On the 21^st anniversary of one of its artistic milestones, the Emerson Quartet returned to Ludwigshafen, Germany, at the end of a European tour, to celebrate its historic performance and recording of the Schubert Cello Quintet with Mstislav Rostropovich.  Joining the quartet on this occasion was the phenomenal young German cellist Nicolas Altstaedt.

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In David’s words
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Few experiences in the Emerson Quartet’s exciting career have left as deep a mark on us, both personally and musically, as the four days we spent in wintery Ludwigshafen (near Mannheim) and nearby Speyer, with my teacher and mentor, Rostropovich.

Rostropovich, who sadly passed away in 2007 at the age of 80, was the biggest influence on me as a cellist, by miles. He also set for me an example for living, an attitude about performing, and other priorities larger than music. One of the last century’s notable humanitarians, his courageous stand for artistic freedom in the Soviet Union is viewed by many as one of the significant nails in the communist regime coffin.  His contribution to the cello literature – over 200 works composed for him, many by the greatest composers of his age – is unparalleled by any performer in history, of any instrument. I could go on and on, but suffice to finish this small tribute by saying that he was a great human being who gave to the world beyond measure.

The story of that concert, and the recording, is one of personal determination on the quartet’s part, and of generosity and faith on the part of our concert sponsor, the BASF Corporation of Ludwigshafen.  The company recently celebrated the 90^th anniversary of its extensive cultural activities, which have been performed on a level of commitment, depth and consistency beyond any corporate arts support I have ever known.

with Dr. and Mrs. Böckmann and Nicolas Altstaedt

At the time of the Rostropovich project, we had a close relationship with the company’s director of culture, Detlef Böckmann, and we were able to convince him that BASF was the proper place to base the project, which would of course involve learning the work with Rostropovich, performing a concert, and making the recording for Deutsche Grammophon.  We made a special journey to the area to audition recording sites, and selected the beautiful Dreifaltigkeitskirche (Holy Trinity Church) in the nearby town of Speyer. The church was built during the Baroque era and the interior is entirely of wood, with gorgeous acoustics.

Arriving in snowy December, we first encountered Rostropovich in the church.  He showed up without a part to the Schubert (I had brought one just in case) and with his cello strings each at least a half step out of tune. When I expressed amazement at this he explained that he had had the cello specially prepared (I’m not sure what this meant) in order to get the most resonant  pizzicati from it for the famous slow movement. (This cello was the “Duport” Stradivari, which he had acquired shortly after he left the Soviet Union in 1974. It was commissioned in 1711 by a wealthy doctor from Lyon who paid Stradivari twice his normal fee for a cello of unusual quality.  It went into the hands of the famous Duport brother who played the premiere of Beethoven’s Sonatas Op. 5 Nos. 1 and 2 in Berlin at the court of King Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, with Beethoven at the piano. I have since heard that the cello was sold to a collector in Japan, and to my knowledge, no one has seen it since. I did get to play on it quite a bit, though, and soon after I revisited it in Washington with Sam Zygmuntowicz, who copied it when making the cello that I have played since 1993).

The “Duport” Stradivari cello of 1711

The rehearsal was amazing. Slava, for the first run through, seemed to be half-lost and confused about everything, from the bowings to the counting to the page turns.  After we finished the movement, he berated me for not having given him my bowings. We were all speechless.  What do you say when the greatest cellist the world has ever known demands your bowings?

As the rehearsal progressed, things changed.  The next run through was on another level, and soon, we were left in the musical dust as Slava took command of everything, summoning up metaphors, noticing details in the composition, stopping for detailed work, exhorting us to do more of just about everything we thought we were already doing.  It was like being dragged by a freight train. It was exciting, exhausting, and unnerving to be playing with someone who could hear so acutely, whose understanding of the music was so deep, and whose charisma was so overpowering.  We knew exactly how the rest of the week was going to play out.

Listening to playbacks with Slava and producer Chris Alder

The recording sessions went extremely well, up to a point. Slava had seemingly limitless energy and needed almost no sleep. We were lavishly entertained, stayed up late tasting wines, eating way too much food, laughing our heads off at his amazing stories.  This was fine for the most part except that, having retired usually around 2 a.m., our hotel phone would ring at 5:30 or 6:00 a.m., Slava demanding that we join him for breakfast.  This happened every day.

The straw that broke the Emerson’s back was the lunch for us thrown by the mayor of Speyer. After a 3 hour meal of heavy German food, speeches and gallons of beer, we went back across the street to the church to record the slow movement.  It did not feel good. As we listened to only the first minutes of the playback, Slava suddenly called a halt and commanded that we all go back to the hotel for naps.  He simply said the sound was not right.  We did as he instructed, of course, and agreed to return in the evening, after dark. There was no arguing with Slava.

When we arrived back at the church, the snow was falling heavily.  The little town was dead quiet. The scene was every bit as magical as the music itself, and the recording of the slow movement was accomplished that evening in an atmosphere so rarefied as to truly be called incomparable.

It was extremely exciting to return to the place where we had given our one performance of the Schubert with Slava so many years ago.  Of all the people I remembered from the previous time, only Detlef Böckmann and his wife were still there. The majestic Feierabend Haus, the BASF concert hall, has been remodeled and seems brand new, the building itself having undergone extensive renovation. The BASF hospitality is still present, though, with the company’s current cultural director, Klaus Phillipp Seif, presiding over everything from backstage logistics to the beautiful dinner that followed.

with Dr. and Mrs. Seif

For this concert we were joined in the Schubert by the young German cellist Nicolas Altstaedt. Nicolas became known to me several years ago when he journeyed to New York to audition for the Chamber Music Society’s CMS Two program.  Nicolas was admitted to the program and has since played many concerts in New York and on tour, including the Society’s recent visits to London’s Wigmore Hall and the AlpenKlassik Festival in Bad Reichenhall.  It was a pleasure to make music with this enormously gifted and charismatic young cellist, who is part of the legion of European cellists which is setting the highest standards today in cello playing (among them, I am happy to say, are CMS Two’s other two European cellists, Andreas Brantelid and Jakob Koranyi).

Even though it was to be a long day (driving from Zug, Switzerland, to Zurich Airport, returning a rental car, flying to Frankfurt, renting another car, getting stuck in traffic) I still managed to find the time, and energy, to drive the extra distance to Speyer, directly from the airport, to revisit the church where the recording was made.  Although the church was closed on Mondays, I corresponded directly by email (while stuck in traffic) with the pastor, Christine Gölzer, who encouraged me to try my luck by knocking on the housekeeper’s door.  This I did, and it worked.  I was able to spend only about twenty minutes inside, but what wonderful memories came to the surface.  A video of my reunion with this beautiful space, where once I had one of the most wonderful experiences of my life, can be found below:

David Finckel and Wu Han, deepening their involvement with chamber music in Korea, performed in and presided over the first Chamber Music Today festival in Seoul. The festival’s mission is to bring the finest musicians on the international chamber music scene to perform in Korea every year. As a result of their ongoing relationship with the LG Chamber Music School, David and Wu Han were recruited by the festival’s organizers to lead it artistically.
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In David’s words
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It had seemed to us that our commitment to the wonderful LG Chamber Music School, including annual visits to teach and perform and a schedule of educational video productions, would be the extent of our involvement with chamber music in Korea.  But we were wrong.

Of all the Asian countries we have visited, Korea has emerged as the region’s leader in terms of interest in and enthusiasm for chamber music.  Although many fine players come from Japan, China and Taiwan, the Koreans are fast outnumbering their neighbors in sending young musicians to major international conservatories, and appearing on concert stages.

[At the moment, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s roster includes seven Koreans: violinists Kristin Lee, Jessica Lee, Yura Lee, Amy Lee, violist Richard O’Neill, pianist Soyeon Lee, and flutist Sooyun Kim. The only other Asians within the Society at this time are the Chinese Wu Han and violinist Cho-Liang Lin.]

The popularity of chamber music in Korea – as measured by audience numbers, demographics and enthusiasm – was a definite encouragement for all who set about creating this new festival. Generously underwritten by the LG Corporation, the festival is hosted and produced by the Korean company Casual Classics, headed by Jeehyun Kim, in collaboration with LG and with us.

For the first festival, the organizers wanted the world’s most famous chamber ensembles.  Well, the Emerson Quartet was available and was happy to go.  As well, the popular young Jupiter Quartet (which boasts a Korean first violinist, Nelson Lee) was also eager to participate.  We decided to round out the three-concert series with a concert of piano trios with Philip Setzer, and lo and behold, the first festival was in place.

The festival began on Saturday evening with a private performance for LG executives and their families. Held in the elegant Plaza Hotel, the evening included performances of Mendelssohn’s D major cello sonata, Mozart’s quartet K. 575, and the Schumann Piano Quintet. After the performance, the audience gathered with us for photos.

We were then treated to an elegant Chinese (!) dinner hosted by Mr. Sang Chul Lee and his wife. Mr. Lee is the Vice Chairman of LG Corporation and the CEO of LGUPlus.

I was presented with a birthday cake made of CMT (Chamber Music Today) cupcakes. The cake was topped with a cellist cookie on which my head was pasted.  Wu Han and I had some fun with it after dinner.

But by far, the moment that touched us all was a surprise film in which a great number of “our” kids from the LG Chamber Music School offered me their affectionate birthday greetings.  I have been promised a copy of the film and when I get it, it will appear here. It’s always amazing to me to find that my students – given how demanding I am of them – still like me!

The occasion called for a speech from me – a rare occurrence, experienced by few.

As the evening progressed, behind the scenes a crisis was emerging: the Jupiter Quartet was having a pregnancy emergency (since successfully and happily resolved) that would prevent them from making the journey to perform. Solving problems such as these are simply part of our job, and with a couple of quick conversations and calls to our indomitable travel agent Diana Hardy, it was determined that the Emerson Quartet could extend its stay, and play another program to substitute for the Jupiter Quartet.

Sunday evening’s first public concert was performed by the Emerson, at the acoustically-excellent IBK Chamber Music Hall at the Seoul Arts Center.  A capacity crowd was a great omen for the festival’s future, and the quartet offered a highly demanding program of Mozart’s K. 590, Beethoven’s Op. 135, and the giant Dvorak Op. 106.

The Quartet was mobbed in the lobby for autographs, especially on its new disc of Mozart Quartets for Sony Classical.

