how could I forget to post? First, the sextets. Znaider is a wonderful player, which was true not only in our chamber concert but in his Beethoven concerto with the CSO later in the week. He was also a gracious colleague and compelling leader. We had two rehearsals, and that was just about right. Not [...]
for tomorrow’s 7:30 PM Donor Appreciation concert on stage at Symphony Center. Nikolaj Znaider is in town to lead the sextets (Schoenberg’s Verklarte Night and Brahms’ B-flat) and we have our first meeting this afternoon. Should be a great time, as sextets usually are!
Akiko reminds me that another time Znaider was in town, also playing [...]
I have never been this nervous before. The house lights dim and the applause fades, replaced with that peculiar stuffy silence that anticipates the first note of a concert. The four players on stage lock eyes. But I am in the audience, not one of them. So why is my heart pounding? Because the quartet [...]
An instructive comment from a quartet coaching:
A few months after I formed the Grancino String Quartet with Zach DePue, Jessi Thompson and Priscilla Lee, we were fortunate enough to go up to New York for a quartet coaching with Mr. Galimir. At this point he had stopped coming down to Curtis except for rare visits [...]
My last conversation with Felix Galimir took place at Marlboro, in the summer of 1999. Lunch had just ended, and musicians were meandering out of the dining hall. A voice caught my ear: “Nathan…” I turned to see him shaking a crooked finger at me. “What should we play together?” I was incredibly moved, since [...]
The Mendelssohn Octet is one of the first pieces that every chamber musician falls in love with. Fun to play, fun to hear, fun to study. Every measure reflects the idealistic side of the 16-year-old composer. It’s also one of the most popular pieces to read whenever large groups of string players assemble. However, since [...]
We stared at an empty coach’s chair. It was unusual, said the other three, for Felix Galimir to be late. So we brushed up a few passages, alternating playing with talking, mostly questions tinged with nervous anticipation. Our cellist asked if we thought Galimir would hear the entire Haydn quartet or just the first movement. [...]
