Life is full of surprises. Apparently ‘this is the first published work of Cage’s to feature the guitar’. Press release:
Boston – Celebrated composer John Cage’s official publisher, Edition Peters, issued Aaron Larget-Caplan’s arrangement of “Six Melodies” for violin and guitar in December, marking the first of Cage’s compositions to be officially published with guitar.
“Six Melodies” is an early work by John Cage, written in 1955, and originally for violin and keyboard. Aaron’s arrangement explores and expands on the timbre (color) qualities of the guitar in place of the keyboard and the guitar’s more intimate sound compliments the unique violin playing for a truly complimentary duo.
“Six Melodies” is quite approachable for audiences though their ability to transport listeners to other realms must be considered when programming”, Larget-Caplan said. “Music progressions and hierarchy of pitches take a backseat to an expansive exploration of timbre and rhythm.”
photo (c) Betty Freeman/Lebrecht Music&Arts
Beginning a weekend diary by Anthea Kreston, new 2nd violinist of the Artemis Quartet.
Part 1: Packing up my life.
May 20, 1995
Dear Diary,
Last night a truly spectacular thing happened. I am here at Juilliard with my string quartet as a participant in the Juilliard Advanced Quartet Seminar, and last night was the final concert. Quartets from around the world are here – wonderful, amazing quartets – to work intensely, one-on-one with the Juilliard quartet. I recently graduated from Curtis, and am in Cleveland with the Avalon quartet – we have been together for a year working with Donald Weilerstein and Peter Salaff of the Cleveland Quartet.
As a musician, my goal is to always find that intangible quality – I am not sure what to call it – Time Travel? Full Heart Experience? Where time stands still, all that exists is the music and my heart – an Out-Of-Body experience. I have been able to enter “The Zone” for years – I am addicted! But it has only ever happened when I am playing by myself. To enter “The Zone” with others – is this possible?
Last night was the final concert. After we played, I went to hear the rest of the quartets play. There is a quartet here from Germany – the Artemis Quartet. They played Schubert G Major. Wait – they didn’t play it – they WERE it. Somehow it happened. They took me with them – without even realizing it – I felt like the world stopped and my heart opened – and I traveled with them to this heart-stopping, incredible world. Time Stood Still. When it was over, I reached up and felt my face wet with tears. I had entered ” The Zone” with strangers. I was addicted. To the Artemis Quartet.
January 23, 2016
Fast forward 20 years, a full career later, a husband of 18 years, children, a full life. In my living room of my old beautiful home in rural Oregon, surrounded by a loving community and friends. I am packing. We are moving all together – husband, two children (age 4&6) to Berlin because I am the new second violinist of the Artemis Quartet. We leave in 16 days. So begins the journey of a lifetime.
We have received a complaint (below) from a concertgoer who was thrown out of a dress rehearsal Symphony Hall together with her quiet, 20 month-old child. Although the rules prohibit under-4s in the hall, Adele Ohki – herself the child of professional musicians – insists her baby would not have made a murmur.
Along similar lines, this morning, La Scala Milan announced a Sunday afternoon concerts for bambini at one Euro a ticket, and the Kansas City Symphony is actually bringing babies onto its stage (read here and pictured below).
So, before you read Adele’s distressing story from Boston, let’s just see where we stand. Are small children a concert nuisance or a glowing opportunity? Should we stick to the no babes under 4 rule? Are we turning off the future? Think about it…
Here’s Adele:
I wanted to bring to attention a post I recently made on my own private Facebook page, regarding an incident that just happened on Thursday at the Boston Symphony. I’d like to bring to the attention of the public the discriminatory and exclusionary practice they have of denying entry to patrons with young children. I was denied entry to a dress rehearsal, and meanwhile, musicians and administrative staff are constantly talking about how they are trying to increase attendance at orchestra concerts and inspire the next generation of musicians. Just this week, Boston Symphony announced that they would offer “casual Friday’s”, where they would invite the public to come dressed in casual clothes, and follow the score on an iPad. I think this is a topic that should be heard by the public, and discussed in a public forum, otherwise the policy will never change. Although the Boston Symphony do offer 2-3 concerts a year that are open to families, these concerts are not with the full symphony orchestra, and are not very frequent, and do not feature the same soloists or personnel as the regular programming. As I am a violinist and freelancer myself, I know many of the musicians in the orchestra and in the Boston area, and I have received a lot of attention and feedback about my original Facebook post, with many people urging me to go public, and share my concerns.
