Warning: mktime() [
function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in
/home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line
24
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in
/home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line
30
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in
/home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line
32
Warning: mktime() [
function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in
/home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line
24
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in
/home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line
30
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in
/home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line
32
Warning: mktime() [function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in /home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line 24
Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in /home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line 30
Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in /home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line 32
Monday July 24th, 2006
You non-artists out there might wonder how a great performance is spawned (or at least a mediocre one by my own self-assessment)? Here’s one week’s solution to this question:
Tuesday
11am-1pm rehearsal (Marlboro, VT) for Bartok Quartet #3
2-4pm rehearsal for Beethoven Archduke trio
4-4:30pm listen to balance in concert hall for group playing Dvorak f minor piano
trio
6pm run through Mozart G Major concerto for friend
6:30pm begin driving to NYC
11pm arrive (after driving through torrential storm) at home NYC
Wednesday
12:15am fall asleep
3:15am alarm rings
4am catch car service to Penn Station
4:40am take train to Baltimore
7:30am arrive Baltimore
8:00am check-in hotel
8:45am leave for radio station
9am radio interview
11:45-12:30pm rehearse Mozart concerto with orchestra
1:30-2:30pm rehearse Mozart with orchestra
2:30-3:30pm internet interview
7-9:30pm dinner with conductor
10pm collapse
Thursday
9am breakfast with conductor
10:30-11:30am rehearse Mozart with orchestra
12:30-2:30pm lunch with conductor and principal oboist
6pm leave for Strathmore hall (45 min. drive)
7-7:15pm soundcheck in hall
8pm perform Mozart concerto
10:30pm dinner
Friday
12:30am return to hotel
11am-1pm lunch with conductor
2-4pm teach lesson
6:30pm leave for concert hall
6:40-6:50pm soundcheck in hall
7:30pm perform Mozart concerto
8:20pm CD signing
8:50pm leave for train station
9:12pm take train to NYC
Saturday
12:45am arrive home NYC
9am drive to Marlboro
12:30pm arrive Marlboro
2-4pm rehearsal (Marlboro) Beethoven Archduke trio
4-6pm rehearsal with composer for Dalbavie horn trio
8:30-10:30pm attend concert
Sunday
9-11am rehearse Bartok Quartet #3
11am-12pm rehearse Beethoven Archduke trio
2:30pm perform Beethoven Archduke trio
OK, I admit that the conductor is a good friend of mine. It wasn’t all business. I just thought it looked more impressive.
In the open time slots fill in mostly with practicing the Mozart as well as 24 Paganini caprices (ok, not all 24 of them but a bunch) – and then a load of laundry, chasing down some undelivered dry cleaning, twice-daily showers because of the heat, returning half of my phone calls and emails (sorry to the other half), dressing for concert, packing, wishing my mom a happy birthday, and keeping track of Middle East events on CNN. No wonder my fantasy baseball team is a joke.
This probably won’t phase the musicians out there. For the rest of you, that is the recipe for some (hopefully sometimes great) Beethoven and Mozart.
posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Warning: mktime() [
function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in
/home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line
24
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in
/home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line
30
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in
/home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line
32
Warning: mktime() [
function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in
/home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line
24
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in
/home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line
30
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in
/home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line
32
Warning: mktime() [function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in /home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line 24
Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in /home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line 30
Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in /home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line 32
Thursday July 6th, 2006
A few times in a lifetime a moment happens that remains frozen in memory for those that witnessed it. It could be something that has global implications and is felt by people around the world such as September 11. But sometimes we can be touched even more by the private moments, the intimacy that comes from experiencing something alone or sharing it with one or two others. I experienced this today in a rehearsal with pianist Mitsuko Uchida and cellist David Soyer, two monumental musical personalities who have helped to shape the musical landscape of today. They are disparate personalities but are able to channel and mix their differences to create a uniquely beautiful Beethoven Archduke trio. There is a notion that great chamber music consists of individuals who share an aesthetic or come to absolute musical agreement in their view of the music. Every once in a while I experience a performance where the four voices of a quartet blend together in their musical statement to magnify the power of the music. But I also see this approach potentially leading to a performance that is too homogenous. I lose the spontaneous communication and interaction between the individual voices. Even if this interaction is not always perfectly smooth it can be so colorful, especially when you are talking about such giant personalities. Imagine listening to the exchange between Nabokov and Tolstoy, Bach and Beethoven, Washington and Lincoln, Caesar and Napoleon. If music is a mirror of life then these differences between musicians (and the subsequent harmony or discord) is much more real than an attempt to imitate one another.
I am getting way off track, just like in our rehearsal. But sometimes in wandering one makes even more beautiful discoveries than if the whole road is mapped out.
