Amid all the fabulous concerts that are part of the Music@Menlo 2013 festival, “Through Bach”, don’t overlook this one, in which Soovin Kim will cut a swath through four centuries of violin repertoire in one astonishing program. Kim begins with an excerpt from Heinrich Biber’s “Mystery Sonatas” (ca. 1674) and continues through Esa Pekka Salonen’s 2002 Lachen verlernt and Jörg Widmann’s Etude (also 2002). Along the way he bumps into Paganini’s Caprices, Bela Bartok’s Violin Sonata, variations on “The Last Rose of Summer,” and, of course, Bach. No accompanying pianist, just Kim. If he pulls it off, the result may be the most memorable concert of the whole festival.
Michael Zwiebach is the senior editor/content manager for SFCV. He assigns all articles and content, manages the writing staff, and does editing. A member of SFCV from the beginning, Michael holds a Ph.D. in music history from the University of California, Berkeley.