The original post I wrote is below: “I can now add to my list of life accomplishments the privileged position of having been KICKED OUT of Symphony Hall. For Xmas this year, my husband bought my 20 month old son and I tickets to a DRESS rehearsal, not a performance, of the Boston Symphony, at 10am this morning. So, we duly showed up to the symphony, and were allowed in the door. Our tickets were swiped, and when we went to take our seats, we were confronted by the head usher, who told us we were not allowed inside, and must remain outside in the hall. I explained that we were just going to be sitting in the balcony, and were only going to listen to the Moldau anyway, and then leave. My son was in a fine mood, and was behaving in an exemplary fashion. He wasn’t crying, or making a fuss. The people making the huge fuss were the ushers. They told me I could sit in the cafe and watch on the monitor, where the ushers and cafe staff were bashing around dishes and talking on their wallow-talkies loudly. I was made to feel HUMILIATED and discriminated against. I was given uncomfortable stares by the patrons, and at no point was I given an apology. When the rehearsal started, I decided, what the hell, why not just sneak in the door while the ushers aren’t looking? They were being completely unreasonable anyway. As a daughter to two professional violinists, I don’t know how many times I did that when I was a kid and my parents were playing. But gone are the days you can do that without being noticed. I was then yelled at, while the door was open to the performance, and physically removed from the balcony…with VALID tickets. In front of my little one, who was still silent and engrossed and fascinated in the music. SHAME on Boston Symphony. I thought we were trying to encourage the upcoming generations to appreciate classical music? Whatever happened to that concept?!
UPDATE: A positive response from the Boston Symphony here.
Rosana Martins, in Rio, has shared this backstage get-together of four old pals and one new at the Philharmonie in Paris.
Rosna writes: The recital took place in one of the small halls in the Philharmonie and was organized by André Furno, the founder of the concert series “Piano **** ” in homage to his late wife. All the artists travelled performed without fee, including Elisabeth Leonskaja, cellist Edgar Moreau and Valentina Lisitsa. It was a private concert only for invited guests, among which were Alfred Brendel and Caecilia Bartoli, very good friends of the deceased.
The second from the right is Didier de Cottignies, the Orchestre de Paris artistic advisor, who was there as a guest.
The rest are used to having their names up in lights.
Name them?
We hear from players in the orchestra that the Guiyang Symphony in southwest China, has named Rico Saccani as its next new music director.
Saccani, 63, is a former music director of the Budapest Philharmonic ans principal guest at the Hungarian Opera.
Guiyang, one of China’s leading orchestras, opens its auditions to overseas players. Saccani’s appointment signals its intent to play on the world stage.
Carnegie Hall has called off the rest of its weekend performances due to heavy snow.
The Met has no performance tonight.
Benny Gal-Ed, former head of the Jerusalem Music Centre and the America-Israel cultural foundation, has died of cancer, his family have announced. He was 71.
Benny offered financial and moral support to three generations of artists, dancers and musicians.
The soprano has posted this picture of her leg on Instagram after a stage accident.
She assures followers that it is not life threatening.
Ari Vilhjalmsson, who was bumped off Norwegian after refusing to stow his instrument in cargo, has ended the week on a high note.
He has been confirmed as co-principal second violin of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, and Norwegian has not only apologised to him but promised to change its policy in respect of on-board instruments.
The apology reads: ‘We are very sorry about the problems that Ari encountered with his violin and fully understand that his experience was very frustrating. Due to this situation, Norwegian is currently in the process of modifying our guidelines for the transportation of musical instruments. We would like to apologise to Ari for the problems he encountered.’
This sounds like a win-win.
We are very sorry to learn of the sudden death on Friday of Robert Tuggle, Director of Archives at the Metropolitan Opera for more than 34 years. He was 83, still at work on the day of his death.
Before reaching the Met, Bob worked in the education department of the Metropolitan Opera Guild, starting in 1957 when he was 24 years old. He knew all there was to know about opera history in New York.
Bob was one of the friendliest faces in an often crabby organisation. We worked together happily on researching Gustav Mahler’s brief period at the Met.
He had been working for some years on a biography of Kirsten Flagstad.
