Is 10 hours enough rehearsal time for a professional orchestra?

By Jeremy Reynolds / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra spends about 10 hours in rehearsal preparing for a classical concert that averages about 90 minutes of music. 

That’s four rehearsals of two hours each to unify 100 musicians and a conductor in timing and interpretation.

It’s no mean feat.

Of course, individual conditioning starts much earlier. At the level of a professional orchestra like Pittsburgh’s, the musicians are expected — required, really — to show up to rehearsals knowing their individual parts inside and out so that all time can be spent working on unity rather than individual parts. This involves hours and hours of dedicated home practice.

Attention to detail is the name of the game; it’s what separates a good orchestra from a great one.

The general rehearsal schedule is a single rehearsal Wednesday, two on Thursday, and a dress rehearsal in the morning Friday and a concert in the evening.

At Thursday’s 10 a.m. orchestra rehearsal, the musicians tuned promptly at the top of the hour before Finnish conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste popped onto the podium.

Saraste’s soft greeting to the orchestra echoed in the empty Heinz Hall — the acoustics of the hall change based on whether there are people in the seats or not, a factor taken into consideration when rehearsing.

Then he sent the orchestra whizzing into the chaotic opening strains of the suite from “The Miraculous Mandarin.” (A suite is often a selection of excerpts from a larger work, in this case a ballet about three tramps and a prostitute working together to tempt and rob men.)

Gone were the typical tuxedos and glamour of concert nights. This was grind work.

Some conductors run a piece from start to finish; some start and stop. Saraste stopped occasionally to give feedback, waving his arms to get the players’ attention a bit like a tube dancer outside a car dealership.

He asked players to adjust speed and the balance and style of playing on particular notes or passages to ensure everyone remained on the same page.

To communicate clearly, he described what he wants in words: “This phrase must always crescendo!” and often sang to demonstrate the effect he was looking for: “deeeEEE-YAH!” Occasionally, he used his conducting baton as a mock violin bow to visually demonstrate a technique.

Many of the musicians have played one or more of the works already. There’s institutional memory. But of course, each conductor might have a different interpretation. The orchestra’s music director, Manfred Honeck, conducts about half of the classical subscription concerts, or 10. Guest conductors like Saraste lead the other 10.

Orchestra members marked notes with pencils, scribbling quickly and quietly where Saraste asked for more volume or bite or smoothness in the sound. Occasionally, one would call out a question like, “Is there a diminuendo in this bar?” or “What’s your pattern here?” to ensure precise unity with the rest of the ensemble.

They chatted quietly during pauses, conferring on passages, and occasionally applauded a solo by a fellow musician.

After about 45 minutes of this, Saraste stopped and gave the musicians a 20-minute break. Musicians milled about, practicing brief passages separately and creating a general cacophony or moving backstage for a respite.

There is typically a soloist for classical concerts. Pianist Tom Borrow joined the orchestra at Thursday afternoon’s rehearsal to begin working through the kinks of French composer Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major. Most orchestras devote less time to rehearsing the solo concerto on their programs — the spotlight is mostly on the soloist.

By concert time, conductor and orchestra have clarified their intentions after hours of intensive playing and discussion. At least, as much as they can in the time allotted.

This can depend on the complexity of the music and a conductor’s efficiency in communicating his or her directions. There’s more to the job than beating time; it’s as much about effective communication and coaching as it is about musicianship.

At that point, all that remains is the electricity that a live audience brings to a concert.

Downbeats for Ravel’s Piano Concerto are Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at Heinz Hall. Tickets start at $25 at pittsburghsymphony.org.

Jeremy Reynolds: [email protected]. His work at the Post-Gazette is supported in part by a grant from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Getty Foundation and Rubin Institute.