This morning’s ominous five minutes of snow have made way for a bright blue sky. Bruges is bathing in sunlight and the orchestra is well into the third day of the Debussy project. We kicked off on Sunday, rehearsing with a well prepared string group. Yesterday the winds and percussion sections joined their colleagues. Not an self-evident thing, as the national strike in Belgium left us unsure whether all 37 musicians would make it here on time. The team split up to pick up musicians in Köln, Lille, Brussels airport. Today, all 83 musicians are here – working on La Mer as we write this.
Jos is absolutely thrilled with the way the band sounds. The Anima team, as usual, are the privileged witnesses to Debussy’s resurrection.
The stage is an impressive sight: the orchestra is quite big and between the chairs, coats, violin cases, music stands, cups of water and tea, there are microphones everywhere – this whole project, including the rehearsals, is being recorded live. (Look out for the Debussy release in September!)
Casualties of the day: one broken bass clarinet – to be continued.