Word: slava
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Bravo for the story on Slava...
...Slava rarely practices the cello; he seems always to be warmed up and ready to go. He can run on for days in a row without sleep. Some years ago, during a hectic concert tour, he sat down on a stage to play the Dvorak Cello Concerto and fell asleep during the orchestral introduction. Startled when his cue came, he whispered to the conductor: "You played that so magnificently that I was spellbound. Please start again...
...Dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov. He is a tireless Five-F man, in constant pursuit (in no special order) of Fiddles, Food, Females, Friends?and Fodka. He is a shameless flirt, eats like an orchestra, and puts away more booze than a commissar at a convention. "What I remember first about Slava," says Seiji Ozawa, "is lots of drinking. He taught me how to drink fantastic amounts. After one night with him, the next day is gone." His constant companion is a pocket-size, wire-haired dachshund named Puks. Rostropovich has taught Puks to leap on the piano bench and bang away...
...Slava will get ten additional musicians?mainly strings?to bring the N.S.O. to a full complement of 106. He knows that the orchestra has never been top flight, but he is eager to make it so and dreams of the day when he might take it to Moscow to show it off. He is convinced? long with many of his musicians?that what the orchestra needs most is a massive infusion of confidence...
...already established an informal open house at his Watergate Hotel suite; any orchestra member may come along with his instrument to play for the conductor or simply to talk about his work. Part of Slava's new look is already visible this season. The musicians now tune up backstage. Then they file into their seats ready to play, sparing the audience the customary din of warm-up noodling...