{"id":12883,"date":"2013-07-31T18:22:16","date_gmt":"2013-08-01T01:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=12883"},"modified":"2013-07-31T18:22:16","modified_gmt":"2013-08-01T01:22:16","slug":"the-sport-of-kings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/07\/31\/the-sport-of-kings\/","title":{"rendered":"the sport of kings"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am, of course, referring to chamber music. While most of us musicians are not anywhere near endowed with the power or wealth of royalty, we can transform our lot into something approaching that (at least in the artistic sense) by playing some of the great works of chamber music that have been written over the past 300 years or so.<\/p>\n

This past week I was at the Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival, which plays its concerts in an acoustically wonderful barn at the Signal Hill Ranch (owned and acoustically tweaked by Howard Johnson<\/a>) located between Twisp and Winthrop, Wa. It’s a stunning site for concerts, with views of much of the middle portion of the Methow (pronounced MET-how) Valley, and depending upon the timing, the rising moon.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/a>
The Signal Hill Ranch, looking east into the valley. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The audience portion of the barn at Signal Hill Ranch. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The barn stage at Signal Hill Ranch. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Festival <\/a>
Festival artists Paul Rosenthal, Agnes Gottschewski, Roland Kato and Armen Ksajikian rehearsing in the barn. <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The welcome sign at the top of the hill – the barn is just over the word ‘festival’ in the sign. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Moonrise <\/a>
Moonrise of the Methow from the Signal Hill Ranch. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Methow <\/a>
Methow Valley looking northwest. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Looking <\/a>
Looking down into the valley from the garn. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Whereas last year I played the second week of the festival, this week I played the opening week. I was joined by a string quartet of musicians who have long played with the Sitka Festival, including that festival’s founder, Paul Rosenthal, who began it in 1972. A more generous and convivial artist I cannot imagine. Paul is a gentleman’s gentleman, and a virtuoso player. Moreover, he’s an erudite musician with untold depths of knowledge, and is fascinating personality, and possessed of a musical mindset of the highest order of the old school of violin playing (which is befitting, since he was a student of Dorothy Delay, Ivan Galamian, Josef Gingold, and Jascha Heifetz). The two works that I played happened to both be by Mozart, and both in the key of g minor. And they are still two of the greatest works in their respective genres – the piano quartet and the string quintet.<\/p>\n

The g minor Piano Quartet (K. 478) of Mozart has an unfortunate stigma of being a ‘student’ piece. And many of us know it from that awful use of its opening motif as “an-swer the tel-e-phone” from those old tv ads. But it really is a mature masterpiece (possibly the first of its kind combining the string trio of violin, viola, and cello with the piano – at least a pure chamber music, with similar works by JC and CPE Bach functioning more as concertante piano works) that I was happy to sink my musical teeth into. Having as my colleagues pianist Craig Sheppard, violinist Paul Rosenthal, and cellist Paul Wianko, made the three hours of rehearsal we had over two days fly by, and also made for an passionately played and well-received performance.<\/p>\n

The g minor string Quintet (two violas)(K. 516) of Mozart is another matter as far as its reputation goes. It is looked at almost in religious terms by virtually all musicians who have encountered it. Some commentators have described its movement structure as being based upon the psychological cycle of grief<\/a>. The great Mozart biographer and scholar Alfred Einstein said this about the g minor Quintet:<\/p>\n

What takes place here can be compared perhaps only with the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane. The chalice with its bitter potion must be emptied, and the disciples sleep.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Purple prose? Perhaps, but apt, given the depths to which Mozart brings us during the course of the first three movements, only to lift us back into the sunshine with the brilliant concluding Rondo finale. Agnes Gottschewski was the elegant and lithe first violinst, joined again by Paul Rosenthal, with the delightful violist Roland Kato, and cellist Paul Wianko again anchoring the ensemble. I feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to play two such great works with such wonderful and enjoyable people and musicians! My heartfelt thanks go out to festival artistic director (and wonderful cellist) Kevin Krentz for inviting me back to play this year, and for all of the staff, volunteers, and host families that made it such a great experience both on stage and off!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am, of course, referring to chamber music. While most of us musicians are not anywhere near endowed with the power or wealth of royalty, we can transform our lot into something approaching that (at least in the artistic sense) by playing some of the great works of chamber music that have been written over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[136,138],"tags":[2540,3423,3419,3097,3421,3424,3422],"class_list":["post-12883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chamber-music","category-summer-festivals","tag-2540","tag-agnes-gottschewski","tag-craig-sheppard","tag-methow-valley-chamber-music-festival","tag-paul-rosenthal","tag-paul-wianko","tag-roland-kato"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-3lN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12855,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/07\/13\/slack-tide\/","url_meta":{"origin":12883,"position":0},"title":"slack tide","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been an uneventful week, with the exception of the dental surgery, and I'm looking forward to completing this downtime to get ready for my next gig. That happens to be the Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival in the north-central reaches of Washington State. I played there once with my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/7696205290_27911bff12_z.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/7696205290_27911bff12_z.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/7696205290_27911bff12_z.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13809,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2015\/07\/30\/methow-festival-wrap-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":12883,"position":1},"title":"methow festival wrap up","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Whew! I'm back in Portland again, after an action-packed five days at the Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival. I played three big pieces, two of which were brand new to me, and one which I hadn't played in at least ten years. After three years of playing here, I can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/DSC_0650-e1438316712345.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/DSC_0650-e1438316712345.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/DSC_0650-e1438316712345.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12875,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/07\/24\/cellos-at-methow\/","url_meta":{"origin":12883,"position":2},"title":"cellos at methow","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"IMG_9885, a photo by nobleviola on Flickr. Pictured here are three of the cellists who are playing at this year's Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival. From left to right: Paul Wianko, Kevin Krenz (festival artistic director), and Armen Ksajikian. Accompanying them in David Popper's Requiem is festival pianist Craig Sheppard.","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13800,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2015\/07\/21\/methow-preview-part-two\/","url_meta":{"origin":12883,"position":3},"title":"methow preview, part two","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Another work (in fact, the first of the three)\u00a0that I'm performing at the Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival is Dvorak's great E-flat major Piano Quartet. If you're a cellist (as in the Schumann), you're loving this piece, especially the slow movement. Dvorak doesn't really get his due in the chamber\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/p01bqhjb-e1437505221952.jpg?fit=500%2C281&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13796,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2015\/07\/18\/methow-preview-part-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":12883,"position":4},"title":"methow preview, part one","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The only piece on my Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival swing this year that I've performed before is Robert Schumann's gorgeous Piano Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 47. I think that it's at least the equal of his famous Piano Quintet (also in E-flat major). Schumann had a chamber music\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Robert_Schumann-cadr%C3%A9.jpg?fit=465%2C543&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13794,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2015\/07\/16\/focus-on-chamber-music\/","url_meta":{"origin":12883,"position":5},"title":"focus on chamber music","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A week from today I'll be on my way to the Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival\u00a0(July 23 - August 1), which is a wonderful little festival in one of those special out-of-the-way places that really are truly magical. Last year's festival was cancelled due to the huge wildfires in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/10556379_10152264415142776_6152986843543323104_n.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/10556379_10152264415142776_6152986843543323104_n.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/10556379_10152264415142776_6152986843543323104_n.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12883\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}