NOVEMBER 19: DAVID FINCKEL CELLO TALKS HIT 50

On the Emerson Quartet tour stop in Naples, David filmed his 50th Cello Talk, a milestone in his groundbreaking, ongoing series of lessons on all aspects of cello playing. Even without promotion, the number of viewings has grown to over five hundred per week, and he is receiving increasing numbers of questions, comments and thanks as the project progresses.

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in David’s words…
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My father, besides being a jazz performer and arranger during the Big Band era (before I was born), eventually gravitated to classical music and became a prolific teacher. In addition to his role as Director of Music at Far Brook School, in Short Hills, NJ, he taught privately in our home in Madison on the weekends. Our house was always full on Saturdays with a steady stream of students and parents, and it was only a few years after I began cello that I followed my father’s footsteps and began giving private lessons.

Besides youngsters my around my age, I had a student who lived across the street named Burton Smith, and he must have been at least 50 years old. That was a real wake-up call: that I could help someone so much older than I. I had a wonderful, strict teacher named Mary Gili who grounded me well in Popper Etudes, the Saint-Saens and Dvorak Concertos, and very importantly, the Aldo Pais method for the left hand, an incredible book of exercises that I still use to keep in shape. Not long after, I began my lessons with Rostropovich, but he never offered technical advice: it was up to me to figure it all out.

This method of self-teaching, and learning through observation and imitation, is really the way I learned to play the cello. After I became involved in chamber music my private teaching basically ceased, except for a couple of dedicated students who were willing to put up with my ridiculously unreliable schedule, among them Adam Grabois, who I’m proud to say is one of the best-schooled cellists I know. The idea of teaching seriously – of being responsible for the instrumental education of fine young talents – was a commitment I knew I could not handle, and I began to regularly turn down requests to teach, until finally, no one asked anymore. I was even turned down by the Manhattan School of Music in about ten years ago when I wanted to teach there. I had no reputation as a cello teacher, and to a certain extent, I still don’t.

But I have to say that I must have accumulated some knowledge from all the hundreds of works I’ve learned, the thousands of concerts I’ve played, and the many great cellists I’ve been privileged to work with. I began to wonder what would happen if I was to be run over by a bus: all the knowledge that I’ve gathered, which gets me from note to note and concert to concert would be gone, and I would not have done what I could to share potentially useful information. I’ve had a lot of gratification coaching chamber music, and for sure, designing and directing the many education programs under my watch, from Music@Menlo to Lincoln Center. But in none of those situations do I have the time to share my convictions about details of cello playing, and to be honest, in many chamber coaching situations I do know that my young players would be better off if they knew more about vibrato, about intonation, about how to set up their instruments – in short, all the subjects that I am covering in these videos. So somehow, the idea came to me to do this, and it has been a wonderful learning experience for me as well, as it’s forced me to articulate and systematize my methods. I know, for sure, that I am a better cellist myself now than when I began the project.

I hope that people are getting something out of these. At least I know that I am doing what I can, that I am revealing bit by bit all that I’ve learned. I’m sure people who teach regularly, who have really made an art of it, can do it better than I. But no one is a prisoner of me or of these little videos: they are free, and you can believe them or not – some things may work for you or not. We are all different and there is no one way to do anything in music. At the very least, I’m sure, some may find them entertaining. I’ll try to keep them practical and useful, and waste as little time as possible.

Thanks for reading, and for your interest in this project.
-DF

NOVEMBER 8: BEETHOVEN CYCLES BEGIN

On a hot Sunday afternoon in Jacksonville’s elegant Cummer Museum, David and Wu Han performed their first of several cycles this season of the complete sonatas for piano and cello by Beethoven. Having presented this program numerous times in recent years – twice at the Aspen Music Festival, in Tokyo, and at Town Hall’s Free for All series – the duo will conclude its performances of the cycle this season with a marathon concert at the new Alice Tully Hall in the spring.
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in David’s words…
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Cellists, every day, should give thanks to Beethoven for creating his five sonatas, not to mention the three sets of variations, for piano and cello. Would that Mozart, or Haydn, have found similar inspiration to create duos for our two instruments! Wu Han and I have performed the Beethoven cycle ever since we began our duo partnership, and our recording of Beethoven’s complete works for piano and cello was one of the highest priorities for our company, ArtistLed, shortly after its inception.

