{"id":7355,"date":"2012-02-26T00:16:22","date_gmt":"2012-02-26T08:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=7355"},"modified":"2012-02-26T00:16:22","modified_gmt":"2012-02-26T08:16:22","slug":"on-greatness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/02\/26\/on-greatness\/","title":{"rendered":"on greatness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Saturday night we played our Itzhak Perlman special concert. It was a one-night affair, featuring Perlman playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. Works by Schubert and Brahms\/Schoenberg rounded out the evening.<\/p>\n

The dress rehearsal for the concert was Saturday morning. Perlman joined us (after we worked on the Schubert) for the Mendelssohn, joking with the stage crew about the color of the step that led to the platform on which he would sit for the rehearsal and performance. He looked well – he’s lost a substantial amount of weight over the past couple years, and though his hair has greyed, he still has the aura of a much younger man.<\/p>\n

I thought about how many times I’d listened to recordings of this great violinist over the years. I particularly remembered how some of my violinist friends in the Tacoma Youth Symphony stayed up late and listened to his recording of the Brahms concerto on a boom box when were were on tour in the San Juan Islands. What commanding, soulful, and beguiling playing! Perlman was always a violinist put his soul through the violin – you heard it in his sound. I think that’s what made and still makes him such a charismatic presence, both as a player and as a symbol of joyful music-making.<\/p>\n

Perlman is not, technically speaking, the player he once was. But he can still channel his soul through his fiddle. My wife, who I more and more think is an absolute genius, was reflecting with me on how musicians are treated as they age and lose their playing edge. She noted that Perlman might not be a technical wizard anymore, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t deserve applause and recognition for his lifetime of great musical experiences that he’s brought to millions of people around the world. In a business where you’re only as good as your last performance, it’s worth remembering that a legacy of greatness is something to be cherished, recognized, and celebrated.<\/p>\n

And that is what I thought of when I watched and listened to this great violinist, this great man, just about eight feet from me on the stage, play the slow movement of the Mendelssohn concerto. The lapses of tone and intonation faded away, and I was left with this great voice, expressing the musings of a great musical soul that is still compelled to share its thoughts with the public.<\/p>\n

Thanks, Itzhak. It was a pleasure and an honor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturday night we played our Itzhak Perlman special concert. It was a one-night affair, featuring Perlman playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. Works by Schubert and Brahms\/Schoenberg rounded out the evening. The dress rehearsal for the concert was Saturday morning. Perlman joined us (after we worked on the Schubert) for the Mendelssohn, joking with the stage […]<\/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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[135,2,21],"tags":[2928,2515,2967,3668],"class_list":["post-7355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-soloists-recitals","category-the-orchestra-world","category-violin","tag-2928","tag-itzhak-perlman","tag-mendelssohn-concerto","tag-oregon-symphony"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-1UD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1987,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/02\/27\/itzhaks-in-town\/","url_meta":{"origin":7355,"position":0},"title":"itzhak’s in town","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Friday we had our second set of rehearsals for our next Classical series concert with beloved violinist Itzhak Perlman at the helm.\u00c2\u00a0 He's really a genial guy, he acts like \"one of the guys\" with the orchestra and generally lets us do whatever we want to (within reason).\u00c2\u00a0 He had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "music"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"perlman.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/perlman.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":747,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/02\/09\/2008-2009-season-details-thoughts\/","url_meta":{"origin":7355,"position":1},"title":"2008-2009 season","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"It's about 3:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon, and at this morning's rehearsal we in the orchestra were given the brochures for the 2008-2009 season of the Oregon Symphony. Here are my first impressions, literally written on the spot with little or no forethought (just like usual, I know...): The design\u2026","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":4539,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/04\/28\/perlman-recital-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":7355,"position":2},"title":"perlman recital review","author":"Justin Kagan","date":"April 28, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"[Justin Kagan, cellist and coffee roaster extraordinaire, was at the Itzhak Perlman recital Tuesday evening - the following is his exclusive review. - C.N.] AN INFORMAL \"REVIEW\" OF ITZHAK PERLMAN RECITAL @ THE SCHNITZ 4-27-2010 Since my esteemed friends and colleagues of the OSO were doing yeoman's work in Salem\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/perlman2_byAkiraKinoshita_orig-327x400.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2019,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/03\/02\/perlman-video\/","url_meta":{"origin":7355,"position":3},"title":"perlman video","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Happened to catch this shot of Itzhak Perlman fooling around on Associate concertmaster Peter Frajola's violin during the break of one of last week's rehearsals. It shows what a nice, down-to-earth guy Perlman really is.","rel":"","context":"In "fun"","block_context":{"text":"fun","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/fun\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":190,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/02\/01\/perlman-on-the-podium\/","url_meta":{"origin":7355,"position":4},"title":"perlman on the podium","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 1, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Today was an interesting day, and I mean that in the non-parenthetical way, i.e., it was not \"interesting\" but interesting. I'll attempt to explain why. Over the course of the last several years, the way the orchestra plays, and more specifically, the way the strings play has been profoundly influenced\u2026","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":5760,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/02\/01\/shreddin\/","url_meta":{"origin":7355,"position":5},"title":"shreddin’","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"There are some clever people in this world.\u00a0 Do you remember the \"Yo-Yo Shreds at the Inauguration\" vid that popped up on YouTube? Then there was the \"Perlman Shreds Winter\": Now, there is the \"Berliner Philharmoniker Masterclass\": I was in tears for the last one - it's a great job\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "auditions"","block_context":{"text":"auditions","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/auditions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7355","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=7355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7355\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}