Bramwell Tovey

Blogging live from the broadcast on KFUO-99.1 FM: In introducing Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, this week’s guest conductor, Bramwell Tovey, proved himself a natural with the Dreaded Cordless Mike, being funny, informative, and not long-winded.

Tovey is fast on his feet, never dropping a beat (”Oh, there’s someone’s cell phone! Don’t worry, we’ll wait for you”), frequently dropping one-liners (mosquito carcasses on scores usually used outdoors), interesting historical facts (Tchaikovsky’s use of the “Marseilles” is inauthentic; Napoleon had actually banned its use by that time), French horn jokes (tonight’s noted surprise that the horns “expressed optimism” at one point, “most uncharacteristically”), and anecdotes about past performances.

In one of his first and best pokes, Tovey observed that the 1812 hasn’t been performed in Powell Symphony Hall since 1998, “which for some listeners makes it new music - and, as we all know, new music requires explanation.”

Tovey also threw in an appreciation for KFUO, which earned him a huge round of applause from the audience.

The 1812 is indeed, as Tovey promised his listeners, loud - but for real speaker-threatening decibels, the best bet is probably still the classic Mercury “Living Presence” recording (real cannon, real bells, and as lagniappe, Beethoven’s “Wellington’s Victory” with the rattle of real musketry), engineered by the great Wilma Cozart Fine, who died just last month at the age of 82.