Playing in Providence

Just came back from a rehearsal in the Cathedral in Providence, RI.  Doing a performance of sacred music, mostly as a memorial to Alex Peloquin, the relatively famous composer of a lot of Catholic liturgy music, mainly perfomed for year at Boston College, where he was director of the chorus.  A gifted teacher of college choruses, a extremely self-indulgent conductor, but some of his music has real charm, and he uses the brass usually two trumpets, two horns, and two bones, very very well.  My favorite Peloquin story has to do with a performance of the Mozart "Requiem" in which I was playing second trombone, which means I had the very famous "Tuba Miram" solo which begins the second part.  the chorus sings the fairly violent "Dies Irae" and as the strings come to the end of that, blazing away, there is a pause, and the second trombone starts his famous solo, all alone, and I do mean all alone. Peloquin rehearsed the Requiem three times, very unusual for free-lancing (one rehearsal is quite the norm), and in every rehearsal, he indicated to me by a wave of the hand, to start the solo, on my own, no conducting. (which was quite generous, most conductors try to conduct the solo).  Then in the concert, after the "Dies Irae" he waved, I started the solo, and he started waving his arm in a panic.  (I found out later that his "wave of the hand" was his way of telling the chorus to sit down!)  At any rate, I refused to stop playing the solo.  After all, my reputaion was on the line.  And if you know the piece, tha bass enters in a kind of duet with the trombonist, singing his "Tuba, miram, spargim, sonam".  Well, the bass in this instance was Francis Hester, a vastly experienced bass, and he stood up and joined me, and finally, Peloquin started conducting.  After the concert was over, as I was putting my horn away, Peloquin came back to find me, in a real hissy fit, and I said, "Don't say one word to me, I did what you requested at every rehearsal, and you can thank Francis for saving that part of the performance"  Peloquin backed off, and then apologized.  Imagine, a conductor apologiaing to a trombonist.!
And, after that, he asked me back many times to play for him.
     Tonight'[s rehearsal was quite fun, the band was excellent (Bob Couture was playing first trombone), and playing in that spaee was thrilling.  The cathedral has a Cassavant organ which I believe is the largest tracker organ in N. America.
     I had an afternoon and evening which is so typical of my life:  I drive down very early, find a good parking place, and I usually try to find a really special restaurant to indulge in before the rehearsal.  This time it was Constantino's;  I had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc by Mondavi (surprisingly good, I didn't expect it to be), a brook trout cooked in white wine with capers, veggies, and two scoops of Gelato, and an expresso.  What a gift,