I can finally say that at least part of me wishes it could live there too. I was in Kuhmo at the chamber music festival and life there was such a change from London. I was sitting in my car today grinding to a halt on the road to my gym because Police had shut down the whole area in front to try to catch terrorists...
In Finland I was always being told to "Get a bike!" every time I tried to nag someone about parking. My bike-riding leaves a lot to be desired - I almost had a bad crash with a gentleman because I didn't know who was meant to stop. I just kept going and barely missed him and then he tried to teach me some Finnish. Another time I almost hit a car because I didn't realize the car was stopping. The most embarrassing thing was when I almost knocked over a little girl of about 9 or 10... She was passing me on my left and I tried to go right to give her more space but instead I found myself going LEFT!! She didn't fall but had to stop and put her leg on the ground and I never ever got so many nasty looks from so many people.
For the first time in my life, thanks to many things including Dvorak's beautiful F minor piano trio, I finally understood and experienced the emotion that(, most relevantly to me last week,) inspired Rachmaninov and of course Dvorak to write music about their lives in the sense that they had to leave something behind that they loved (; their countries;) even though it broke their hearts to do so. I find myself performing Rachmaninov's 2nd concerto in a completely different way now. It was very emotional to perform the Dvorak on the night before leaving Kuhmo too.
投稿者 Freddy : 04:26 | コメント (1) | トラックバック
2005年03月20日
London debut
Suddenly England seems to have started summer! Whereas a few days ago it was freezing with many threats of snow it is suddenly over 20 Celcius, crystal blue sky and beautiful sunshine. I'm in a great mood and thought I'd write something for the blog.
I've been terribly busy since New Year and just haven't really had time to write anything. I played Bruch Double concerto in Moscow for their New Year's Prom season and then played a recital program of ONLY Beethoven sonatas.
I returned to England in the middle of January and have since played almost 20 concerts. It's been a hectic but lovely tour of mainly England going to many towns all over the place and playing in all sorts of concert halls. I think the smallest hall was a hall in the Welsh National Museum in Cardiff played on a beautiful, new, interesting piano made by Wayne Stuart. Check out their web-site http://www.stuartandsons.com/pages/home.html .
The biggest venues were the Birmingham Symphony Hall which is similar to the Yokohama Minato Mirari hall and tonight will be at the Barbican Centre, the home of the LSO. I never played a solo recital there: well, sort of - about 13 years ago I played 12 Etudes Opus 10 by Chopin in the hall "lobby" for a charity event. Today I will play 12 Etudes Opus 25 by Chopin in the Main Hall! So that is at least some sort of progress!
I better go now actually - there is no subway trains working today where I live so I have to drive...
投稿者 Freddy : 00:32 | コメント (11) | トラックバック
2004年11月12日
England is getting cold
Hello everybody. I am sorry again that it's been a while. Same excuse - just haven't had much time. I have had a very funny time lately mainly due to cancellations. I haven't done any for a couple of years and have 2 suddenly happen together.
The first one happened just after my last post to the website. I was sitting at home actually infront of this computer (!) and my manager called saying, "Can you play Schumann concerto tomorrow night?". I said, "I'll call you back in 5 minutes"; moved to my piano to try it and... played it the next day! It was actually really nice as the conductor was an old friend of mine - it was lovely to see him.
And now, 2 days ago (on Tuesday), I was having pizza in London with friends as I was meant to have some free time. Again my manager called and asked this time if I could play Rachmaninov 3rd the next day. This time however the rehearsal was going to be in 2 hours - I had to leave my pizza and just rush to the rehearsal...
I played it last night in Bedford (about 80km from London going north) and it went fine. Tonight - it is now 16.22 here - so at 19.30 I will play it in the Festival Hall of London in front of 3000 people.
THEN finally tomorrow I can have a day off. I am trying to get fit to take part in a mini - indoor - gym - triathlon. We have to do in the gym 3km Running - 5km cycle - 2km rowing, in that order, the time includes breaks. Luckily we can try it any time before Christmas - we just have to ask a trainer to record our time. We can also try it as many times we want - so this time I really hope to win something (maybe not 1st prize).
投稿者 Freddy : 01:18 | コメント (199) | トラックバック
2004年10月29日
Crazy Day
I am really having a crazy day!! I am in Amsterdam and doing nothing really. I guess I should be happy because at least I can rest.
I had a lovely birthday. In fact I had 2 wonderful birthdays! I was in Reykjavik in Iceland and on the 13th October I managed to persuade my wife that I should have a special dinner for my birthday. We went to a wonderful place called Galileo and had a lovely dinner. On the way home we say the Aurora Borealis. The next day because of a concert I thought that it would be impossible to celebrate my birthday. This is why the dinner was on the 13th.
