Making room for the good
It seems like just yesterday that I was scratching my head in front of my computer, coming up with resolutions that begin with an H. And here I am again, one year later, wondering what to wish for in 2012.
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On my recent European lecture tour, I was fortunate to hear several concerts in magnificent Baroque churches on Baroque organs, including one in the church of the former Cistercian monastery of St. Urban, Switzerland and one in the St. Francis Church in Prague. Not only was this a musical experience to treasure, hearing the works of the greatest organ music composers of their time, (Frescobaldi, Pachelbel, Muffat and Johann Sebastian Bach) played on original instruments, but experiencing it in an architectural space specific to the period.
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It was one thing to be accepted at age 22 to study with the great cellist and pedagogue Janos Starker at Indiana University. Adhering to his regimen of three lessons a week, each lesson on different repertory was another! Although I had heard stories about Starker’s intensely competitive class, I made up my mind. I was going to be the best Starker student who ever lived.
One of my favorite Starker stories concerns a talented young cellist who lacked the backbone necessary to lock himself in a practice room and make the stellar progress demanded of Starker students. One day in quiet frustration Starker said to him, “I wish I could chop off your hands and give them to someone more deserving!”
During the Baroque period (1600-1750), male sopranos composed about 70 percent of all opera singers. Crowned as the singing sensations of the 18th century, these men moved audiences with the shrill clarity of their high-pitched voices, and the lung power of a full-grown man. However, behind their success was a painful price to pay.
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‘Dead air’ to a radio presenter is like the name of ‘Lord Voldemort’ to ‘Harry Potter’… must not be named, nor heard. This moment of speechlessness creates an anxiety between the presenter and the listener as if the earth has suddenly stopped rotating. Yet, silence can be a powerful force in the arts.
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I was born into a musical family. My father was a cellist whose career spanned several years with the Budapest Symphony and thirty – eight years with the Toronto Symphony. My mother was an inspired piano teacher. Music permeated our home.
My parents were very pleased when at the age of three I could pick out the melodies my mother taught to her students. It was a sign. There was no question that I would become a musician. My mother envisioned me in a gorgeous long gown striding onstage! The lessons began – first the piano and then the cello.
Mussorgsky
Khovanshchina (1880) – Prelude 
Pictures at an Exhibition. (1874)
Have you ever wondered why so many creative people are associated with alcohol? Beethoven, Vincent van Gogh, Elvis Presley, Andy Warhol, Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix, are but a handful of many who have been known for their creative output and alcoholism. Likewise, many famous writers such as Dylan Thomas, James Joyce, F Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway were said to use alcohol as a remedy to overcome the writer’s block. While today we would agree that alcohol abuse is a sickness, excessive drinking has nevertheless been crowned as a powerful catalyst through which many great works have been produced. Can alcohol really grease the wheels of creativity?
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Liszt : Les Jeux d’eau a la Villa d’Este (1882)
Tan Dun : Memories in Watercolor (2003)
Debussy : Preludes (1910-1913) – Des pas sur la neige
Debussy : Preludes (1910-1913) – Brouillards
Debussy : Preludes (1910-1913) – Ondine
Liszt : Etudes d’execution transcendante (1851)
I recently attended a concert held at the Musikfest Stuttgart, which incorporated ‘Water’ as its central thematic element.
In this particular performance, entitled Jeux d’Eau – Wasserspiele – Water Games’, Igor Levit, the young and extraordinarily talented German/Russian pianist, played compositions by Liszt, Debussy, Ravel and Tan Dun.
When I first began collaborating with Harmonia Mundi, a wonderful classical music label headquartered in the south of France, they sent me a batch of CDs, among which were several by the prominent young French pianist Alexandre Tharaud. I had never heard of him, though with pieces by Rameau, Satie, Debussy, Couperin, Chopin and Bach, he certainly offered an interesting repertoire. Just going by his CD covers however, I had my reservations. Could this handsome young man, with his boyish good looks, really tackle such a varied repertoire? Or was this yet another PR gimmick – packaging music with a pretty face? (To be fair, this is not Harmonia Mundi’s style at all.)
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Amid all the talk of China’s growing appetite for classical music, there are now concrete examples of just how promising this scene is.
The New York Philharmonic recently signed an agreement with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra to collaborate on a new orchestral training institute in Shanghai. The agreement also includes a series of touring exchanges and joint commissions of new works.
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