WMV Music Web Log

This upcoming concert at the Czech Embassy could be our strongest yet. We rehearsed there yesterday, working on everything but the Mahler, which we rehearse here later today. We've performed all of this before (again, with the exception of the Mahler). I am deeply moved by the quality of these musicians. I was thinking about Amy recently - we were talking about the cicadas, and the sound that everyone agrees is like outer space or science fiction. Whenever Amy walks into my house she says something about a sound she hears - once it was the clapper on our wind chimes hitting the house on a gusty day. Or the cicadas yesterday. The worried look on her face reminded me of the story of the Princess and the Pea: I could recognize a true musician by how much sounds affect her! Masa when he conducts is practically like a child - he dances, sings, and shouts in four languages, smiling the whole time. Chris, Ben, Hasse, Rhonda, Karyn - they are all so astonishingly good, I keep expecting them to be snatched away into stardom. It is such a privilege to work with these people - it almost convinces me that I am one of them (but that is another story). Hasse and Amy are string quartet "survivors" - that is, their long term committed successful professional string quartet (the Coolidge Quartet) disbanded last year. They bring consummate rehearsal skills and deep chamber music experience to the Dvorak Trio - rehearsing with them is an experience at the very highest level of detail and sophistication. I say "survivor", because it is clearly traumatic not to be in a quartet for them - they are very reluctant, for instance, to consider playing a string quartet on one of our programs, because it could not be rehearsed on the level that they became accustomed to. I could go on and on about each of these players, Chris Royal, Rhonda Buckley, Ben Greanya, Karyn Friedman, but I will stop and get back to the piano. One more thought, however; I was reading some music criticism in the Times, of pop and rock - I wish I'd saved it - the writer talks of scanning CDs and radio in search of music which moves him deeply. That's what we aim for, and it has several components. The score must have something to say; the musicians must understand it, and have something to say themselves; and they must have the skill and have worked hard enough to deliver a transparent message. We have put all that together for this program. Don't miss it!