Dinner was hosted by LG Vice President and CFO Sunghyun Kim, an avid and knowledgeable classical music fan.  Vice President Paul Chung, who has been instrumental in committing LG to the Chamber Music School, joined us as well. These two gentlemen – consummate executives – are also among the most fun-loving, generous and gracious of all our business acquaintances.

The Emerson Quartet and Wu Han with Sunghyun Kim

Paul Chung

A fine meal in Korea is a feast for the eyes as well as for the taste buds.  See the end of this blog for a gallery of stunning dishes from the trendy restaurant near the concert hall.

On Monday, it was the Emerson’s turn again, and the quartet offered Mozart’s K. 575, the Bartok 5^th, and the Dvorak Quintet with Wu Han. After the concert, we experienced a sensational dinner of barbecued pork with the entire staff of Casual Classics, who worked tirelessly and with great expertise to produce the tightly-packed festival.  They are all dedicated and passionate, and all of us owe them our gratitude and encouragement.

On Tuesday, the festival wrapped up with the D major cello sonata and d minor Trio of Mendelssohn, with the Schubert Bb Trio after intermission.   It was especially gratifying to play this concert, as virtually the entire student body of the LG Chamber Music School was in the audience.

After the concert, there was plenty of picture-taking in the lobby. It was a fitting way to end this first festival, surrounded by Korea’s chamber musicians of the future.  We are honored and happy to be playing a role in their development, and to feel a part of the evolution of chamber music in Korea.

As a postscript, I’ll include the statement written by me and Wu Han for the festival, introducing the art of chamber music and expressing our feelings.

Chamber music is the music of friends. It is an international language that brings people together, and is, at the same time, one of the richest art forms on earth. Chamber Music Today will bring the greatest chamber music repertoire and performers to Korea.  In every concert, we will hear why chamber music has become an exciting, personal and essential experience for audiences around the world.  We look forward not only to performing for Korea’s audience, but also to watching our music form unbreakable bonds of friendship between musicians and listeners. It will be a delight to witness this extraordinary project blossom, as we share in the magical power of chamber music – truly the greatest music of today.

On the evening of December 5th, David and Wu Han accepted Musical America’s 2012 Musicians of the Year award in a special celebration at Lincoln Center. Also honored were Instrumentalist of the Year, Gil Shaham; Composer of the Year, Meredith Monk; Vocalist of the Year, Jonas Kaufmann; and Conductor of the  Year, Jaap van Zweden. Watch David and Wu Han’s acceptance speech below:

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In David’s words
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It was a very, very long and wonderful day.

At 5 a.m. in Aarhus Denmark with a ride to the airport courtesy of Mogens Kilian (see previous tour report),we began our journey through Copenhagen to New York to receive the greatest honor of our careers.

Musical America’s Musician of the Year Award is the highest honor in classical music given in America, and is recognized around the world.  We have proudly joined a list of recipients that includes Anne-Sophie Mutter, Yo-Yo Ma, Wynton Marsalis, Anna Netrebko, Riccardo Muti, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Andre Previn, and Bernard Haitink.

Musical America was founded in 1898 as a weekly arts newspaper.  Over the years the publication passed through various hands.  The first incarnation of what is today’s annual issue appeared in 1921, and has evolved to become the bible of musical presenting, including articles on honoree musicians, advertisements, listings of virtually all artists worldwide under professional management, and reports by managers on their current artistic offerings.  The practice of awarding a musician of the year award began in 1960.  In 1998, Musical America launched musicalamerica.com, which has since become a source of choice for the most up-to-date news the music world.

When we first heard about an award coming our way from Musical America, we surmised that perhaps we were being recognized as instrumentalists, or  educators.  We needed to be told several times, after numerous double-checkings, that we were indeed to receive the top award.

The fact is still somewhat surreal.  That this award wound up in the hands of musicians who have gone about their business unconcerned with market pressures and commercial considerations is not only incredible but historic. When we started ArtistLed, we were alone and had no idea that so many institutions and artists would follow us down the path of independent recording production. We have always thought of ourselves as servants of the art, never as celebrities, and we have never sought the spotlight as a source of gratification for our efforts.  Our lives in music have always been about “the work”, as we call it, but what makes the Musical America award so special for us is that we have received it because of that work, not just for our instrumental activities.

The awards ceremony began just after 6 p.m. in Lincoln Center’s Kaplan Penthouse – familiar territory for us, as it is located on the 10th floor of the Rose Building, just across from the offices of the Chamber Music Society.

The room was packed with what seemed to be every important person in the classical music industry.  Everywhere we looked, the magazine cover, with our beautiful picture by Christian Steiner, was prominently displayed.  There was nowhere for us to hide on this occasion!

Musical America editor Sedgwick Clark paid tribute to the honorees and handed each of us our awards.  We all made speeches acknowledging those who have helped and supported us, and spoke of what this award meant to us.

It was especially wonderful to receive the award in the company of two friends of many years, Meredith Monk and Gil Shaham.  We all  had fun congratulating each other and posing for photographs.

As the awards ceremony came to an end at 7 p.m., we moved next door to the Society’s Rose Studio, which had been set for a special invited dinner party in our honor.  Jointly hosted by CMS, Music@Menlo and ArtistLed, this gathering of over one hundred brought together, for the first time, people from our various walks of life, all known to us but not necessarily to each other.  It was a way for us to acknowledge and thank all those without whom such an honor as we had just received would likely have never have reached our hands.

Joining us from Music@Menlo were Executive Director Edward Sweeney, plus board members Trine Sorensen, Kathy Henschel, Ann Bowers, and Eff Martin, accompanied by his wife Patty.

With Eff and Patty Martin

Ann Bowers spoke on behalf of Music@Menlo

Wu Han with Trine Sorenson

Virtually the entire board of the Chamber Music Society was present, minus Chairman Peter Frelinghuysen who is recovering from eye surgery.  James O’Shaughnessy of CMS delivered a warm tribute to us, as Music@Menlo board member Ann Bowers.  Ara Guzelimian and our own Patrick Castillo gave us tributes as well.  It was all quite overwhelming.

CMS Board Member James O’Shaughnessy

Ara Guzelimian

Patrick Castillo

As a birthday present (my birthday was the following day) the staff of CMS shared the amazing short film they had put together of the historic CMS billboard that made a brief but very significant appearance on New York’s West Side Highway in November.

Milina Barry, Michael Feldman, David Rowe

Da-Hong Seetoo, Margaret Seetoo, Liza Bruna, Sam Zygmuntowicz

Wu Han and I, in a lengthy speech, acknowledged and thanked individually and collectively our guests, all of whom had contributed to our projects in one way or another.  From board members to funders, to staff members of our organizations, to individuals such as Sam Zygmuntowicz and Da-Hong Seetoo, to professionals such as our PR agent Milina Barry and and manager David Rowe, to musician colleagues and advisors, and of course our families, we thanked them all for their support, faith in us, and their friendship.

Emanuel Ax and Yoko Nozaki

Lucille Chung and Alessio Bax

Of special joy for us was the presence of musicians. Joining us was a stellar collection of pianists, from Emanuel Ax and Yoko Nozaki to Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung, and especially Gloria Chien, who made the journey all the way from Chattanooga to join us for the evening.

Ann Bowers, Helen Finckel

With Helen and Lilian Finckel

Of special satisfaction to me was the presence of my mother Helen, glowing with pride.  Wu Han’s sister Evelyne, her husband Eric, and daughter Elizabeth also journeyed from California for the event.

Having been awake for close to 24 hours, Wu Han and I headed home for a very brief night’s sleep, as I was to head out the next morning early for an ESQ concert in West Palm Beach.

On November 22nd, David, Wu Han and an ensemble of musicians of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center departed for London, the first stop of a three-country tour that would conclude on December 4^th in Denmark. Read all about the tour and see photos in the following report by David Finckel.

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In David’s words
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Several years in the making, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s (CMS) first European tour during our tenure as artistic directors was an exciting milestone in the Society’s history and in our list of accomplishments for the organization. Wu Han and I have longed believed that today, any artistic entity which deserves world-class status must have an international presence and identity.  Certainly CMS, with its current roster of musicians from eighteen different countries, qualifies from the artistic side.  That deserving audiences on the European continent, in the U.K., in Taiwan and Korea, and South America, have now heard CMS concerts for the first time in the last several seasons is an important step in making CMS an internationally-renowned institution.

London’s Wigmore Hall sits at the pinnacle of the world’s great chamber music halls. Perhaps only Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw enjoys the same devotion and reverence among its listeners. Built in 1899 as Bechstein Hall, adjacent to the famous German piano manufacturer’s showroom, it was inaugurated in 1901 with a concert by Busoni and Ysaÿe.  Its elegant interior, lobby and other spaces are the result of the standard set by its architect, Thomas Edward  Collcutt, designer of London’s famous Savoy Hotel.  The German-owned hall was seized as enemy property during World War 1 and re-opened as Wigmore Hall in 1917.

On the evening of the first of the Society’s three performances, the beautiful wood-paneled lobby was buzzing with activity.  Musicians, however, approach the hall not through the front door on Wigmore Street, but instead by venturing down the dark but charmingly-London-esque Welbeck Way.

If you are lucky, you might be greeted at the door by the undisputed master of Wigmore production David King. David is a legend in his own time, known to virtually the entire world of distinguished performers that appear at Wigmore as in incomparable source of comfort, counsel, efficiency, hospitality, and hysterically outrageous humor. He has no equal known to us.

The backstage areas of Wigmore are as iconic as its entrance and the hall itself. It is thrilling to think of the great musicians who have tread the stairs before you, and warmed up in the green room lined with historic photographs inscribed to the hall by such artists of the past and present as Casals, Ysaÿe, Saint-Saëns, Segovia, Poulenc, Prokofiev, Britten, Schiff, Brendel, etc.

Last-minute rehearsals for the Beethoven String Trio and the Schumann piano quintet included violinists Arnaud Sussmann and Ani Kavafian; violist Paul Neubauer; cellist Nicolas Altstaedt, and Wu Han.

The rite of passage to the Wigmore stage is familiar to the fortunate, and carries with it a sense of obligation to play your best.