Very little verbal discussion about the Archduke trio takes place in our rehearsals. We take care of most of that through our playing, talking to each other with the notes we are trying to bring to life. Mitsuko sings a passage on the keys with her typically glorious, transcendent voice; Mr. Soyer growls grumpily with his bassline; Mitsuko, undeterred, keeps imploring with a beauty so convincing that Mr. Soyer acquiesces with a tender solo that reveals a soft heart underneath the gruffness. What am I doing all of this time? Just as Arnold Steinhardt light-heartedly calls himself the “voice of reason” of the Guarneri Quartet (his book Indivisible By Four is a must-read) I consider myself the oil without which this music will stop flowing. Really, I am kidding. For those of you who might doubt my modesty know that I am always aware of this: even though I have spent 26 years as a musician, a lifetime of doing one thing for most people, the other two in this trio have about 5 times as many years of experience between them. I would be smart to listen and soak it up. Besides, what flows with the help of oil? Please send me an answer if you know.
The recording of the Archduke by the Cortot/Thibaud/Casals trio was brought up and that somehow morphed into a discussion of recordings of the Bach solo violin works. This led to Joseph Szigeti, a favorite of Mitsuko’s, and then after a detour involving some other violinists we settled upon Georges Enesco and his recording of the Bachs. Mr. Soyer sat reflectively as Mitsuko and I excitedly discussed Enesco and his angle on these works. Then he casually mentioned that he had played one of the Bach cello suites for Enesco. When we asked him what words of wisdom Enesco offered Mr. Soyer responded in his typical dry fashion, “All he said was to play in first position and to use open strings.” But then the real magic happened. He started demonstrating various fingerings at the beginning of the C Major suite. Then for an all-too-short minute he lost himself in the music and kept playing. Not only was each note a living, breathing entity but also the space and time around the notes was a divine experience. It was 83 years of life conveyed in a moment.
When he snapped out of it he suddenly stopped. Mitsuko and I pleaded with him to go on but the moment was lost, relegated to our memories. Nevertheless it was enough to touch us to the core. It is something that will be a part of me forever. I told Mitsuko that I look forward to my next 50 years.
posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Warning: mktime() [
function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in
/home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line
24
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in
/home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line
30
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in
/home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line
32
Warning: mktime() [
function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in
/home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line
24
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in
/home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line
30
Warning: date() [
function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in
/home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line
32
Warning: mktime() [function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in /home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line 24
Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in /home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line 30
Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CDT/-5.0/DST' instead in /home/soovinco/public_html/components/com_jd-wp/wp-includes/functions.php on line 32
Saturday July 1st, 2006
I was once (or a hundred times) witness to a conversation between overeager-to-impress peon and genius superstar. The comedic value of such a conversation varies depending on the generosity of said superstar and the persistence of said peon. That comedy can also be in direct correlation to the ultimate humiliation of the poor peon. Exhibit A:
(all names in these blog entries have been changed except where they might embarrass somebody close to me in which case they are left as is)
O-IP: (snively-voiced) “Mr. Kim, Mr. Kim, that was a wonderful performance. I am about to work on the Paganini con-CHER-to as well and I was wondering what etudes and scales you studied in order to prepare for climbing this great mountain.”
SK: “Oh, thank you so much. I guess you can work on some Dont and Kreutzer etudes and Rode and Paganini caprices as well as all of your scales…”
(GS intercedes)
GS: (gruffly) “What’s this? What are you talking about?”
O-IP: (snivelier yet since now he/she is talking to GS) “Mr. GS! I enjoyed your performance! I was just asking Mr. Kim what kinds of scales and etudes to practice to be able to play like such a great artist as yourself.”
GS: “Etudes? Scales? What are you talking about?”
O-IP: (enthusiastically) Well, I do Sevcik op. 3, Sevcik op. 8, Tartini, Fiorillo, Gavinies, Dounis…”
GS: “Scales and etudes are for untalented people! You only practice those if you can’t play the violin. How much do you practice?”
O-IP: (a bit dismayed) “Well, about 4 hours a day…”
GS: “4 hours!! If you have to practice more than 1 hour a day you have no talent. You should forget about becoming a musician.”
Our poor O-IP was heartbroken. Obviously GS was an ass and O-IP was sweet but a little overbearing. The story had a happy ending as O-IP became a better violinist than GS could ever dream of becoming.
Exhibit B: (different characters and a slightly-altered storyline)
O-IP: (puffing out chest) “I am about to play the Paganini Caprices in concert.”
GS: (raising eyebrow) “Really.”
O-IP: (with great self-importance) “In what order do you play all 27 of them?”
GS: (eyes slitting) “You mean 24? Are there three more?”
O-IP: (stammering) “Oh, I thought there were 27…”
GS: (moving in for the kill) “Really. And what do those other three sound like, I wonder?”
(awkward pause)
GS: “You only play these all together once you have performed at least 16 of them individually. Have you?”
O-IP: (once again feeling impressive) “I have performed 12 of them!”
GS: “That is not 16, so you do not play 24 together. Certainly not 27.”
Today’s moral:
If you really are a GS then please be a nice one. And for God’s sake don’t be an O-IP.
posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »