Watch.

Serge Babayan: ‘I felt that God was present’.

babayan argerich

 

It takes more than four to run a world-class quartet. Latest diary instalment from Anthea Kreston, American violinist in the Berlin-based Artemis Quartet:

 

artemis quartet new

Tomorrow we head out together for the first of our European concerts together. This week was a bustle as usual – with what I like to think of the “Artemis Family of 12”.  We, the four Artemis, three spouses, now 5 children, and we mustn’t neglect the vibrant and energetic Vineta entourage, which seems to be endless and completely eclectic. Between the 12 of us, we support, encourage, and look out for one another. There is not a rehearsal or meeting which passes without a home-cooked dinner being handed to a member with too much (or, I suppose, too little) on his or her plate, an offer for a ride, or some well-needed support of one kind or another.

This past week I was able to get a glimpse into the extended Artemis family, which has been in every way as supportive and varied as the immediate family. Our three house concerts this week were a great way to grow musically, to understand each other’s style on stage, and to begin, for me, the integration into this culture, language, and nuance of my job in this new world.

The three concerts were very different indeed. All hosted by dear friends of the Artemis who have been presenting house concerts for years. The first was in a suburb of Berlin, and the hosts were retired professionals with a passion as adult amateur musicians. At the last moment, I declined the generous offer for a ride, instead opting for an hour public transport and a 20 minute walk amongst the budding trees and bird calls heralding the onset of spring.  My solo trips on buses and U-Bahn are precious to me – a time for me to reflect on my own, to reconsider decisions or take in the sights out of the window (I love the double decker buses here) or the faces across from me on the subway. The walk took me down cobblestones trees, amongst what amounted to miniature palaces – replete with small crenelated towers.  When I arrived at the home, a wooden bridge lighted with votive candles lead me into a warm and inviting home, filled with antiques and original art – from paintings to ceramics. The program was Mozart K387, Shostakovich 5 and Beethoven Op. 59 #1. I must admit to a bit of a racing mind while I was psychologically getting my head around the fact that I was, indeed, standing amongst these three great musicians, playing alongside as an equal. What a heady experience.

The reception was lovely – people were warm and clearly knew this quartet well – eager to speak with me and to offer help in any way they could. The schooling options for our oldest daughter is not as straight-forward as we had thought, and several concertgoer have stepped up to help us navigate both this, health insurance, and housing. The reception food included a Greek tart, salads, cheeses and a selection of decadent deserts. Gifts for all of us and our families were given at the end – coloring books about Berlin for the girls and a compilation of short stories about Berlin for myself.

Following this was a day off to watch the video of the concert, reflect, and rest. Jason and I continued to look for apartments. Then a full day of reworking the repertoire followed by a second house concert.

The second house concert was held in the heart of old East Berlin – hosted by an impressive older woman who owns the top two floors of a historic building, in which she lives as well as owns and curates an extensive modern art museum.  The concert space was a large two story white room, with seating for around 150 people. The walls displayed large-scale paintings and sculpture and the backdrop of the performance space was a larger-than-life Frank Stella sculpture – about 20 feet tall and wide and jutted into the room by 10 feet. In this concert we played Janacek “Kreutzer Sonata”, Beethoven Op. 59 #1 and Grieg. I had gained confidence and was able to have my head more in the concert. The reception consisted of all vegetarian fare – a cold lentil salad, a green salad and a beet salad as well as a cold citrus pasta and breads and cheeses. The audience was varied – the young hip crowd mingled with the older established audience members.

Again there was a time to recoup, watch the video, and rework our pieces before the final house concert Thursday evening. I had my work visa appointment and now can legally work in Germany. The final concert was in Charlottenberg, an urban affluent section of town with many old beautiful buildings. Again a penthouse apartment – a full floor – and an incredible art collection.  In the living room, people pulled up chairs and the tables and couches were pushed to the side. The program was Mozart K387, Janacek Kreutzer Sonata and Grieg. Dinner after was a warm pasta and a dessert of fruit and chocolate.  This was the concert in which I finally felt in full stride – able to play with full sound and passion, to be able to look up easily from my part, and to be fully engaged from start to finish.

Now I am packing for our concerts – we meet at the airport early tomorrow morning. I am feeling confident and secure.  The feeling on-stage is of complete support for one another. No judgement, only encouragement. I am looking forward to this immensely! This time next week we will be in Amsterdam (Jason and the girls will be coming to Amsterdam with us) with five concerts under our belt. Here goes!

Contrary to his reputation as a tunnel-visioned conservative, the Bayreuth music director tells Der Standard that he learned a lot from two trailblazers in baroque performance and contemporary music.

Of Nikolaus Harnoncourt, he says: ‘He was an ear-opener.’

Of Pierre Boulez’s Parsifal at Bayreuth: ‘I attended all his rehearsals. He was a musical authority of a kind rarely experienced.’

STANDARD: Neben Harnoncourt ist unlängst auch Pierre Boulez gestorben. Beide Epochengestalten scheinen für Sie künstlerisch aber keine große Rolle gespielt zu haben. Thielemann: Da muss ich widersprechen! Ich habe bei Harnoncourt sehr genau zugehört und mir viele Gedanken gemacht über die Art und Weise, wie er die Dinge interpretiert hat. Es war schon erstaunlich, zu welchen Lösungen er kam, da wurden einem die Ohren geöffnet! Boulez habe ich sehr häufig erlebt, in Oper und Konzert. Bewundernswert, mit welch kleinteiliger, wunderbar unaufgeregter Dirigierweise er Details offenlegte. Als er in Bayreuth den Parsifal dirigierte, habe ich alle seine Proben angehört. Es war ganz anders, als man es gewöhnt war. Beeindruckend aber, mit welcher Freundlichkeit er seine Ideen durchgesetzt hat. Er hat alles erreicht, ohne je unangenehm oder laut zu werden. Er war eine musikalische Autorität, wie man sie nur ganz selten erlebt hat.

 

thielemann wagner

From Peter Donohoe:

I am floored by the news that Keith Emerson of Emerson Lake and Palmer shot himself on Thursday.

keith emerson

 

To the degree that any rock group could have influenced me in the long term, ELP was the one that did the most. It was always an ambition of mine to meet any of the three of them in my adult life and in my position as a classical musician, and tell them how much they had inspired me when I was a teenager and beyond.

I was introduced to their music as a first year music student at the University of Leeds in 1971, when at a late night party in a friend’s study at our hall of residence he was playing one unwelcome  rock LP after another, and then suddenly ELP’s first album came on and made a very big impact on me – and impact that has lasted until the present day. I immediately wanted to emulate Keith Emerson – as if I stood a chance….

It was partly the obvious fact that the trio were genuinely classically aware, and openly demonstrated their respect for classical music. It was also that they formed a genuine fusion between rock and jazz. But, most of all, given my age at that time, it was their virtuosity and their uninhibited aggression that attracted me.

All three had a command of several instruments, and an inventiveness of which I was unaware in any other rock group. Given that my primary musical discipline was the piano, I particularly admired Keith Emerson’s finger brilliance very much, and found his use of the piano, electric piano, electric organ, other electrical keyboards, and perhaps most of all, the recently developed Moog synthesiser, quite fantastic.

On ELP’s first album, a number called ‘The Barbarian’ was effectively an arrangement of Bartok’s Allegro Barbaro, and the main theme from the opening movement of Janacek’s Sinfonietta formed the basis of ‘Knife Edge’.

Very soon after my first encounter with their music, they produced a live recording of their highly suspicious version of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, which although somewhat crass and pretentious, was also great fun, and I enjoyed hearing it many times.

However, it was ‘Tank’ that really struck me most – the very first track I ever heard by ELP – in that it highlighted the keyboard brilliance, the importance of the bass guitar leading rather than following, a long drum solo and the prominence of the Moog, all in one number.

I spent the next months revelling in all their releases to date, going to several of their concerts. They were exciting to the point of delirium, and for me represent that era – and that stage of my own development – to an extraordinary degree. There was also a show of violence at the end of each performance as Keith Emerson made as if to have a fight to the death with his electronic organ, which he stabbed several times and produced fake blood. This phallic symbolism was the naff side of ELP’s style, but of course it created a talking point and added to the ethos of aggression that we all loved. I certainly loved the megalomania, and the spectacle, but underneath all of that there was big musical talent that really struck home.