The programs that CMS presented all contained challenging music and were designed to show off every possible thing that we could do. The first concert could not have been more so: the G major string trio of Beethoven is known to all as a staple of the repertoire requiring virtuoso treatment as well as refined taste, but the second work on the program, Jörg Widmann’s Jagdquartett (Hunt Quartet), commissioned by Klaus Lauer of Badenweiler, is a virtuoso vehicle of an entirely different sort. With echoes of hunting music by classical composers, this all-out depiction of an old-style hunt comes complete with multiple sound effects, including yelling from the performers (while playing) and a death agony scream at the end from the cellist, in the role of dying animal. This moment was dispatched with unequalled passion by Nicolas Altstaedt, rousing laughter from the audience and putting the rest of the musicians in states of peril, attempting to control themselves. The post-performance condition of Nicolas’s bow attested to the extremes of the work, which closed a first half that rather triumphantly demonstrated the breadth of CMS’s talents, if I do say so myself.

The concert closed with a passionate performance of the Schumann Piano Quintet, which was rewarded by the warmest of ovations from the surprisingly large audience (we are not known well yet in London).  Champagne and flowers courtesy of Wigmore Hall was a much appreciated and gracious gesture.

Backstage, Wigmore Hall Artistic Director John Gilhooly had a celebratory drink with Wu Han and the rest of the musicians. John, only in his mid-thirties, ascended to the role of Artistic Director in 2005 and has given the hall an incredible boost of creative energy, with many innovations such as its powerful commissioning program.

Distinguished British cellist Paul Watkins, recently named music director of the English Chamber Orchestra, marveled at the difficulty of the Widmann quartet.

Below the hall, in the elegant restaurant, CMS Executive Director Norma Hurlburt greeted a dinner table of friends of CMS, our guests for the evening.

At the conclusion of the following day, which was filled with rehearsals for our next program, the group walked the few blocks from Wigmore Hall to the BBC building to appear on BBC 3’s famous live radio show In Tune, hosted by legendary classical music radio personality Sean Rafferty.  Afterwards, we were treated to a gracious Thanksgiving dinner by cellist Paul Watkins and his wife Jennifer – a thoughtful gesture for us Americans away from home.

Saturday’s concert was Russian-themed and once again included challenging works. The program opened with Arensky’s luscious, atmospheric quartet for violin, viola and two cellos, with its famous variations on a theme by Tchaikovsky as the central movement.  After that, musical gears switched suddenly to the 21^st century with Lera Auerbach’s Cello Sonata No.1, composed for me and Wu Han, an anguished, dark work of gripping intensity and quintessentially Russian in the modern sense. After intermission, the concert concluded with a two-piano Russian extravaganza performed by Wu Han and Anne-Marie McDermott, which included Shostakovich’s mercurial Concertino and Rachmaninov’s Suite No. 2, which produces the virtual sonority of an entire symphony orchestra.  Once again, a filled house seemed to love our music-making and rewarded the musicians with an enthusiastic response.

Post-concert festivities brought together, as usual, a wonderful collection of our friends which we had the pleasure of introducing to our musicians, including cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, and recording industry consultant Jonathan Gruber, seen here together at dinner.

The musicians, filled with food, satisfaction and relief that things were going so well, gathered in the charming street for a photo late at night. David Shifrin had arrived only that morning and was looking forward to a big day on Sunday.

The final concert of our residency not only featured the clarinet in all three works, but contained the much-anticipated London premiere of the jointly-commissioned Clarinet Trio by Pierre Jalbert.

Having received its first performance in New York only the week before, the piece was still fresh in the hands of the players.  Pierre made the trip over, all the way from Houston with this family, to hear the rehearsals and performance.

Listening just as intently to the dress rehearsal were both me and Wu Han, a practice we have dedicated ourselves to since our earliest days as artistic directors.  There is nothing more important for chamber music performers than to have experienced ears in the hall checking for balances and anything they might not be aware of.  We are happy to contribute our time this way in service of the music and our colleagues, and equally happy when the favor is returned for us, when we are the ones on stage.

The Jalbert piece, which is a terrific new addition to the clarinet chamber repertoire, was splendidly performed, and the composer was enthusiastically applauded.

The concert also included four of Bruch’s Eight pieces for clarinet, cello and piano, which we recently recorded and released with David Shifrin. The conclusion of our residency was the magnificent clarinet quintet of Brahms, somber yet magisterial. It provided an extremely dignified and moving conclusion to the first phase of our ongoing relationship with Wigmore Hall.  Wu Han and I left the hall that filled with pride and glowing from the impeccable performance of the Brahms – one of the finest I have ever heard or given. Every musician sensed the importance of this series, and also the relished the opportunity to be a part of it, and we could not have been more grateful for their combined dedication and artistry at the moment we needed it most.

Teaching, meetings, lunches, friendships

Besides the concerts, our visit to London was filled with additional activities that made our time there a residency in the truest sense.

We were privileged to get to know many fine young musicians as a result of invitations to give master classes in several of London’s distinguished music schools: Wu Han and Ani Kavafian journeyed outside London to the fabled Menuhin School; Paul Neubauer and I taught two long classes for violists and cellists at the Trinity Laban School Conservatoire for Music and Dance in Greenwich; I gave an entire day of cello and chamber music lessons at the Royal Academy of Music, and Ani Kavafian also stopped there for a packed, full-evening master class.  In every place we encountered eager and talented students, and the warmest of receptions from the administrations and faculty.

Everyone caught up with friends, former students, colleagues, and Wu Han and I were busy at virtually every opportunity meeting with journalists.  Among them was Oliver Condy of BBC Music Magazine, and Fiona Maddocks, one of London’s most distinguished music journalists.

Free days found musicians determined to experience London’s most famous pastime: the theater.

The group (without me) scored a double hit of immensely enjoying the fabled production of Driving Miss Daisy, and then chatting with the show’s stars Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones, who happened to take the table next to them at a nearby restaurant after the show.

TRAVELS TO HAMBURG

Having filled free days in London with teaching and other obligations, the musicians readied themselves for a day of travel to Hamburg on Thursday, the day of the performance. Normally this would be no problem, except that a public sector strike in the U.K. the day before threatened the sureness of airports and flight schedules operating normally on our day of travel. Fortunately, nothing was amiss, and we got ourselves back into the musician’s normal life of airport survival strategies.

Our performance in Hamburg was presented by chamber series directed by cellist Niklas Schmidt.  Niklas is the former founding cellist of the distinguished Fontenay Trio, and now is a busy professor at the Musikhochschule in Hamburg as well as an in-demand soloist and chamber music collaborator.

Our venue was a place I had never played but I had to wonder why: Hamburg’s Mozartsaal is one of the most beautiful rooms I’ve ever seen, with acoustics to match.

Having lost both Nicolas Alstaedt and Arnaud Sussmann, the group forged on with a different program, no less challenging: Anne-Marie, David and I began with the Beethoven clarinet trio, followed by a set of the Barber Souvenirs for piano, four hands. The new Jalbert trio closed the first half, and the program concluded with Dvorak’s ever-popular Piano Quartet.

A big surprise at the performance was the sudden appearance of violinist Daniel Hope, whose path I had crossed in Europe three times already in the last month. Daniel – ever the most supportive colleague – made a special stop to hear our concert between the end of his tour in Amsterdam and his journey home to Vienna.

After the concert we walked a short distance to the elegant restaurant Tarantella for an incredible meal of goose, graciously arranged well in advance for us by the pianist Sebastian Knauer, who unfortunately had become ill and was not able to attend.  We missed him dearly, but the geese showed up nevertheless and were absolutely incomparable.

The dinner went late, with musicians’s stories (the best kind) flying back and forth between all of us and Daniel and Niklas. After eating and drinking more than we should have, we ventured out into the rainy Hamburg night for a final photo, before heading our separate ways.

The following day brought more teaching for me and Wu Han as we had been asked to hear the very gifted young Saguaro Trio, which had won the Hamburg chamber music competition the year before. (Followers of this blog will remember seeing photos by Wu Han, who was invited into the jury by its chairman Menahem Pressler).  Wu Han and I had plenty to say to the trio, who expertly tackled the C minor Mendelssohn for us during a session that lasted way overtime.

ON TO DENMARK

On this tour, I especially enjoyed a schedule more relaxed than I can remember, especially as I am so often with the Emerson Quartet which plays a concert and travels almost every single day, sometimes six in a row. A full day was allotted just to take the easy train from Hamburg to Aarhus, where we were met by ageless and tireless local presenter Mogens Kilian, who bounded onto our train and whisked our luggage off in the blink of an eye.

Although it was cold, the curious musicians – none of whom had been to Aarhus, ventured out in the afternoon to explore the charming town and admire its distinctly northern character, all decked out for the coming Christmas season.

Mogens, who founded the organization thirty-eight years ago, has assembled a dedicated collection of fellow scientists and amateur musicians to run the series. The spirit, friendliness and hospitality of this group is equaled by only a handful of presenters in the world, in my experience. Invited to dinner in Mogen’s home that very night, we were treated to an evening of home cooked food, gracious treatment, and stimulating company that made for an unforgettable evening. Mogen’s wife Marie did all the cooking, Mogens served a variety of delicious wines, and friendships were forged that will last long into the future.

The next day we had the luxury of rehearsing in the magnificent new concert hall which sits literally next to our hotel.  The large space is surprisingly intimate and has first-class acoustics.

As could be expected, Mogens himself delivered and set up all the wonderful backstage amenities, took care of our CD sales materials, and on top of it found time to lose himself in the rehearsal of the Jalbert trio.

The concert was heavily attended and included numerous young and enthusiastic musicians from the local orchestra and conservatory. Afterwards we had a farewell dinner at the hotel (hosted once again by Mogens), and gathered for a final tour photo with Mogens and Marie.

Never to be underestimated, after leaving the hotel close to 1 a.m., Mogens was back in the lobby at 5:15 a.m. on the dot, looking rested and chipper, to drive me, Wu Han and Paul all the way to the Aarhus airport, which lies a good 45 minutes out of town in the apparent middle of nowhere. Not a blink of sunlight appeared during the journey, and upon bidding Mogens a nice return to bed, we learned that he was returning to the hotel (another 45 minutes) to pick up Ani Kavafian and bring her to the airport as well. So Mogens – among whatever else he had to do that day – spent a full three hours doing airport runs for us before the sun came up.  He is truly a remarkable man for whom we have great admiration and affection. He represents and characterizes one of the highest quality chamber music organizations we know.

This was the morning of December 5, what was to be a landmark day for me and Wu Han. Read all about it in the next blog, coming soon.

When the great luthier René Morel passed away on Wednesday, it was immediately mentioned among us in the Emerson Quartet that an era had ended. This is a comment that I am sure finds resonance in the thoughts of others who knew René and were privileged to have been under his care. But just what constituted the era of René? What did he do that was so definitive and unique that he seems to have taken it with him?

Those of us lucky to have become professional string players likely remember our first visits to violin shops. Wherever they are, big or small, famous or obscure, they possess a certain magic. There is the usual presence of a multitude of instruments, some exuding age, distinction and fabulous pedigree and value. There’s that wonderful smell of varnish and glue in the air. There’s sometimes the chance that a famous musician will just walk in right next to you. And very importantly, there is the presence of the experts and craftsmen who learned their art in time-honored ways not found in universities or online courses. What they know, you cannot just learn if you want by looking it up in a book or taking a course somewhere. It is often a lifetime of study, apprenticeship, dedication, and for the chosen few, the gaining of an artistry that goes beyond skilled craft and factual knowledge.

René Morel epitomized all that goes into the makeup of a master luthier. I first encountered him as a star-struck teenager, having been taken to the shop of Rembert Wurlitzer. I can’t even remember what I needed there – maybe it was just a string – but all the magic I spoke of took hold of me in a very powerful way. The personnel in the front – Ken Jacobs I remember well – had a cordial yet intimidating air, but when, for some reason, the people who actually did the work, like René, were summoned out of the workshop, the room stood still in their presences. Along with the magnetic and vital René was the sage-like Dario D’Attili, who was revered for his encyclopedic knowledge and ability to perform miracles of pedigree confirmation.

Some years later, as a freshman student at the Manhattan School of Music, I was thrilled beyond measure to find out that René was teaching a course in violin repair, and that I was eligible. I couldn’t believe it, and I actually still don’t understand how he found the time, energy or even the interest to share his consummate skills with a bunch of conservatory students whose skills in instrument repairs barely were enough to change a string. René, however, took the whole thing very seriously, as though he was training the descendants of Stradivari. We had to buy tools: sound post setters, clamps, rulers. We were sent down to the West Village to a paint shop to buy exotic ingredients for varnish. I had an alcohol lamp, and pretty soon I could make my little apartment smell like Wurlitzer’s. Damn! I thought, this is just out-of-sight, to good to be true. I worshipped René, hung on his every word, and got totally caught up in the incredible world he was opening to us. (I was so caught up that I actually managed to leave my cello once in the aisle of the paint shop, not discovering it was missing until I arrived home at 215th street. I have never since driven so fast down the West Side Highway).

It was not far in to the course, which took place in the late afternoon, that I learned that after class René took the subway down to the Port Authority to catch a bus to his home town in New Jersey. As I owned a car, I spied an opportunity, and offered to drive him down to 42nd street after a class in my ’54 Chevy. And that quickly became EVERY class, as I was thrilled to have him in my car, paying attention to me alone, hearing his stories and anecdotes and answering my special questions. Wow, was I lucky.

Our friendship continued through my evolution as a performer. I had learned through René’s class the importance of a good sound post adjustment, and of a good setup. It was not until then that I even realized what a major component of a string player’s life instrument adjustments could become. I began taking my cellos to René at Jacques Francais’ shop like any other customer. And, probably unlike with most of his clients, René continued to be my teacher: “What do you hear when you play?” he would ask, never allowing me to simply let him fix it, pay and go. His dedication to me as a student was permanent, and felt truly blessed.

And here I have finally arrived at the question I posed at the start of this story: what was it about René that was special, irreplaceable, and of inestimable value? There are many things.

First, of course, was his ear. He could hear like an owl. He not only heard the quality of an instrument (which he would remember as clearly as we remember peoples’ faces) but also was able to perceive the amount of effort that it took for us to produce the sound. It was from him that I first clearly understood the importance of the instrument’s mechanics, and that if it was simply out of adjustment, it was not much different than having a bad spark plug or loose steering mechanism in your car. But the miracle of his ear, and his ability to judge, was that his analyses diagnoses could be performed through scientific testing. He just knew, from his vast experience and incredible gift, what to do.

The next thing I learned from René was how tricky it is to know how your instrument actually sounds in the concert hall. Most people – instrumentalists and I have to say luthiers – give it their best guess. René knew. He really knew, and he knew it so well that those of us under the most pressure, playing the greatest instruments in the world’s greatest halls, competing with the most powerful orchestras, depended on René to make sure that when the critical performance came, our instruments were at their peak.

He proved he could do it, over and over again. No one in his lifetime – even he was totally open to explaining how he did what he did – ever came remotely close. It was not unusual to find musicians in Francais’ shop who had come all the way from Europe or the Far East just to have René move their sound post. That is truly a one-of-a-kind legacy.

A “René adjustment” is a phrase that will live on forever. Those of us who had them know exactly what one is. First, it is when your instrument sounds its best, when the sound is full of color, but also that the notes on every string have “core”, a word René used all the time and stressed the importance of. Second, it is when your instrument functions perfectly, when the strings speak immediately and the sound sparkles. Third, the instrument has to resonate, so a balance needs to be found between clarity, focus and “cushion”, another word heard often in his adjusting room. A René adjustment always extracts the maximum potential of an instrument, and also has staying power. It was rare that anyone returned for a follow-up, which usually only happened in the event of severe and unexpected weather change. René knew how to adjust for the future, and for where you were headed, and he was, in my experience, always correct.

Another aspect of the René experience that should be pointed out was his understanding of sound production technique. As discreet as René was with his customers, he clearly knew if problems were caused not by the instrument but by the player. René was blessed with the best clientele in the world; he heard and worked with the greatest players of his day, on a daily basis. His point of reference was unmatchable. He probably could have been one heck of a string teacher, but he held his opinions mostly in check, sometimes only barely alluding to the idea that perhaps your instrument was not the culprit.

The most valuable lesson I learned from this last point is that ultimately, even with the benefit of René adjustment, it would do you little good unless you yourself adjusted to the instrument, and not the other way around. This is a hard-line, no nonsense approach to playing, devoid of mystique, and with little credence given to personal intrigue or complex relationships between player and instrument. I was always the most comfortable if I thought René was adjusting my cello not for me, but for the greatest cellists he had ever heard. It was my job as a player to measure up, after he gave me the best tools to work with.

So the end result of a visit to René was coming away with an instrument that you knew would sound great, but only if you played it at the level at which it was adjusted. It was for me, and I’m sure for others, sometimes a challenge, a reach. But it was an incredible part of my education as a musician and a player, given to me by a single individual, for which I am eternally grateful.

It would not be right to omit the immense warmth of René from my list of accolades. That he treated musicians like me, from day one, with respect and friendliness was always appreciated, and was in stark contrast with others in his profession who took years to acknowledge younger, lesser-known players, as clients of worth.

I’m happy that so many had the benefit of his guidance. The whole world of music sounds better for our having had René among us. Not only his work, but our expectations of our instruments and ourselves, live on.

Leaving New York well in advance of its record-breaking October snow storm, David, Wu Han, Arnaud Sussmann, Lily Francis and Gilbert Kalish flew to Munich and Salzburg, the closest major airports to the little German town of Bad Reichenhall. Waiting for them was the AlpenKlassik Festival, and CMS’s second European residency of the year.
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In David’s words
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The 2011-12 season is one in which The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is spreading its name and artistry in foreign countries at an unprecedented pace. Having returned from its second residency at the Mecklenburg Festival in late August, CMS journeyed almost immediately to its first tour of Colombia as guests of the Cartagena Festival (see previous blog August-September 2011: CMS Intercontinental).

September and October, traditionally busy months, included, for me and Wu Han performances on the CMS opening night, the Mendelssohn Trios at South Mountain Concerts, numerous Emerson Quartet concerts (including an immediate return to the Mecklenburg Festival), we also oversaw the opening of numerous CMS series such as the Late Night Rose concerts and Inside Chamber Music lectures, plus the main stage concerts. Music@Menlo’s Winter Series opened with a spectacular recital by Inon Barnatan (see Wu Han’s previous blog post).

So it was somewhat of a relief to exchange the hectic American scene for the tranquillity of the Bavarian town of Bad Reichenhall, only minutes from Salzburg, nestled beneath spectacular mountains. The crisp fall air and beautiful foliage provided a bracing and inspiring backdrop for four days of intensive rehearsing and performing.

Klaus Lauer, our long-time friend as former director of the famous Roemerbad Musiktage in Badenweiler, has more recently become an artistic partner of CMS on three occasions: first, his Night Fantasies series, curated by him for us in New York in the November of 2008; second, this residency for CMS at the AlpenKlassik Festival, which he directs; and third, later this season, as he is featured in CMS’s Winter Festival as a leading commissioner of new music. Our programs in Bad Reichenhall were made collaboratively, Klaus requesting from us signature American programming for each of our three concerts.

Arnaud Sussmann, Klaus Lauer, and Wu Han walk the streets of Bad Reichenhall

In our opening performance on Friday evening, in the town’s beautiful Königliches Kurhaus, Wu Han, Lily Francis and I began with Beethoven’s Op. 1 No. 1 piano trio, which was followed by a piece close to Klaus’s heart, George Crumb’s Four Nocturnes (Night Music II) for violin and piano, performed by Lily and Gil using a second piano that had been prepared with all the special markings and equipment necessary to produce Crumb’s magical sounds. The program closed with Beethoven once again, but this time with his final trio, the magnificent “Archduke”, Op. 97, for which Wu Han and I were joined by Arnaud Sussmann.

Post concert festivities are always important, and in the hands of Klaus Lauer, musicians are never at a loss for good food and company. Arnaud and Nicolas amazed the table with outrageous iPhone tricks and games.

Saturday’s program featured a major role for Gilbert Kalish, who opened the concert with Charles Ives’s monumental “Concord” sonata for piano alone or almost alone, as Ives included the briefest of offstage roles for flute and violin. Before the hour-long performance, Gil and Klaus took the stage to introduce the work, the performance of which earned Gil a prolonged ovation.

German cellist Nicolas Altstaedt (a CMS Two artist who only days before joining us assumed artistic directorship of the prestigious Lockenhaus Festival, hand-picked by founder Gidon Kremer) made his first appearance of the weekend in Elliott Carter’s Figments for solo cello, one of which is subtitled, appropriately for this program, “Remembering Mr. Ives”. The program closed with Dvorak’s ever-popular Piano Quartet in Eb.

Sunday’s third and final concert was opened by me with the brief and soothing “Fantasy on a Bach Air” by John Corigliano, after which Wu Han joined me for Beethoven’s sonata op. 69. Schumann’s Eb Piano Quartet closed the first half, with Nicolas borrowing my cello (at the very last minute!) in order to execute Schumann’s unusual request for a single low Bb at the end of the slow movement. It was fun watching Nicolas negotiate his way on and off stage with both cellos.

The concert – and this demanding CMS residency – concluded with American music for piano, four hands, Gil and Wu Han offering first Samuel Barber’s charming Souvenirs, and finishing with George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.

Schloss Elmau

For years and years we had heard about this place: “I just played at Schloss Elmau” – “You MUST play at Schloss Elmau!” – “You mean you’ve never played at Schloss Elmau?”. We were beginning to think there was something seriously wrong with our careers, and so, by means of a completely “cold call” , I got our trio with Philip Setzer invited to perform there after our concerts in Bad Reichenhall and before our performance in Naples.

A beautiful two-hour drive from Bad Reichenhall, the famous castle is nestled in the Bavarian mountains near Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the famous violin-producing town of Mittenwald. Emerging from a dense forest, a driver’s first sight of Elmau is truly breathtaking.

We were warmly welcomed not only by program director Silke Zimmerman but also pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, who would play a recital the following evening and attend our concert that night. Such is the life of a musician: just when you think you might have a relaxed performance….

The castle as built in 1916 as a retreat for artists and thinkers, attended.  Volunteer “helpers” who came to work there attracted by the contact with notables, attended to the clientele. In 2006 a disastrous fire all but destroyed the place, but under the dynamic direction of family owner Dietmar Mueller-Elmau, the castle was rebuilt to a standard that we have perhaps never encountered in all our travels. Every detail is of the highest quality, the setting is beyond comparison, and the warmth, hospitality and personal attention, from Dietmar himself to Silke and her staff, to hotel general manager Nikolai Bloyd, made us very soon feel like important guests who had been coming for years.

Schloss Elmau presents well over two hundred concerts per year. It seems that literally everyone performs here. In the coming months, for example, both our CMS Two cellists Andres Brantelid and Jakob Koranyi will appear, and so will pianist Martha Argerich. The atmosphere, the beauty and hospitality offer the broadest range of musicians a welcome respite from the hectic concert life, and a place to rest and recharge.

Several hundred listeners heard us play Schubert’s massive trio in Eb that evening, including many children staying with their parents at the hotel. It was our trio’s first performance on the European continent. Afterwards we were treated to a sumptuous meal at one of the hotel’s many fine restaurants. We could look forward to a free day, a chance to use the hotel’s amazing spa, and to walk the endless trails in the surrounding hills.

Italian debut

As magical and relaxing as Schloss Elmau was, the irresistible Italian allure beckoned us the following day to our next stop, Naples, for our trio’s second European appearance. Blessed with a free evening, and perfect weather, the infamous, formidable Neapolitan chaos receded into the background. A 5 a.m. departure from Elmau ensured arriving in Naples by lunchtime, the highest of priorities for us.

Approaching Naples by airplane, Castello St. Elmo on the hilltop.

For dinner we were graciously hosted by Professor Lucio Sicca and our presenting organization, the Associazione Alessandro Scarlatti, now celebrating its ninety-first season. We were joined by a small collection of music lovers, including a young cellist who is a student at the local conservatory. It is immediately apparent with these people that their foremost passion is chamber music, as they heatedly posed questions to us such as “Which of the two Schubert trios is your favorite?”. One could not imagine more pleasurable, gracious company (nor better food!).

The concerts of the Associazione take place in the Castello St. Elmo, which dominates the Neapolitan skyline behind the city. Across the water, Vesuvius looms large, and still looks threatening.

During the morning of our concert day, I was treated to a tour of the Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella di Napoli by my new young cellist friend Chiara. It was the first day of classes, and the place was hopping. Nestled in a small street in the historic district, the school, which sits inside a magnificent structure surrounding a central courtyard, is situated among music shops, plus restaurants and cafes which afford both students and faculty ample supplies and nourishment.

Most astounding to see in the conservatory is its library and museum. Containing countless first editions and manuscripts of virtually all the Italian composers (plus many others) it affords the lucky visitor a chance to see portraits, artifacts, and music from composers from Palestrina to Scarlatti to Verdi, from performers such as Paganini and Liszt, and instruments made by Stradivari, Cristofori and Goffriller. There is even a small harp from Stradivari, and Domenico Scarlatti’s own harpsichord, upon which the lucky students are even allowed to perform.

In spite of the challenges of the busy day for the school, I was warmly welcomed by the conservatory director, and shown endless hospitality by a small collection of students, all of whom eventually had their first lessons of the season later that day.

But that did not deter many of them from making the pilgrimage up the mountain to hear our two Schubert trios that evening. Driving in Naples is something I have yet to try, and may never will. There is little pattern or logic to the city’s streets, the driving style is New York +, and the traffic jams can be maddening. The route to the castle from the city below is like a maze in which one probably travels ten times the kilometers as the distance actually is, as the crow flies, and the streets become very narrow as one approaches the mountaintop. After the concert, some six hundred people stream into the streets to head home by car, foot or the funicular train, and on this evening, a bus got stuck in a small street where we sat behind it for a good forty-five minutes, killing our dinner plans (as the concert had started at 9:10, we were still without food past midnight).

An emergency stop at the last pizzeria open afforded me and Wu Han a last, delicious Italian meal and a good bottle of wine, as we sat not only marveling at the day’s wonderful experiences, but also scanning the hundreds of congratulatory e mails that had come in that day, as the official announcement of our Musical America award had hit the internet that morning. All in all, it was quite a day.

In an unprecedented move, Musical America has selected not one but two Musicians of the Year for 2012: David Finckel and Wu Han. He is a cellist, she a pianist, and together they are the artistic directors of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, among other organizations. The Musician(s) of the Year Award, honoring excellence and achievement in the arts, are being announced in conjunction with the release of the 2012 International Directory of the Performing Arts.

Finckel and Han have managed to breathe new life into an artform all too often overlooked. They have done so not only through imaginative programming and stellar performances, together or alone, but also as founders of Music@Menlo, and as pioneering producers of their own recordings on the ArtistLed label, classical music’s first musician-directed and Internet-based recording company. Together, writes Musical America Directory Editor Sedgwick Clark in his citation, they have managed to “create a revolution in the traditionally quiet world of chamber music — in the process building new audiences and rearing a new wave of players.

To read the full official announcement, please click here.

Wu Han recently headed west to the San Francisco Bay Area for the opening of Music@Menlo’s 2011/2012 Winter Series, which featured a stunning recital by the sensational young pianist Inon Barnatan. A musician of remarkable imagination and creative breadth, Inon captivated Music@Menlo’s audience with his poignant program and musical skill.

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In Wu Han’s words…
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The first weekend of October, I had the great opportunity to travel out to the Bay Area to launch Music@Menlo’s second annual Winter Series. The Winter Series was created in 2010 to bring world class artists and great chamber music to the Music@Menlo audience throughout the year. This season, our audience was in for a special treat as the remarkable young pianist Inon Barnatan opened the winter series with an imaginative program entitled Darknesse Visible.  Having last appeared at Music@Menlo during the summer of 2010, I was eager for our audience to experience Inon’s special artistry in this solo recital.

As I shared with the audience before Inon took the stage, David and I are so proud that Music@Menlo has played such an integral role in supporting the careers of many aspiring young artists. Anthony McGill, now principal clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; Arnaud Sussmann, an upcoming concert violinist; and Erin Keefe, recently named Concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra (a post that was most recently held by longtime Music@Menlo favorite artist, Jorja Fleezanis); are just a few of the artists presented on Music@Menlo’s main stage before their respective careers have blossomed. David and I both remember years ago, when we were young artists, receiving valuable support from a few key presenters. The chance that they took on us helped build the careers that we sustain today. We are passionate about supporting exceptional young artists in this way, and it is wonderful to see the Menlo audience enthusiastically embrace and support these extraordinary musicians.

As Inon explained to the audience upon taking the stage, several of the works he performed were inspired by poetry and are connected by a sense of darkness lying beneath the music. His program began with Debussy’s lovely Suite bergamasque, a piece that was inspired by the poetry of Paul Verlaine. One of Debussy’s most beloved works, the suite is perhaps most famous for the third movement, Clair de lune. The Debussy was then followed by Thomas Adès’s wondrous and haunting Darkenesse Visible, based on John Dowland’s lute song from 1610 entitled: In Darknesse Let Me Dwell. Thomas Adès is one of the most exciting and imaginative composers writing music today and I was thrilled that his music was being introduced to Music@Menlo’s audience. Before the intermission, Inon skillfully tackled one of the piano literature’s most challenging works, Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit. As a pianist, I was glad at that moment to be in the audience! The second half of the program featured the wonderfully imaginative Fantasy on Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten (arranged by Ronald Stevenson), and culminated in a commanding performance of Schubert’s poignant Sonata in A Major, D. 959, one of the last works Schubert wrote before his young death.

I am extremely proud of Inon’s intelligent programming and artistic vision that he brings to each and every one of his performances. He is a pianist of remarkable imagination, as manifested in his curating of  “The Schubert Project” — an exploration of Schubert’s late solo song, piano works, and chamber music, originally conceived for The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Inon has also presented this project to great critical acclaim at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the Library of Congress.  It was thrilling to hear Inon play this extraordinary program so beautifully, and it was gratifying to see our audience brought to its feet. After the performance, Inon signed CDs and was greeted warmly by many of our audience members who commented on his powerful performance which truly brought the music to life. In 2012,  Inon will be releasing a CD entitled Darkness Visible, featuring many of these same works. It is certainly a disc you will not want to miss.

Inon greets audience members following his recital.

It was a very moving experience to see the Menlo audience embrace this extraordinary young musician, and David and I both look forward to featuring and taking the chance, so to speak, on other exceptional young artists in seasons to come.

Music@Menlo’s Winter Series continues Feburary 12 when festival favorites pianist Alessio Bax, clarinetist David Shifrin, and flutist Tara Helen O’Connor join forces with an ensemble of the world’s elite wind players from The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center—including Stephen Taylor (oboe), Peter Kolkay (bassoon), and Radovan Vlatković (horn)—in a program that features the extraordinary chamber music written for winds and piano by French composers.

April 29, the Jupiter String Quartet, one of America’s most exciting young chamber ensembles, returns to Music@Menlo for a special afternoon of masterworks from the string quartet repertoire: Haydn’s String Quartet in F Major, Prokofiev’s Second String Quartet, and Schubert’s final quartet, the colossal and expressive String Quartet in G Major, D. 887.

Photos courtesy of Music@Menlo: Tristan Schulz, photographer

A single day at the end of August separated the end and beginning of Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) tours on two continents.  David and Wu Han were the common denominators of the artist rosters, with one festival being a return visit and the other breaking new international touring ground.

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In David’s Words
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Germany: August 22-29

With a solid week of New York work under our belts after returning from Music@Menlo, Wu Han and I headed out over the Atlantic on August 22^nd for the idyllic village of Heiligendamm on the Baltic Sea.  The spectacular Grand Hotel Heiligendamm awaited our return, as did the equally spectacular Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festspiele.

Arriving over the next two days were CMS musicians Ani Kavafian, Yura Lee and Richard O’Neill, who would join us for four concerts in three locations throughout the region. The festival – the third largest in Germany – runs for the summer months and presents concerts in eighty (!) different venues.  Now in its twenty-first season, the festival has grown in size and popularity, and, according to festival director Matthias van Hülsen, there are now more venues offered by local towns and wealthy landowners with castles and barns than they can even accommodate.  What a luxury of infrastructure!

The resort town of Heiligendamm came to life in 1793, when the Grand Emperor of Mecklenburg Friedrich Franz I, on advice from his doctor, jumped into the chilly Baltic and emerged a new man, apparently.  The fashion of visiting Germany’s only sea coast caught on, and famous white buildings sprang up along the coast, soon becoming Germany’s first and most important resort. Mendelssohn once visited the hotel, and said that his Midsummer Night’s dream music was inspired, in part, by walks in nearby forests.

An added pleasure of this residency is the opportunity to collaborate with other world-class musicians.  Among them on this visit was violinist Daniel Hope, who is the Artistic Partner of the festival, and young cellist Li-Wei Qin, who is this season’s Artist-in-Residence.

Daniel, with a barrage of new recordings from Deutsche Grammophon, his fourth book just published (Toi Toi Toi, a collection of stories of concert disasters to which I contributed a dubious story as well), with his fluent German, winning personality and stunning violin playing, is riding the crest of one of most exciting – and meaningful – career waves I have ever seen. Music directorships in Mecklenburg, and at the Savannah Music Festival, give him the opportunity to assume, what is for him, natural leadership roles. He speaks beautifully to the audiences before every concert, and the people love him (he is truly the Wu Han of his own festivals). He deserves every bit of his success and we are very proud to be a little part of his enormously exciting artistic life.

Li-Wei Qin was a pleasure to come to know, both musically and personally.  A “big” style cellist, his playing is generous in every way, with a large, beautiful sound, solid technique, and keen ensemble skills and instincts that make him a wonderful collaborator. Li-Wei is a truly international character, born in Shanghai, raised in Australia and now living in Singapore.  We hope to see him soon in the U.S. so that American audiences can enjoy him as we did.

Our first concert, as it was last year, was in the spacious dining room of the Grand Hotel.  And the program was certainly not for faint-hearted players, consisting of the Shostakovich Piano Quintet on the first half, and the Schubert Cello Quintet after the intermission.

The capacity audience responded warmly, making us feel they remembered us from last year.  Green room festivities led to a sumptuous buffet dinner at the hotel, during which Richard O’Neill bestowed his gift of flowers to a woman from the front row who had gallantly retrieved his music for him when it got knocked off the stand.

Daniel seems to have fun wherever he is and whatever he’s doing, and during the week he couldn’t seem to get enough of Li-Wei’s charismatic son Stanley.  Actually, none of us could get enough of this lovable boy.  Daniel, despite his heavy responsibilities, always has energy and interest in a late-night bar opportunity, for which we were happy to join him.

The following day we journeyed to the tiny town of Schönberg, about two hours southwest of Heiligendamm, for our second concert, which took place in a breathtaking 13^th century church.  This program also had its unique challenges: a string trio by Haydn, transcribed from his piano sonata Op. 55, that none of us had played before; a Mozart violin-viola duo; a little piano trio in tribute to Haydn by William Bolcom; and finally, after intermission, the Schumann Piano Quintet.  Fortunately, the performance went off without a hitch and the German Radio (NDR) got a good recording of it for broadcast.

The concert setting was absolutely wonderful.  An elaborate drink-selling truck was parked in the little space near the church, as well as a würst-boiling trailer.  The drink truck was staffed by pretty girls and the hotdogs were cooked by burly men.  The crowd arrived plenty early and ate and drank before, in the interval, and after the concert.  Fortunately, they stayed late especially for the musicians and we stood out in the nice weather, happily wolfing down food before boarding the cars back to Heiligendamm.

Friday could have been called a day off except for the need to rehearse for our final two programs on Saturday and Sunday.  The weather gave us some nice moments to eat on the restaurant terrace overlooking the lawn and the sea.

Our last concert locations were too far away to perform as run-outs from Heiligendammm, but no matter: when we drove into the castle grounds of Ulrichshusen, none of us could believe our eyes.

This place was bought and renovated some years ago by Helmuth von Maltzahn, a descendent of the original builders of the place in the 1650’s.  The grounds contain vast fields and lakes, numerous outbuildings, the castle itself which contains a massive central dining space and guest rooms, and a large stone barn where the concerts happen that seats one thousand people.

As we climbed the stairs to check in, we got a call from Daniel and his more-than-charming friend Sylvana in their top-floor suite.

The concert on Saturday night was the festival’s annual gala. For this, all the most important supporters of the festival were on hand, including politicians, heads of corporations, etc.  For the first time, instead of a full orchestra concert, the festival tried a chamber music performance and liked it even more.  I hope this aspect of the festival becomes a tradition.

The program was a collection of spectacular, sure-to-be-crowd-pleasing works: the entire Tchaikovsky Souvenir de Florence as the first half, and a second half of Gypsy-inspired music which included Ravel’s Tzigane, played by Daniel and Wu Han, and finished with an arrangement for all of us of Brahms’s famous Hungarian Dance.  The crowd would not let us go until we had walked the long distance from backstage many times.

Even more memorable than the concert, I have to say, was the party.  For part of the tradition here is a crawfish dinner, something people go wild over.  The pre-dinner scene back at the castle was a sight to behold: giant cauldrons over wood fires boiled the crawfish, and waiters lined up to deliver bowl after bowl of them to the ravenous Germans.  On top of that were sausages, steaks, and all the wine and beer one could imagine.  It was quite a night.

The only blemish on this evening, and the entire week, was the increasing decline in health of Wu Han’s parents back in Taiwan.  Just before the gala concert she received word that her father’s situation was grave, and with a heavy heart she asked Daniel and Matthias for permission to leave as soon as possible, to which they graciously agreed. Wu Han departed in before dawn for flights from Hamburg to Beijing to Taipei and into that region’s typhoon. Instead of the Brahms g minor piano quartet on Sunday for our final concert, the musicians enthusiastically reprised their performance of the Schubert Quintet from our first night, which followed the Tchaikovsky Sextet and a lengthy intermission.

The concert being at 4pm gave us the opportunity – as tempting as it was to stay another night in the castle – to journey in the early evening, by daylight, to Hamburg from where our flights would leave early the next morning. During a farewell musician dinner of Riesling and Wiener schnitzel, we recalled the week’s good times, and finally, quite late, bid fond goodbyes. Wu Han and I were immensely proud of our musicians’ stellar playing, which rose to the highest level on every occasion and was deeply appreciated by the discriminating audiences. It was a very good week for CMS.

Colombia: August 30-September 4

After a single turn-around day in New York, we (along with violinist Erin Keefe and violist Mark Holloway) boarded flights for Medellín, Colombia, to inaugurate CMS’s first concert tour in South America.

This visit was organized by the Cartagena Music Festival, which for some years was run by founding CMS artistic director Charles Wadsworth, and is now directed by the estimable pianist, composer, and arranger Stephen Prutsman.  (CMS listeners who were there will undoubtedly never forget Stephen’s landmark recital, Bach and Forth, presented by us during our Baroque Festival of 2010.)  Cartagena sits on Colombia’s north coast and is a tourist destination, with the annual festival taking place in January. The festival is reaching out across the country, though, gathering listeners and creative festival awareness throughout Colombia. Hence, we were scheduled to appear in three cities: Medellín, Cali and Bogotá.

Medellín, a city I visited for the first time only last May on an Emerson Quartet tour, is the second largest city in Colombia, founded by the Spanish in 1616.  It is recently and unfortunately known the world over as the home of the infamous Medellín drug cartel that flourished in the 1980’s, making the city at one point the most violent in the world.  Today, however, a visitor feels safe, welcome and entertained by the city’s vibrant culture and spectacular setting, a mile high yet set in a picturesque valley.

Upon arrival we were greeted by Stephen Prutsman himself, and his indomitable staff assistants Luisa and Sergio, who accompanied us virtually everywhere on the tour. Our first meal, on the steep road leading down into the city, afforded us delicious Colombian food and spectacular views.

The next day brought us to our venue to rehearse in the afternoon.  The luxury of our hotel was strongly contrasted by sights along the way, with a considerable number people seemingly living off the streets .

However, it is obvious that people in Medellín are hard-working and industrious, and are making efforts to beautify their surroundings (notice the trees painted on the wall that augment the living tree in the foreground).

Another sign of local pride are the immaculate, shining buses, elaborately decorated, that enliven the city streets.

A converted factory, the Museo de Arte Moderne is a striking space, with galleries in the alcoves and a high vaulted ceiling.

Later in the day, on the way to our concert, we were treated to a tour of the headquarters of fashion designer Ana Urrea, a music enthusiast and Cartagena Festival patron.

We all admired the clothes, and appreciated the hospitality of her staff.

