WMV Music Web Log

I wish you could have heard the rehearsal Friday morning at Jodi's house! The Diamond Quintet was full of adrenaline: muscular, vernacular and funny, with a kicking Irish jig as a finale. The sound of Keith Wright's flute in the Adagio dripped like ice on a hot summer day. There are little homages to Aaron Copland (the dedicatee) here and there. This performance of the Diamond Quintet has been more than 7 years coming - we came close to performing it in 1997 (I think), but the flutist fell ill and we had to cancel the concert. Marilyn had done two paintings of our rehearsals at that time - one (which appeared on a WMV postcard) is now in the collection of Ori and Leslie Soltes, and the other hangs on our dining room wall.

The rehearsal of the Brahms Quintet was so beautiful I could hardly stand it - we played it through almost without a break. This quintet has been an obsession with me since I was a kid. It is one of those works that seems to get at the essence of something - what is it? Maybe something about the fundamental meaning of sixth chords, and their cousins the thirds. It speaks of wood, trees, forests, and human passions, all together. It is a work that seems to emerge from the ground as an inevitable creation, rather than as a personal statement. The composer struggled considerably with the birth of this work, and it shows in many ways. If it were a sculpture, there would be few smooth surfaces, and many chisel marks. Some of the abrupt modulations read as if they were an abbreviated report of a long and painful thought process. The string players in this group are unspeakably masterful. Playing with them on Friday was one of the most satisfying sessions of music-making that I have ever experienced.

Last week we rehearsed Masa Mitsumoto's new Divertimento - it is brilliant and funny. The 3rd movement, "Let's go shopping," has a sly bit of wedding march snuck into it, followed by the mock tragic "Repentance". Masa insists on writing music that people enjoy - it must be a result of his Hollywood years.