Keith Emerson’s stage presence, inventiveness and originality, genuineness and – I suspect, hidden underneath that youthful aggression – his gentleness, had more impact on my long term professional life than I can say, and I regret very much not having made the opportunity to tell him so.

I think one can sense the underlying modesty of the man from the way he is obviously genuinely touched – and possibly awestruck – from these two clips from recent performances, one of which is a complete performance of Emerson’s Piano Concerto by Jeffrey Biegel. Whatever opinion of the music one may have, there is no doubt that he was a very fine person.

 

From Jeffrey Biegel:

I am very saddened, as we were close friends, he was , in my eyes, like an older brother. Most of the commentary I read from his fans is how Keith and his work with various groups, The Nice, ELP, etc, turned them on to classical music. My friendship with Keith began in his later years, starting around 2000. The last chapters of Keith’s life were quite special. Many of his fans may not be aware of the following testament: I came to know Keith around 2000, thanks to Daniel Dorff at Theodore Presser (music publishers). I learned much of his Piano Concerto #1 ‘by ear’, and was sent the score. I immediately learned it, and scheduled a performance with the NJ Bergen Philharmonic in 2002. I sent a fax message to Keith, and he warmly replied. We then started an email exchange, which finally led to phone conversations. We first met in February 2008 when I performed with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, and Keith attended along with Mari and brought his beloved bird, cage and all, to the Sheraton Hotel! In April 2008, he attended my performance of his Piano Concerto #1 (written in 1977) with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, Steven Larsen conducting. We became close friends, and met again in Oregon when I performed his concerto with the Rogue Valley Symphony, conducted by Martin Majkut. It was there that David Woodford and Jason Woodford filmed us for a documentary of Keith’s life. Maestro Jeff Reed then invited us to the Orchestra Kentucky of Bowling Green for a joint performance where I performed Keith’s concerto, Keith performed works with the orchestra, conducted one of his orchestral pieces, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts and Humanities. This was around 2013. In 2014, we celebrated his 70th birthday in a concert with the South Shore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Scott Jackson Wiley, with hundreds of fans waiting until after 1am to meet their idol. I was determined to help make Keith’s name iconic to the next generation. The icing on the cake came in 2015. Keith gave his blessing to me to record his Piano Concerto #1–making it the second recording of the concerto only after his own in 1977 with the London Philharmonic. Joined with the Brown University Orchestra and their Maestro Paul Schuyler Phillips, Naxos and Naxos of America released the recording bearing the title of Neil Sedaka’s ‘Manhattan Intermezzo’ along with Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Duke Ellington’s ‘New World A-Comin’. The cd was released January 8, 2016, and Keith gave interviews with Joe McKesson’s Dash Classical, Sirius XM (yet to be aired) and others. Everything seemed to be on the upswing. Keith also performed in concert for a festival in Palermo in September 2015 with Scott Jackson Wiley conducting, and Primavera Shima performed his piano concerto. He had also performed at MoogFest and made an appearance at The NAMM Show, and performed in Europe and was scheduled to travel to Japan next month. I was just on the verge of sharing with him that it seemed likely that he might have been the recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Music from a prestigious college in the US sometime in 2017. Unfortunately, only Keith had control of his destiny ultimately. It is my hope that all of his fans and friends will remember him by continuing to promote his music and perform his music when it is possible. I will continue to perform his piano concerto when the opportunities present themselves, and hope the next generation of young pianists will take interest to perform it as well. I will miss him, and it is only now becoming reality after yesterday’s shocking news.

keith emerson bob moog

Bob Moog, Keith Emerson

Khatia Buniatishvili, appearing live this week on Le Petit Journal, was described by presenter Yann Barthès as being ‘like Beyoncé, with the physique of a Hollywood superstar.’

He asked her to play music for different occasions, including ‘pour faire l’amour’.

She obliges, pouting, at 5:30:

(Apparently, Piazzolla does the trick.)

khatia-buniatishvili-petrouchka-de-stravinsky-le-petit-journal-du-10-03-x240-hA7

Google, on wat would have been her 105th birthday, published a doodle of the Theremin virtuoso Clara Rockmore this week.

How good was she? This good.

rockmore doodle