The scope of this remarkable cycle of works is always fun to talk about, and for those interested in gaining perspective on the project, I invite you to read on.

Beethoven was motivated to compose his sonatas by various personal and commercial interests. The two Op. 5 sonatas, composed in 1796 at the height of his early period, are the first real duos for cello and piano. Previously, composers had written music for solo cello with simple accompaniment, or, in the case of Bach, in the form of a trio sonata, for two voices on the keyboard and one for the cello. But no one had yet treated the combination of cello and piano as a serious opportunity for dialogue, an exchange of musical thoughts, or as a team for which to build engaging, full-form classical works. Beethoven composed these two sonatas for his first (and only) extended concert tour to Berlin, where they were performed in a single evening for king Frederick William, himself an amateur cellist, by Beethoven himself and court cellist Jean-Louis Duport. The first sonata is an openly happy affair, with a dramatic introduction followed by a lively allegro, and then by an even more lively allegro, both instruments pursuing virtuosic heights in a completely equal dialogue.

By the time Beethoven composed his third sonata the year was 1808, and the composer, now having become resigned to his inevitable loss of hearing, had made the transition from from defeated, depressed musician to artistic titan, a force of nature, pouring out one masterpiece after another in this incredible “middle” period of his creative life. Surrounding this heroic sonata are the most popular of Beethoven’s works: the Fifth Symphony, the violin concerto, the Triple Concerto, the “Appassionata”sonata, and the like. The sonata in A major, Op. 69, has long been the standout of the cycle for its immediate accessibility, soaring lines, and heartfelt musical qualities.

Beethoven’s compositional output fell off during the decade of roughly 1810 to 1820. Distracted by the legal battle over his nephew Karl, beset by total deafness and unable to play the piano in public, he also grappled with the search for a new style which, against all odds, could convincingly succeed that of his phenomenally popular middle period. One of the first inklings we have of the transcendental music to come from Beethoven’s late period are the two sonatas of Op. 102 from 1815. Composed as a birthday present for his patron, the piano-playing Countess Erdödy, they were premiered by her, and Razumovsky Quartet cellist Josef Linke, at her summer home.

The first of the two, in C major, is a unique creation. The shortest of all five sonatas, it nonetheless has four movements, each of them an amazing creation. The first is composed like a trio sonata, the left and right hands of the piano and the cello trading single lines in a heavenly, blissful and transparent conversation. The mood is rudely interrupted by the appearance of a ferocious allegro, a full sonata-form movement compressed into only a few minutes, in the style of the first movement of the string quartet op. 95. Thereafter follows a written-out improvisation which justifies the numerous reports of Beethoven’s magical extemporaneous playing. A surprise return of the opening movement leads to the joyful finale, a brilliant romp from start to finish.

The second sonata of the set, and the final piano-cello work from Beethoven’s hand, provides the ultimate integration of the two instruments in the culminating fugue, a stupendous piece of work that is a true forerunner to the composer’s great fugues to appear in the “Hammerklavier” piano sonata and the op. 130 string quartet. After a formal but quirky opening allegro, the cycle’s only true slow movement appears, a haunting funeral march, complete with a middle “consolation” section where better times are tenderly recalled. A truly mesmerizing, frighteningly dark return of the first section leads to the daunting fugue, which at times is so dissonant that it sounds like music from the twentieth century. It is a fitting way to close this great cycle, the shortest complete cycle of Beethoven works that exists. One can perform music from Beethoven’s three major styles of composition in a mere two and half hours: a real treat for us, and an incomparable opportunity for listeners as well.

NOVEMBER 5: NEW MUSIC AT THE CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY

Left to right: David, Nathan Currier, Justin Dello Joio, Christopher Rouse, Matthias Pintscher, Libby Larsen, Bruce Adolphe.

The Chamber Music Society’s series New Music in the Rose opened this week with a marathon performance of five contemporary works for chamber ensembles. Inaugurated and programmed by David Finckel and Wu Han, the series collects and presents significant works of chamber music by living composers which push the genre forward while extending the great traditions of the past. A lively post-concert conversation, led by composer Bruce Adolphe, provided insights into the conception of each of the works.

