There will be six concerts in this series, all of which will be broadcast by Seattle’s classical radio KING-FM. Thanks to the miracle of the Internet, these concerts will be available live at the KING-FM website, and on concert nights I will lay out the schedule and provide a link to the concert. Chamber music can put a little light into people’s lives.
I’ll provide insights into the musicians if I happen to know them. I’ll also give a preview of the pieces to be played.
Friday night’s performance features a chamber work by Antonin Dvorak, the String Quintet in G, Op. 77, that is not heard all that often. In spite of the high opus number, it’s not a late piece. When colleague Jo Brahms hooked Tony Dvorak up with publisher Fritz Simrock, young Fritz told Tony that people would not take a composer seriously if his opus numbers were under 50. As a result, Fritz added 50 to the opus number of every Dvorak piece that the Simrock firm published. This has caused a lot of confusion over the years.
A string quartet consists of two violins, a viola and a cello. Usually, a string quintet adds a second viola, but here Tony makes the fifth instrument a string bass. That adds a totally different sonority to the piece.
The violinist on Friday night is James Ehnes. Now that Itzhak Perlman is semi-retired, Jimmy is a contestant for the title of World’s Greatest Classical Violinist. He took over the reins as Artistic Director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society from Toby Saks a few years ago. Toby died in September after a short bout with pancreatic cancer, so she timed the move well. Jimmy is also the first violinist of the Ehnes String Quartet, an entity in whose formation I played a role. The story of how I became the Forrest Gump of classical music is slated for next week.
The violist is Richard O’Neill, the greatest violist in the game today. Richard looks Asian because his mother was Korean, so it’s fun to watch people react to the conflict between Rich’s name and his appearance. I joke with him about the untold story of the Korean conquest of Ireland. “Ah, twas a foine battle until the Koreans opened up the beer. Twas all over in but a minute after that. They had their arms around each other signing Korean drinking songs.” Rich is the violist with the Ehnes String Quartet.
The cellist is Bion Tsang, who is one of my favorite cellists. He appears regularly in Seattle and has written his own arrangements for cello of popular pieces written for other instruments. “Why should they have all the fun?” was his comment when I asked him about it.
This is a video of five Egyptians who play for the orchestra in Qatar. Throughout the 20th Century, it was Jewish musicians who were the typical over-achievers in the realm of classical music. Over the past 20 years, the Chinese and Koreans have become the latest in classical music over-achievers. Now the Arabs are entering the game. Competition is good; it keeps your edge honed nice and sharp.
thanks for sharing this! :)
You have been a busy guy with all these concerts!