"The biggest problem being on tour in the US is having to eat out every day whilst trying not end up looking like this!

Sculpture in Columbus Circle shopping centre

The portions of everything are SO big.  Even the cakes in Starbucks are twice the size of the ones you get in the UK.  Is it because it makes people feel as though they're getting value for money?  Who knows.
 
So, back to Carnegie Hall after a morning stroll in the glorious sunshine.  This time it was Zankel Hall.  I'd forgotten how resonant this hall is - not ideal for 4 pianos, 4 vibraphones, string 4tet and amplified voices!  Daniel Variations was going to be a tricky one to balance. In the end, the solution was for everyone to play as quietly as possible.  We'd just have to wait and see whether everyone could stay quiet when the adrenaline kicked in!
 
I'd also forgotten that you could hear the distant rumblings of the subway running down either side of the hall.  Zankel Hall, obviously underground, was blasted out of the bedrock of Manhattan.  The back of the stage looks like a set painted to look like black rock, but it actually IS rock.
 
Drumming was perhaps better suited to this venue - well, the 1st and 2nd sections at least.

Practising Drumming Part 1

The third section is always an endurance test.  Sorry Steve, but all those glockenspiels clanging at once!  How many pieces do you know where the piccolo needs to be amplified in order to be heard?  I rest my case!

Steve whistling in Section 3

Our biggest concern was whether or not Dave Cossin would be able to do his amazing Piano/Video Phase. He had really hurt his back and could barely walk, and this piece is incredibly physical.  Amazingly, he turned up to do the show and I was so glad he did as I had never seen it live.  This has to be seen to be believed.  Dave plays on midi-pads at various heights, against a pre-recorded video of himself doing the same thing.  Then he is lit so that you can only see the recorded arms and the live pair of arms.  It's a fantastic visual insight into the construction of the piece.  Great idea!  He said afterwards that he'd found a way of doing the piece without engaging the muscles in his back - so it was all shoulders and arms.  Still quite a feat, even without a back injury.
 
So, another great (sold-out) concert, and all too soon our Carnegie weekend was over.
 
We took our final bow and returned to the hotel to pack.  Tomorrow we were off to St Louis...."

Micaela