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in David’s words…
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One of the most interesting and enlightening responsibilities we enjoy at the Chamber Music Society is the programming of the Society’s new music series. Formerly known as “Double Exposure”, in which a handful of works were performed twice in one evening, our series, now in its fourth season, presents full programs of works selected by us from among the hundreds of submissions received by the Society on an annual basis.

Works are often brought to our attention by performers as well, such as the piano trio which closed this performance by Justin Dello Joio. The intriguing, complex work was recorded by violinist Ani Kavafian but had yet to have its world premiere. Ani was joined by two guest: New York Philharmonic cellist Carter Brey, and former CMS Two pianist Shai Wosner. Libby Larsen’s delightful “Dancing Solo” for clarinet alone was featured on a Music@Menlo Prelude Performance this past summer, in a spectacular performance by clarinetist Romie de Guise-Langlois, which she graciously reprised for us in New York with stunning technique and engaging charisma.

The music of the German-born but now New York-based composer Matthias Pintscher has reached the global stage, performed by the many of the world’s great orchestras and soloists. In our performance of Pintchers’s haunting work, inspired by a painting of Cy Twombly, new CMS Two violinist Jessica Lee was joined by guest violist Richard O’Neill, himself a former CMS Two artist, and my cousin, the fearless expert of contemporary music Christopher Finckel.

Nathan Currier’s haunting “Night Time”, depicting five aspects of the night, opened the program, with CMS Two artists Bridget Kibbey and Yura Lee making their series debuts. And veteran composer Christopher Rouse’s “Compline”, for string quartet and trio of winds, which has become something of a classic since its premiere in 1996, showed off the expert playing of our artists for the evening, which included a debut for flutist Sooyun Kim as well.

OCTOBER 11: THE DUO OPENS A HALL IN CALIFORNIA

The San Francisco Bay Area’s newest concert hall, the 500-seat Performing Arts Center at Menlo-Atherton, was inaugurated on Sunday afternoon in front of a capacity audience by David, Wu Han, and clarinetist Anthony McGill. Presented by Music@Menlo, the event celebrated the creation of a state-of-the art venue for chamber music in Silicon Valley, and introduced Music@Menlo audiences and new listeners to an additional location for selected festival concerts.

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in David’s words…
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The Performing Arts Center at Menlo-Atherton has been on our radar for some time. Having been invited during the planning stages to provide input on design and acoustics, and having witnessed the various stages of construction in several hard-hat tours, Music@Menlo seemed the fitting choice to present the hall’s first ticketed, non-school event.

As Wu Han mentioned when she addressed the audience, Anthony McGill performed in the very first Music@Menlo concert, on a single day festival that we held in 2002 to introduce the concept. Her comment that it was only natural that he should be a part of this hall’s maiden voyage, especially given his recent international exposure as the inaugural clarinetist for President Obama, drew cheers from the audience and a wide, proud grin from Anthony, who was sitting on stage with us.

Our program included the clarinet trios by Beethoven and Brahms, plus the Beethoven g minor sonata for piano and cello. Anthony amazed with his usual incredible sound and technique, and the kind of passion that has endeared him to Music@Menlo audiences for years. A special note of interest for this program: none of the works, including the encore by Bruch, had ever been programmed for the main stage at the festival, and it was the first occasion on which Anthony, Wu Han and I have played together as a trio. So it was truly a concert of firsts in many ways.

The hall itself is stunningly designed as a spectacular addition to the Menlo-Atherton school. I know of no public or private school concert hall that exists on this level of quality, which is comparable to major performing arts centers around the world. We must commend the extraordinary vision and commitment to excellence on the part of the school board and the design team. They have given a great gift to the community and especially to lovers of chamber music.

The concert was celebrated afterward with a beautiful reception for the artists and festival board members and friends at the home of Patty and Eff Martin, visionary festival supporters, classical music enthusiasts, and our gracious hosts every summer.