Ana and Wu Han discussed concert dresses.  Who knows what may come of it?

After arriving at the museum, Erin, Mark and I warmed up in the company of lively works of art.

Stephen, in fluent Spanish, welcomed the audience.

Our program for all three concerts consisted of Haydn’s famous “Gypsy” trio in G major, the Beethoven sonata for piano and cello in A major, and the gigantic Brahms Piano  Quartet in g minor.  For an encore, we offered the enthusiastic audience the heavenly slow movement from Brahms’s c minor piano quartet.   After the concert (as seems to be the norm in South America) we were besieged with young listeners seeking autographs and photos.

The next day we flew south to the city of Cali.  The industrious staff carried with them all the promotional materials for the concerts, loading boxes of posters into the back of a pickup truck.

Cali, which sits in south western Colombia, was founded in 1536 by Sebastián de Belalcázar, a Spanish explorer who came to the New World with Columbus on his third voyage.  During the period of South American uprisings against Spanish rule in the early 19^th century, Cali was taken over by the Criollos, people of predominantly Spanish descent who had been born locally.  Simón Bolívar, the great Venezuelan liberator, arrived in Cali in 1822.

After a brief rest in the elegant Casa del Alfarez hotel, Wu Han taught a master class with Stephen Prutsman at the Conservatorio de Bellas Artes, our venue for the concert later that day.  She was astounded to find a group of gifted students tackling the Elgar Quintet.

Later we were all driven (in beautiful SUV’s) to the Conservatorio for our rehearsal and concert. The building was teeming with students and  bustling with musical activities.  I felt right at home.

The beautiful hall, with warm acoustics, seats about five hundred, and was packed for the concert with the Cali elite and a horde of students.

After the concert, we were treated to a chic reception in the small hall upstairs. The food was pinned to the walls in little plastic cups, and green lasers flickered on the guests.

On the way to the airport the next morning, we shared the highway with a herd of cattle.

The final city of our Colombia tour was Bogotá, the country’s largest city (more than 7 million inhabitants), and its capital.  Our hotel, graciously provided by the festival (as were all of our accommodations), was the beautiful Hotel Casa Medina, in the city’s most elegant neighborhood.

Our venue was the concert hall of the magnificent new Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo, located somewhat on the outskirts of town, but fast becoming the arts center of choice for locals.

As was the custom on this tour, our dress rehearsal was filmed for broadcast for the local television station.  Would that North America afford classical music such media exposure!

In addition to the footage shot for local news, the concert itself was broadcast live, adding a bit of an edge to our final performance of the tour.  The large hall held a very well-to-do looking crowd, which joined us in an adjacent theater space for a high-end reception.  It was here that we first met Julia Salvi, the Cartagena Festival’s lead patron, pictured here with Stephen Prutsman and festival artist-in-residence Mateo López.

The following day, after a late dinner and a good night’s sleep, we headed over to the Auditorio León de Greiff in the Universidad Nacional de Colombia to give a lecture-demonstration.  The University is public, and, by law, the police are not allowed to enter the campus. The place therefore has a kind of revolutionary feel, with elaborate graffiti proving the institution’s defining visual feature.

The concert poster, carried from city to city by the festival staff, was prominently positioned above the theater entrance.

Inside, television crews scrambled to set up for the 11am event, and Stephen Prutsman directed the action masterfully in Spanish, English and body language.

Backstage, the musicians found a moment to relax.

On stage at 11:05, in front of several hundred students, we were interviewed about our lives in music, answering numerous questions about our young years, our families, how we had chosen music, our studies and our careers. It was a fascinating talk, interesting  to us as well to hear about Erin’s and Mark’s musical beginnings.

After a brief break to set the stage, we performed the entire Brahms piano quartet for the students, who listened intensely and rewarded us with a standing ovation.

In front of the hall we had the chance to meet the many enthusiastic students.  I showed a couple of cellists the tuner and metronome on my iPhone, Erin and Mark posed for photos, and Wu Han signed programs and posters.

At this moment, Wu Han and I would like to acknowledge the contributions to this tour of two fantastic sets of people: our musicians, and our presenters, the Cartagena Festival.  Erin Keefe and Mark Holloway not only performed at peak levels in all varieties of situations, but were gracious representatives of CMS, endearing themselves to public and presenters alike. And the festival staff who accompanied us on the entire tour were not only friendly and caring, but diligent, hard-working and tireless in their service to the project. Stephen Prutsman proved as inspiring an arts leader as he is a performer, and is setting a stunning example for the festival in all ways.

A drive across town – always interesting – took us to our final event of the tour.

This restaurant, called Andrés D.C., consists of many floors connected by open staircases, and was one of the wildest and most fun places we have ever visited.  Between the Mojitos, the mouthwatering barbecue, the teeming crowd and the entertaining actors and musicians (enacting the Cinderella story) it was a lunch to remember, and a fantastic way to end the first CMS tour to South America. The following photos certainly speak for themselves.

Music@Menlo’s ninth festival, celebrating the music and legacy of Johannes Brahms, unfolded in unique and sometimes unexpected ways.  An unprecedented number of major artists made their festival debuts, each bringing fresh musical perspectives not only to the stage but also contributing to the many educational forums that continue to exemplify Music@Menlo’s spirit of curiosity and exploration.  Attendance hit an all-time high, and the proximity of next season’s milestone year fueled the sense of communal exuberance.
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in David’s words…
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July 20 through August 11, 2011

Although this festival, since its inception, has fallen on basically the same dates, and has replicated a predictable event structure, it somehow never seems routine. Perhaps it is the changing thematic focus that makes each summer a fresh adventure, plus the presence of a new crop of young students which tests our abilities to communicate and identify musical and technical issues that need to be addressed. Certainly, as much as Wu Han and I have researched our programs and are familiar with our content, we find ourselves in as much of a learning mode as anyone who throws themselves into the Music@Menlo mix.

One of the first revelations we had near the outset of the festival concerned this summer’s title Through Brahms.  Originally conceived as a phrase that described the evolution of music passing through the hands of the great composer, we came to realize that this title contained an additional meaning: music written during, before and after the time of Brahms could be heard with deeper understanding using Brahms as a kind of musical lens, through which to hear other music.  And indeed, the festival presented a wide variety of such music, from a trio sonata by Bach to the piano quintet by John Harbison, all of it pulled together by the magnetism and intensity of Brahms. Of course, one can find in the works of Brahms’s musical heirs his same dedication to “rightness” of compositional technique, his uncompromising commitment to quality. But it was just as interesting to listen, for example, to the “Notturno” of Franz Schubert, knowing that music of such magical, transcendent quality would blossom into the Romantic age, reaching its culmination in the otherworldly essays of that Brahms composed in his twilight years.

New faces, new sounds

It would be impossible to select a single highlight of the festival, but one facet of this festival that would certainly be worth singling out was the influx of brilliant new artists, many of whom we had been trying to secure since our first season with no luck until now.  So many of them are such demand that can pick and choose any summer concert dates they desire.  Many of them also hold long-time loyalties to other festivals.  But somehow, the stars lined up for Music@Menlo this summer, and all of a sudden, there appeared faces we had waited almost a decade to see.

Yet, even before the concerts began, Music@Menlo 2011 experienced a “first” in the opening night Encounter: Patrick Castillo, who joined the ArtistLed team in New York in 2000, and who has, as Artistic Administrator, been instrumental in building the festival, finally assumed the coveted role of Encounter Leader, taking a capacity crowd through a brilliantly conceived and seamlessly executed overview of the life of Brahms.  No one was more qualified to deliver this lecture, as Patrick has not only been the author and narrator of the Festival’s AudioNotes series, but has, since the festival’s inception, worked with and guided Encounter Leaders to successful presentations, collaborating and assisting such luminaries as Robert Winter, Robert Greenberg, Ara Guzelimian, R. Larry Todd, and of course the late Michael Steinberg, for whom the series is now named.  The success of the event was a personal triumph for Patrick, and feather in the cap of the festival, which can take some credit for having helped to groom a brilliant and charismatic arts leader.

Friday night’s opening concert brought to our stage the eminent violinist Cho-Liang Lin, a close friend and colleague of ours for over twenty years. We have played almost countless concerts with the gregarious and popular “Jimmy”, including a recital tour with Wu Han in Japan, trio concerts at the Aspen Music Festival, a Ravel duo performances at the Santa Fe Festival, and of course numerous concerts at La Jolla’s SummerFest, once our own festival, which Jimmy succeeded us as artistic director in 2001. It has been Jimmy’s commitment to his own busy festival that has kept him from Music@Menlo, as the dates are practically identical, but thankfully this summer the timing allowed him to squeeze in a visit prior to his own festival.  It was a pleasure to perform Schubert’s Notturno with him and Finnish pianist Juho Pohjonen, and also to hear him in a magnificent performances of Brahm’s B major trio, with Juho and veteran cellist Laurence Lesser.

It was also a revelation for our audience to experience the spectacular gifts of Juho as a collaborative artist.  Last summer he flew from Helsinki to perform a stunning solo recital as a last minute cancellation.  It was a joy for Music@Menlo this season to have this rising star on site for more than one concert, and to allow him the opportunity to work with our young students.  We reconnected with Juho just two short weeks later in New York, where he gave a highly-praised performance of Mozart concerto K. 488 with the Mostly Mozart Orchestra, and sublime solo recital of Mozart and Haydn in the Mostly Mozart Festival’s A Little Night Music series.

From the earliest days of the festival to the very end, we were lucky to have with us one of the most talented young musicians we have ever met: violinist and violist Yura Lee. Having become acquainted with her as a member of Chamber Music Society Two, we have been time and again astounded at not only her seemingly effortless profiency on both instruments, but also her fearless pursuit of challenge, her probing musicianship, and a maturity of conduct that belies her years. In repertoire as varied as Clara Schumann and Enesco, Yura excelled on both violin and viola, making herself an essential presence in the festival.  As I write, she has joined us in northern Germany at the Mecklenburg Festival, having squeezed in the Bridgehampton Festival between the end of Menlo and now – a scheduling feat that was amazing even to us.

