Posts from — October 2008

Violinist Rachel Barton Pine, who has appeared twice with the Sunriver Music Festival - making a huge positive impression both times - is the featured artist in this month’s issue of The Strad - a leading stringed instrument magazine.

You can find copies of The Strad at some Borders or Barnes and Noble locations, but the best bets are local violin shops: David Kerr Violins and Geesman Violin Shop are two good places to find current issues.

I don’t normally pay much attention to what the musical iconoclast Norman Lebrecht writes, but I found some comfort in these uncomfortable times in his most recent column - here’s the relevent paragraph:

Orchestras, too, flourish in depression. London went from one symphony orchestra to three in the post-crash period of 1930-32 and from three to five in the austerity years of 1945-57. In the US, working musicians found comfort in bands and new lines of work in Hollywood studios. No matter how tight the money got, the public demand for music shows an exponential increase whenever financial confidence fails.

The whole column is a pretty fascinating read - find it here.

I was digging through my ever-growing iTunes library and listening to some old performances by the Ethos Quartet.  We went through three incarnations - each time with a new violinist replacing the previous one.  Denise Huizenga was the constant thread in the violins, with Lisa Hansen, Marty Jennings, and Tyler Neist taking the other chair as the quartet went through its life.

I think that the period where we worked with Marty was the real golden age of the quartet - we played some transformative concerts with him, most notably of music by Shostakovich, and also Thomas Svoboda’s Second Quartet.

Shostakovich’s music continues to fascinate me, mostly because he does so much with so little material, yet it usually comes off not sounding repetitive (unless it’s supposed to sound that way).  It is also amazing in its continuing relevance.  It would make sense, since it is a product of the 20th century, and that century’s history of violence and repression is continuing without an end in sight into the 21st century.

Here’s a movement from Shostakovich’s Ninth String Quartet, performed on November 9th, 2001 at the Old Church, with Marty Jennings, first violin; Denise Huizenga, second violin; Charles Noble, viola; and Heather Blackburn, cello.  The recording was made by Nolan Huizenga.

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Jeremy Denk has a pretty clever “interview” with Sarah Palin regarding Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata.

I’m very much looking forward to reading Halleluja Junction, the autobiography of leading American composer John Adams.  If you’re reading it, or have already read it - let me know your thoughts!

Hallelujah Junction: Composing an American Life

Be sure to cast your vote in this week’s poll:

Which include having a friend who is a coffee roaster (opens in a new window) par excellence!