Related link:
Menlo-Atherton Concert Hall Strikes Gold (SFCV.org)

OCTOBER 6: RECORDING DVORAK

Only movements away from completing its latest recording project for Deutsche Grammophon, the Emerson Quartet met at New York’s Academy of Arts and Letters with violist Paul Neubauer to record Dvorak’s “American” quintet, for string quartet plus viola. The recording will be included in a forthcoming release of the late quartets of Dvorak in the spring.

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in David’s words…
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Violist Paul Neubauer, I’m sure my quartet would agree, is without parallel on his instrument. An adventurous soloist whose repertoire embraces many styles and genres, his contribution to this recording was essential, musically and as a creative and supportive colleague. His many years of experience with this quintet, and his deep affinity for the great romantic traditions of string playing, make it difficult for us to imagine playing the work with anyone else.

The Emerson recording team would not be complete without producer Da-Hong Seetoo, whose relentless pursuit of technical perfection, fidelity to the score, quality of sound, and musical taste shine through in every recording we have made together.

Returning to the hall where we have made most of our recordings is a tradition that we have been very fortunate to enjoy. Situated on 155th street, between Broadway and Riverside, is the distinguished American Academy of Arts and Letters, which houses one of the most beautiful halls in New York. Used primarily for meetings of the Academy, the hall’s acoustics are ideal for recording, being enclosed in a magnificent stone building and well-removed from the street. The residents of the large cemetery across the street are also very quiet!

The darkened Academy hall (house lights make noise) is lit for us by authentic “Finckel Lights” as they are called by the staff at Music@Menlo. They were designed and built by me for the church concerts in Palo Alto, and they are the perfect, practical and economic way to illuminate music and musicians, if I do say so myself.

Recording for the Emerson Quartet requires paraphernalia-at-hand: scores, rosin, tuning machines, metronomes, pencils, instrument-cleaning cloths, and sometimes aspirin.

Lunch is a ritual that is performed exactly the same way at every session, with Da-Hong ordering Chinese take-out in either Mandarin, Cantonese or Shanghai-nese. The arrival of the food is a much looked-forward-to event, as the inevitable menu of Singapore noodles, egg foo young, sautéed vegetables and diet Cokes relieves the fatigue and prepares us for another grueling afternoon.

ASK DAVID AND WU HAN: All things cello

We received this very detailed letter from a cellist in Rome that poses questions interesting for cellists, so I’ve decided to answer them here the best I can.

Marco: I wanted to thank you so much for posting the videos on your website, I found them extremely useful and, most important, synthetic but very clear, please continue! The other reason I’m writing you this email is that I would like to ask you some questions.

The first is about rosin: I’m not very happy with the ones I can get from my local dealer so I got curious when you said that your rosin is custom made mixing cello and bass rosin: If you make it can I please ask you the recipe or if someone does it for you is it possible to have the address in order to try it? If it’s not a secret, of course.

David: As of now, it is a secret recipe that only my friend who makes it knows. I’m just guessing about the bass rosin aspect because it feels a bit like when I’ve tried bass rosin, but of course much better. It gives me the same extreme grabbing power without the bow literally getting stuck mid-note, which can happen (be careful!). I will do my best to try to persuade my friend to offer his rosin commercially so that many cellists can enjoy the same advantage I have. I’m playing in Rome on November 21, and if you come to the concert and bring your bow, I invite you to take a good scraping off my rosin backstage to see how you like it.

Marco: About your bows: you talked about modern bows, can I ask you which bow maker do you trust and for you which is your ideal weight?

David: I’m not so aware of or concerned with bow weight, but here’s all I know about it: If a bow is heavy, it will make a bigger sound more easily but be more difficult to handle. If it’s too light, you have to apply a lot of pressure to get into the string and close to the bridge, and that can cramp the hand and lead to bad habits. I need a bow to be stiff enough that I can put a lot of pressure on it and the wood does not touch the string, and it should feel good in the hand – not too heavy or clumsy, but light and facile, like a fencing sword. The bow should produce good, clean articulation and bounce well, and draw an even sound all the way to the tip without having to press too hard.

My bow is made by Bernard Walke of Ottawa, Canada, and he’s made many great cello bows. There are a lot of very productive bow makers now in the Seattle area, among them Ole Kanestrom, whose bows are very distinguished.