A musician of major and ever-growing stature, violinist Daniel Hope, first known to us as the final violinist of the Beaux Arts Trio, found a few days in his hectic schedule to visit us for the first time.  Daniel is a musician who wears many hats: besides enjoying a performing career as soloist and chamber musician, he is a prolific author (four books to date), a television personality with his own music talk show in Germany (he is bilingual), a skyrocketing recording artist (with an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon), and a music director of the Savannah Music Festival and recently the Mecklenburg Festival, where we are now and where we will perform together tomorrow evening.  Daniel gave us a fantastic Carte Blanche concert which looked at the music of Brahms’s time through the lens of one of the composer’s most important collaborators, the violinist Joseph Joachim.  It is impossible to keep up with the pace of Daniel’s activities; his creative urge and exuberant spirit seem to know no limits.  You can get a good idea of what he’s up to by looking at his dizzyingly impressive  web site.

Another important addition in the festival’s growing cello family was Eric Kim, a familiar and much-loved performer to audiences around the country, and especially in Cincinnati, where he held the symphony’s principal cello position for 20 years. A highly respected teacher as well, Eric is a central figure at the Aspen Music Festival every summer, where he leads the Festival Orchestra’s cello section and works with a high-end class of students. He is now a Professor at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.  Eric and I have enjoyed specially close partnerships, among them a Bloch Schelomo in Aspen with me as soloist and Eric leading the cellos, and a tour performing the Brahms sextets with violinists Pinchas Zukerman, Itzhak Perlman, Mark Kaplan, and violist Cynthia Phelps. Eric distinguished himself in Menlo especially with an elegant rendition of the first cello part of Brahms’s demanding B-flat sextet, and we hope his busy summer schedule will allow him to return in the near future.

A significant contribution was made to Music@Menlo this summer by a pianist we had all known, but whom we had yet to experience in concert: pianist Lucille Chung.  A distinguished soloist and collaborator, Lucille took on the hugely demanding challenge of John Harbison’s Quintet, as well as a duo piano performance of Brahms’s quintet with her husband Alessio Bax.

Music@Menlo had an historic season for Encounters, with half of the Encounter Leaders making festival debuts.  Michael Parloff, retired principal flutist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and now music director of the Parlance Chamber Concerts series in Ridgewood, New Jersey, came to the festival with the delicate mission of explaining – as well as it can be understood – the complex relationships between Brahms and both Robert and Clara Schumann. We had gotten a strong hint that Michael would thrive in a full 2-hour spoken format, having heard him deliver eloquent pre-concert speeches prior to his own series’s concerts.  Michael, who is a phenomenally gifted educator, was thoroughly prepared, handled the subject with probing grace, and was an instant success with our discriminating audience. I was approached several times during his intermission by listeners who hoped he would return.  He will, and we look forward to many years of collaboration with this brilliant, charismatic musician.

A highly-anticipated event of the season, our vocal program titled Songs of Love, brought together a top-notch quartet of singers, three of whom were making their festival debuts: tenor Paul Appleby (right), baritone Kelly Markgraf (near right), and soprano Erin Morley.  Holding the group together was Menlo favorite, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, also Kelly’s wife, who visited this summer as a family with their new baby. The quartet, accompanied by the piano-four-hand team of Wu Han and Gilbert Kalish, were teamed to perform Brahms’s Liebeslieder Waltzes, Schumann’s Spanische Liebeslieder, and other works as individuals.  Sadly, Erin lost her voice just before the concert, but the event was rescued miraculously by soprano Katherine Whyte who flew in from Toronto on the day of the concert, and performed all the works, even Berg’s Seven Early songs.  This is how heroes are born, and, in this performance, yet another artist crossed the Music@Menlo footlights.

A huge burst of energy arrived mid-festival in the form of pianist Jon Kimura Parker. If there was ever an artist who seemed as if he had born at the festival and there all the time, it was Jackie.  Insatiably curious, overwhelmingly generous, unbelievably gifted and irresistibly charismatic, Jackie endeared himself to the festival community at every occasion, throwing himself into coachings, rehearsals, parties and impromptu encounters with unbelievable gusto. He also delivered stunning performances of four-hand Brahms with Wu Han, and powerful yet pristine renditions of Brahms’s C major trio with me and Elmar Oliveira, and Brahms’s clarinet sonata with David Shifrin. However much time passes before Jackie returns, it will seem too long to me. Visit Jackie’s hugely entertaining and informative web site.

The festival’s final performances were graced by the presence of veteran artists who brought to the stage years of tradition, experience, insight and passionate commitment to chamber music.  Among them was a musician whom we consider to be one of the most gifted we have ever known: clarinetist David Shifrin. Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Northwest festival for thirty years  and our predecessor as artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, David’s sublime and magical music making put him in a class by himself as interpreter of the clarinet’s most important repertoire. He was the Emerson Quartet’s choice for our recording of the Mozart and Brahms quintets, and recently favored ArtistLed with his performances of trios by Beethoven, Brahms and Bruch – our most recent disc to be released this October. David had yet to make it to Music@Menlo until this year –  a result of his being occupied with his own festival.  We could not have been more proud to see him enjoying himself in the company of our musicians, students, and audience members. His heartfelt performance of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet, one of the masterpieces of the composer’s final period, closed the festival with an artistic experience of the highest quality.

Beyond the concerts

Without a doubt, at any festival, it is the depth and content of the ancillary offerings that go far to define its identity. Because the soul of Music@Menlo is education, with its Institute as its core, a seemingly endless array of creative, fascinating events offers opportunities for discovery every summer. Many are planned months in advance, while others spring up spontaneously during the festival.  So many artists become inspired to contribute more than their performances when they see the excitement of learning that permeates the festival. So below, I’ll describe just a few of the many events that occurred this summer which gave Music@Menlo 2011, to a large degree, its incomparable spirit.

The Listening Room

“Talk, talk, talk” one might say about Music@Menlo.  Indeed, we are heavy on the spoken word.  How else to provide meaningful and enlightening context in which to hear our concerts?  But sometimes, simply hearing, absorbing, wondering, and using the imagination is as valid a musical experience as any.  The Listening Room, the brainchild of Artistic Administrator Patrick Castillo, offered the curious four sessions this summer, during which whole recordings were played in Martin Family Hall for people to simply sit and listen. Patrick’s choice of music is often surprising, sometimes provocative, always engaging, and the Listening Room, over the past two summers, is fast emerging as a Music@Menlo tradition.

In addition to our scheduled Encounters, master classes, Café Conversations, and Listening Room sessions, a new festival component emerged this summer that allowed our students even greater access to artists and information. As yet unnamed, the daily 2-2:45 sessions gathered either some or all of our Institute students, plus curious on-site, die-hard rehearsal listeners (there are many of them who spend whole days on campus) to hear presentations by those festival participants whose enthusiasm for  sharing knowledge was unstoppable.  In one such talk, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke treated us to an explanation of vocal technique, complete with astounding demonstrations, that gave us string players especially a better shot at sounding like great singers – something we all aspire to.

In another of these sessions, festival recording producer Da-Hong Seetoo shared his knowledge and experience as not only a recording engineer, but also as a violinist of the highest caliber, helping our young musicians to someday face the daunting challenge of making good recordings.  Later in the summer, Da-Hong, at the urging of our International Performers, generously gave them a sample recording session,  putting them under his microphones and his scrutiny for samples of the repertoire they had learned during the summer.

Begun by Michael Steinberg during his first season at the festival, the annual Poetry Reading event is hugely popular with students, artists and audience. The format is simple: the session leader (this summer Patrick Castillo and Jorja Fleezanis) select and copy a huge number of poems, lay them out on the stage of Martin Family Hall, and invite the audience to select poems they would like to read.  After selecting their poems, the readers return to their seats to study a bit, and, when they feel they are ready, raise hands, come to the stage, and read.

One might ask: what does reading poetry have to do with a music festival? Well, I might counter with the question: is reading poetry really different than playing music? In both cases, we are called upon to read masterful scripts, to interpret, bring out meaning, express ideas, and engage an audience.  For our students, the act of “performing” a poem gives them a chance to realize how close playing music is to telling stories, how ideas can be powerfully expressed with words as well as notes. Without exception, every summer, a handful of students who had perhaps been shy, or somewhat closed, will blossom like flowers as they read, revealing depth of feeling and understanding for the first time at the festival. For these students, the poetry reading can serve as a great step forward, after which they become ready to bring a new level of expression, in public, to their music-making. These poetry readings are multi-dimensional, containing humor, mystery, provocation, and often profoundly moving moments as the delivery of a very young person goes straight to the heart.  I rest my case.

One of the most unusual and magical moments of the festival came during Alessio Bax’s phenomenal Carte Blanche recital in Stent Family Hall. As Alessio had the previous summer, he astounded the packed house with another display of utter mastery of the instrument, coupled with thoughtful, tasteful music making.  As if this weren’t enough to absorb, those of us who listened to concerts on the music room’s grand staircase were able to watch John Morra, the festival’s Visual Artist-in-Residence, create a portrait of Alessio at the piano. No one who saw him paint and heard the concert would deny that the keyboard magic happening on stage was duly echoed by the brush work on the staircase.  Each of John’s exquisite paintings is a technical and conceptual masterwork, and having had the chance to watch one in creation was truly a privileged and rare experience.  We thank John for his generosity of spirit and for the sublime contribution he made to the festival.

Knowing that there was a good deal of curiosity going around about my recently-completed series of Cello Talks, I volunteered to lead a guided tour of the Cello Talks web site.  Never having done this before, I decided it might be interesting to do some teaching directly off the videos, asking students to do what I suggested in order to practice various techniques.  I dare say that perhaps none of them had ever tried to regulate their vibrato to the beat of a metronome.  The one-hundred Talks contain a lot of information, way too much to digest in a one-hour overview, but I hope that my introduction to the site will lead some to explore further, and of course, help them improve their playing.  That’s what the Cello Talks are all about.

Looking towards next summer

As euphoric as our Through Brahms summer was, there was a palpable underlying excitement, especially among long-time festival attendees, about the approaching tenth anniversary season.  Anticipation is high: people are plotting ways to learn the programming and wondering what might be special; artists wonder who will be invited; the public and the press are asking if there will be significant change in the second decade of the festival.

What can we say? Music@Menlo’s tenth anniversary has been deeply thought over, explored, and carefully decided. It will be, for sure, a summer of celebration which will remind us all why Music@Menlo started in the first place.

Photos courtesy of Music@Menlo: Ashley Pinnell and Tristan Cook, photographers