The Rite of Spring
Timpanist and Percussionist Adrienne Ostrander graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University School of Music. She has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Cuba. Adrienne has made numerous recordings with Solid Brass. Her Broadway credits include: Nine, Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park With George, Me and My Girl, and Grand Hotel. Adrienne performs educational concerts in New Jersey schools with Young Audiences of New Jersey, Solid Brass, the New Philharmonic of New Jersey, Arts Horizons, Arts Alive, and BRAVO! She is a member of the award winning Rampant Lion Pipe Band of Basking Ridge New Jersey.
In 2005, when I was playing timpani with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, it was announced that we would be performing Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring in May of the following season. I had performed it in college, in the orchestra that was accompanying a ballet production, but I had never performed it onstage, and I had never played the timpani part. The timpani part is notoriously difficult, probably one of the most difficult in the repertoire.
I started practicing in August for a concert we would perform the following May. I spent hours upon hours listening, studying and practicing on 5 timpani in my living room. The last section is rhythmically very tricky and if you don’t “hold on!” you might lose it, and not be able to get back on track.
Two weeks before the first rehearsal, I still struggled with the difficult last section, and couldn’t play it. Needless to say, panic was setting in. I called a trusted colleague who lives in Minneapolis, and asked for help. He gave me the help I needed, a trick or two to be able to play that section of the piece. I played along with the recording over and over and over until it was right.
The first rehearsal came and I was prepared. I played a near perfect rehearsal, and the conductor commented to me that he was pleased. I’m sure slept well that night, knowing he didn’t have to worry about me.
The performance was exhilarating. I was so prepared that I wasn’t at all nervous, but instead played the performance of my life, thoroughly enjoying every minute of it. Often after a performance, the conductor will acknowledge a musician who performed a solo, or difficult exposed part with a solo bow. I’m proud to say that he gave me the first solo bow.
The icing on the cake was a review the following day in the local Princeton newspaper in which I was one of only two musicians (besides the conductor) mentioned. “Most impressive was timpanist Adrienne Ostrander, who provided very steady and precise playing.”
This concert profoundly impacted my life. I could have put my sticks down after the performance, and walked away, never to play another note in my life, and been perfectly happy.
Recommended recording:
Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring
The Cleveland Orchestra, Loren Maazel
Telarc Records, DG 10054, 1980