Marco: Scrub pad: is it made of metal or natural fibres?

David: Metal. I use it every day, many times, and so far I have seen no wear on the string from the scrubbing.

Marco: About bow change at the frog: I was taught the first way you showed in the video no. 10 about holding the bow in a sort of French (?) school as I was told, but I tried your way and found it very comfortable especially when playing from mf to ff while the other way (French one?) when playing p or pp. Can you please talk about this matter one day in your videos?

David: I guess I’m not much of a pedagogue, because I don’t really know what the French school is! I can tell you one piece of information that I’ve kept with me my whole cello-playing career, and it came from Rostropovich. When he was asked how to hold the bow, he always said it didn’t make any difference: the only thing that matters is what the bow itself actually does – does it move evenly, straight, at the right speed, in a straight line, etc. But that was just like him – he rarely imparted to me any specific technical information like bowings and fingerings. He only articulated, very clearly, the end goals and made me figure out how to get there on my own.

Marco: Spirocore A and D strings: my grandfather used to play with a complete set of chromesthal spirocore strings (no wolframs on the bottom) and I still can remember the great sound he had. So I also started to play with these strings but when I got to conservatory I was forced to use Jargar as top strings. Now I tried the Spirocore A and D but they sound terrible! They are quite nasal and they require a total different way of drawing the bow in order to play them compared to solid steel strings as Jargar, Larsen, Pirastro and it’s easy to “squeeze” them if I press too hard midway between the end of fingerboard and the bridge but if I play close to the bridge, about 3,5 cms or less when going in the upper positions, they sound great. So is it the same for you? Do they require some days to play better? Did you have to make some adjustments in your cello set up in order to play them?

David: I have found that the Spirocore A does two things for me: one, it sounds great in the hall, bright and clear, and cuts through the piano, orchestra or chamber ensemble in the solos; two, because they are thinner (I believe) I seem to be able to get vibrato to sound with less hand motion, especially in softer dynamics. Remember that brightness, or high overtones, sound the most right under your ear, that they dissipate over distance, and that these same overtones help a sound to project. As for the D string, I have always found (on my cellos and most everyone else’s) that I need as bright a string as possible to make a smooth tonal transition from the G to the A string. Notes on the D string are often part of a melody that includes the A string (Arpeggione Sonata opening) and the color change should not be disturbingly abrupt, in my opinion. Jargar A is for me the best of the darker, richer strings, but the others like Larsen or Pirastro I find just too stiff and hard to play.

I agree with you that one has to play the Spirocore differently, however, if you cannot apply enough pressure on them at the mid point between bridge and fingerboard, it’s possible that your sound post is not tight enough or fitting correctly. Try an adjustment with the Spirocores on before you reject them.

And good luck with all of these suggestions! I hope they are helpful.

Click here to submit your questions for future posts.

OCTOBER 5: DREW UNIVERSITY CMS SEASON OPENS

To kick off the fourth season of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s series at Madison’s Drew University, David and Wu Han invited clarinetist David Shifrin to join them for an all-clarinet trio program of Beethoven, Bruch and Brahms. The concert took place in Drew’s state-of-the-art venue, the Concert Hall, with acoustics designed by Jaffe/Holden.

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in David’s words…
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During our first venture as Artistic Directors, at La Jolla’s SummerFest, we invited David Shifrin and artists from the Chamber Music Society to perform, and in addition to mounting a symposium on the history of the Society, David Shifrin was highlighted in a concert titled “The Extraordinary David Shifrin” during which he played every work on the program, including the clarinet trio by Brahms with us. It was an extraordinary experience that we never forgot, and we have since sought out every occasion to perform as a trio together. At the time, David was the Artistic Director of CMS, where he served with distinction for twelve years, mounting ambitious and innovative projects, expanding the artist roster, and creating the entire CMS Two program.

It has always been a peak experience to play with David, and this program reminded us again of the depth of this musician’s artistry, and instrumental mastery. The four pieces by Bruch, from the set of eight originally for viola with clarinet and piano, were a delight to perform, and we look forward to learning them all.