However on the 14th we found ourselves to be free again with nothing to do. So I thought that it would be nice to have another Birthday Dinner!! So we went again to Galileo and had another birthday dinner! I was so lucky this year.
Anyway now I am in Amsterdam. After Shanghai I played 2 recitals in England, the Emperor 3 times and then Rachmaninov 3rd concerto with Andrew Litton in England. I am tired now but am looking forward to playing Schumann tomorrow and Saturday and Sunday.
Then on Sunday all the clocks change in Europe and suddenly the days will become dark very early.
I hope everyone still remembers me in Japan and I will come again very soon I promise.
投稿者 Freddy : 06:21 | コメント (24) | トラックバック
2004年10月14日
Happy Birthday Freddy !
ブログ管理者のtakeです。（すいません、本人じゃなくて）
Freddyさん、誕生日（たんじょうび）おめでとう！
日本は急に寒くなってきました。イギリスはどうですか？
よい27歳をおすごしください！
自分の誕生日（MyBirthday）が14-Apr.で、ちょうど半年前（Half-Year-Before）なので、Freddyさんの誕生日、覚えやすい（easy-to-remember）んです！
では。
投稿者 take : 16:27 | コメント (142) | トラックバック
2004年10月08日
England
I'm not really sure what we should write in a diary... I guess it's just normal things from every-day life? Well, I arrived back from Japan on Sunday night. I don't remember much about each day except that I was practising Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition like crazy because I played it in a concert last night! It was a 4-hour drive from my home so it was very nice to drive my car again.
The hall was near to Leeds (where they have the famous competition) and I passed near by to where I stayed during the competition back in 1996. I experienced crazy enlish weather again - heavy rain, heavy wind with sunshine and a rainbow... The concert was in a lovely old concert hall with about 500 seats. I really enjoy playing outside the big cities in England because you meet so many kinds of interesting people.
I arrived back at 1.30am last night feeling very tired. Tomorrow I have another recital at my old school. Should be really funny as I can now go to all the places in the school where we were not allowed to when we were students. I am looking forward to School "Fish and Chips" for lunch!
投稿者 Freddy : 02:31 | コメント (20) | トラックバック
2004年09月30日
上海から今晩は！
も日本から出掛けました！あら！とても悲しいですが、中国はも面白いし。明日は僕の中国のデビュウでチャイコフスキのコンチェルトを弾きます。オーケストラの中は友達が多くて本当で楽しみです！
今だんだん寝って行きます。。。
投稿者 Freddy : 21:05 | コメント (426) | トラックバック
2004年09月22日
No more practice
I finally finished practising today. I spent most of the time practising for my next concerts - Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and Tchaikovsky Concerto no. 1... I had a very typical and boring day - Cappucino, practice, lunch, gym, watched O-Sumo and practised again.
I also tried to do some shopping but as usual couldn't find anything! Ever since 浜松 competition I've been trying to find Pick-Boy つめ切り and nobody seems to know it either.
今日は日本語の勉強の本をやっと読んで仕舞いました。それから皆さんと一緒に喋らなければいけませんでしょう。。。
My trip to 鹿児島 seemed to be full of 災難. まずタクシさんは道を間違って仕舞いました。 Actually nothing else went wrong I suppose. Except we had to have dinner in the same dodgy (少し変な) restaurant because everything else was closed.
So no you know everything. I just have the 東京 concert left.
投稿者 Freddy : 19:33 | コメント (138) | トラックバック
御免なさい
I'm sorry I haven't been able to write for a few days. It seemed to get very busy after Aomori especially with rehearsals for the concerto.
It was wonderful to play in the hall in 池袋 and it was very exciting that it was so full. I then went to 鹿児島 and had concert there.
I am now back in 東京 and I find it so hot. 僕は本当に暑がりです。 I am almost ready for tomorrow's concert to which I look forward to very much.
投稿者 Freddy : 12:19 | コメント (256) | トラックバック
2004年09月12日
Aomori
My first concert is already over! But I really enjoyed playing tonight. It seems very far from Tokyo out here - the Shinkansen was 3 hours and we took a taxi for over an hour from the hotel to the Hall. The meter of the taxi was reading almost 20 000 Yen!! It was nice to come back here after a few years. I saw some O-sumo on TV during dinner and now I will probably play a little bit of Far Cry - I managed to kill all the monsters so I'm on the next stage. Gym tomorrow so I must get some sleep!
投稿者 take : 22:18 | コメント (156)
2004年09月10日
Back to normal
Boy am I happy to be in Japan again - not that I didn't enjoy Korea but a new country is always a bit of a shock. My jet-lag is worse this year BUT the really worrying thing is that I don't seem to get tired. Everything has gone fine so far - went to the gym and seem to be in top shape, practised well too (only cheated a little bit!) and had another interview. I'm going home now to try to get further in my game Far Cry - I'm stuck in a part with one very big nasty monster...
