WMV Music Web Log

I was down in Fredericksburg on Tuesday to rehearse Faure´ with Karyn Friedman and Bach with Gary Poster. These are both glorious singers who happen to be married and are very busy with their two little boys. So baby sitting is a key issue. Bran's runny nose kept him home during the rehearsal, so he popped in every now and then. It has got to be a different kind of childhood to hear those gorgeous voices all the time growing up.

I get to do some serious listening on these trips to Fredericksburg. This time it was Charlie Barnett's "4 Cities", Poulenc Sextet, Saint-Saens Septet, Shostakovich Quintet, and Leo Smit Trio. I didn't get to the Hans Gal Trio, which kept sliding off the seat. I was not in the mood for Shostakovich - it is the recording of the composer performing with the Beethoven String Quartet. Oddly, the Shostakovich sounded very Beethoven-related - the fugue comes right out of Op. 131. The Smit was very exciting - I want to play it with Betty Hauck and Ben Redwine, and they like it too. The big surprise was the Saint-Saens. My general impression of his music is that he was sparing of his inspiration, offering a few great moments scattered here and there through otherwise fairly pedestrian works. What was striking about the Septet, however, is that every time the trumpet comes in, one thinks, "what a fine instrument the trumpet is, how noble, how pure, how exciting...!" Either the trumpet player on this recording is a genius, or the composer found a way to make every entrance a dramatic opportunity, or both.