Before the concert we met on stage for a pre-concert talk for Drew’s lively and interested audience, introducing the music and exchanging information about the composers, and, in this case, the great clarinetists of the past who inspired these marvelous works.

SEPT. 18-28: WU HAN AT INTERNATIONAL CHAMBER MUSIC COMPETITION

From September 18th through 28th, Wu Han traveled to Hamburg to join the jury of the first International Chamber Music Competition for String Quartet and Piano Trio in Hamburg, Germany. The competition, founded and directed by cellist Niklas Schmidt, featured up-and-coming chamber groups selected from over 30 countries, with a juries chaired by legendary founder of the Beaux Arts Trio, Menahem Pressler, and founder of the Alban Berg Quartet, Valentin Erben.

with Menahem Pressler, Bernhard Greenhouse, and Greenhouse's assistant, Diane

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in Wu Han’s words…
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It was a tremendous honor to be a part of the first International Chamber Music Competition in Hamburg, with fellow members reading like a Who’s Who in the chamber music world. Musicians on the panel were from the Beaux Arts Trio, Lincoln Center, Alban Berg Quartet, Artemis Quartet, Trio Fontenay, Cherubini Quartet, Vermeer Quartet, and the Orlando Quartet, just to name a few.

Cellist Niklas Schmidt is the competition’s founder and director.

At the outset of the competition, founding members of the Beaux Arts Trio, Bernhard Greenhouse and Menahem Pressler shared insights with the competition’s young contestants.

Having founded the Beaux Arts Trio in 1955, Pressler and Greenhouse had not worked together on a project in nearly 18 years, though they appeared as close as brothers.

The competition was in three rounds; we heard 14 string quartets and 14 piano trios. With many talented contestants to choose from, the jury discussion room had a palpable intensity.

The results were first announced privately. First place in the piano trio division went to the Saguaro Piano trio, and first place in the string quartet division went to the Arcadia String Quartet.

The competition’s final concert was broadcast on radio and internet stream.

Daniel Hope, the final violinist in the Beaux Arts Trio, met Bernhard Greenhouse, the Trio’s original cellist, who, at age 93 is 50 years his senior.

Daniel Hope and Menahem Pressler have an extraordinary relationship even with their age difference, and Daniel is like a part of Menahem’s family. Daniel has captured many moments of the last generation of the Beaux Arts Trio through photos, blog posts, and radio programs. Daniel has also just released a book about how to enjoy concerts, and I’m greatly looking forward to the release of the English translation.

Menahem Pressler, me, and fellow jury member Shmuel Ashkenasi, violinist founder of the Vermeer Quartet.

with competition founder, Niklas Schmidt

Founder Niklas Schmidt is an extraordinary cellist, is a member of the Trio Fontenay, and also runs a summer chamber music school in Hamburg. He deserves many thanks for contributing so much to chamber music and giving young musicians an opportunity be known to the world through this incredible competition.

SEPTEMBER 23: CMS OPENING NIGHT

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center opened its 40th anniversary season with a gala program entitled “A Viennese Evening”. Sold out weeks in advance, it was concert that included superb performances, including a world premiere, and featured a large cast of artists both familiar and new to CMS audiences. With a dinner for patrons before, and a lavish post-concert dessert in the new Alice Tully Hall lobby, it was a landmark evening for the Society, beginning its first full season back home at Lincoln Center.

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In search of the most festive of themes for the Society’s 40th anniversary season opener, Wu Han and I looked to the coming season for inspiration. We had not to look much further than the entire Beethoven quartet cycle, being presented in the spring, to dream of an evening rooted in the incredible culture of Vienna, which gave birth to arguably the greatest music ever composed.

Evenings of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert are commonly found, but programming a concert that samples a wide range of Vienna’s great traditions and incorporates composers of different eras is a distinct challenge. Considering works that we had not programmed, but that were sure to please, we selected the sets of Johann Strauss waltzes arranged by Schoenberg and Webern for small ensemble, as well as another novelty, the final movement of Mahler’s 4th Symphony, arranged for chamber ensemble by composer Erwin Stein, who was a member of Schoenberg’s Society for Private Musical Performances in Vienna, and a student of Schoenberg from 1906-1910.

Making a spectacular return appearance to the New York concert stage, in the Strauss, was none other than violinist Pamela Frank, who has been sidelined with an injury for years. It was enormously heart-warming to see her once again in front of the public, playing with the passion and integrity that had endeared her to audiences worldwide. She will be welcome to appear at CMS in the future whenever she chooses.

Arnaud Sussmann adjusts tie for Kurt Muroki

Before the Strauss, David Shifrin, Andre-Michel Schub and I warmed up the crowd with Beethoven’s early trio for piano, clarinet and cello, and Andre and Anne-Marie McDermott followed the Beethoven with a performance of Schubert’s seldom-heard work for four-hand piano, Lebenssturme.

But the evening truly belonged to our guest soprano, the incomparable Dawn Upshaw, as she sang a new work commissioned by us from composer David Bruce entitled The North Wind Was a Woman. With highly-skilled instrumental writing to support Dawn’s magical singing of poetry by a variety of poets (including the composer), the piece was one of the most smashing successes for a new work I have seen in a long time. A prolonged ovation brought musicians and composer to the stage time and again before the intermission.

Following the Strauss waltz sets, Dawn returned with the large ensemble to end the evening on the most serene note, with a sublime performance of the Mahler. The text is from the famous German anthology of poetry Des Knaben Wunderhorn, and is entitled “Das Himmlischer Leben” or “The Heavenly Life”. It was conclusion of a truly heavenly concert, of which I was very proud to have been a part of.

performance photos by Tristan Cook

SEPTEMBER 13: SCHUBERT AT SOUTH MOUTAIN

ArtistLed’s critically-acclaimed recording of Schubert’s piano trios led to a national tour this season, which began Sunday at the legendary South Mountain Concerts series in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Joined by Emerson Quartet violinist Philip Setzer, Wu Han and David performed for a sold-out house of listeners eager to hear Schubert’s masterpieces in the hands of some of their favorite artists.

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One of America’s most special places to hear music is the Concert Hall of South Mountain Concerts, located atop a beautiful wooded mountain just south of Pittsfield, Massachusetts in the Berkshire Hills. Founded in 1918 by the legendary American patroness of music, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, the hall was built especially for chamber music, seating 440, and is now on the National Register of Historic Buildings. The hall’s construction – a simple box shape with wooden surfaces, a gentle slope to the stage, and a high ceiling – provides some of the best acoustics for chamber music that can be found anywhere.

Simplicity is the keyword at South Mountain. The backstage rooms are rustic but provide every amenity that is needed.

The box office is a wooden farm table that can be moved under the porch in case of rain.

From the inception of the concert series the programming was intelligent and varied, and featured some of the most distinguished performers of the times. Mrs. Coolidge was extremely dedicated to new music, and commissioned many works from leading composers of the day that were premiered at South Mountain, by Ernest Bloch, Anton Webern, Frank Bridge, Roy Harris, Bohuslav Martinu, Arnold Schoenberg, and Ottorino Respighi, to name a few. Mrs. Coolidge, a resident of Pittsfield, also established two resident ensembles, the Berkshire Quartet and the Elschuco Trio, which performed numerous series of concerts in mini-festivals at the hall. Other artists who have performed there include Leonard Bernstein, Gary Graffman, Lilian Kallir, Leontyne Price, Peter and Rudolf Serkin, Alexander Schneider, and countless string quartets.

Over the years, most of the world’s distinguished ensembles have been regular performers at South Mountain. The large collection of backstage photographs, inscribed to the hall, testifies to the diversity and depth of the programming.
Illustrating South Mountain’s commitment to ensembles of quality is the collection in its gallery of photographs of almost every configuration of the Beaux Arts Trio, which retired last season after 53 years. In the photos below you will see violinists Isidore Cohen, Ida Kavafian, Young-Uck Kim and Daniel Hope, as well as cellists Bernard Greenhouse, Peter Wiley, and Antonio Meneses.

After the concert, the artists gather with the public and are served refreshments in the tranquil wooded setting behind the hall.

Today the series is run with enthusiasm and integrity by Lou Steigler, who has led the organization since 1987. I am honored to be a frequent performer at South Mountain, an organization which I hold in deep admiration and affection.