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LISTENERS' BOX
April 4, 2006
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Responses to Recent Issues
Re: The Young and the Beautiful
One item that Mr. Sandow did not mention about "young people" today was that they don't see music as divided as strictly into styles. Or, at least, they don't think that a particular style of music — classical, rock, jazz, etc. — is limited to only certain classes or kinds of people. My experience with young people — and I do mean people in their 20s and 30s — is that they will take on any kind music with an open, accepting attitude.
________Russell J. Bitterman
You forgot to mention a few items: Both of Declan's parents were professional musicians, albeit not classical musicians. He also worked with the Brodsky Quartet and composed the Juliet Letters. This album also had interesting music to present interesting stories.
I bought Il Sogno as soon as I found it on the shelf. I have been a listener of Elvis Costello since he began in the late 1970s, so it is not a surprise to me that he was able to compose an engaging, fresh piece such as this — with appropriate uses of raucous humor in the story.
________Russell J. Bitterman
Re: Missing in Action
I know it is impossible to cover all concerts, many of them worthy and underpublicized, but it was most regrettable that a major artist such as Vadim Repin, performing on the Cal Performances series on March 26, was seemingly overlooked on your Web site.
The man is really a consummate artist with virtuosic ability in the most noble sense of the word, all put to the service of the music. The highlight of the generally superb playing was the elusive and extraordinarily challenging Schubert Fantasia for Violin and Piano in C Major, which was astoundingly beautifully played by both Repin and his colleague [pianist Nicolai Lugansky], every bit his equal. The virtuosic complexities of the piece were handled with uncommonly controlled élan, grace, and aplomb, [as well as] unbelievably natural control that didn't sound studied. [These] lent a glorious sheen and majesty to the big picture of the piece, which was more than the individual flowers that you usually hear. Not that there weren't many of the flowers, especially in the theme and variations, which were played at a tempo that truly accommodated the proper pace and expression of the theme, which was not sacrificed, as usual, to accommodate the difficulty and complexity of the passagework in the variations.
Amazingly, although brisk in tempo, none of them sounded busy, scrambled, or hectic, but simply gorgeous as the music spun out so seemingly naturally in magnificent ensemble and a true blending of their musical minds. If they sacrificed a little of the Schubertian lilt in the middle section of the second movement because of the brisk tempo, it was just a matter of interpretation and preference, as their version was so magnificently rendered it seemed equally valid as a welcome, different approach, played with great conviction and style.
I don't think the audience had any idea of the greatness of the playing that they were hearing. People are numbed by all the razzle dazzle, Lang Lang type of playing, and the seemingly endless trail of sameness where ego is king, so that playing of this sort that isn't "in your face" just doesn't register. Repin is not the showman of a Vengerov, and is somewhat detached from the audience, although not quite so stiff as Kissin, and perhaps the audience feels some of this, rather than simply just listening.
He also played the Pärt Fratres, Bartók's Rhapsodie for Violin and Piano No. 1 (which I don't think is one of his better works), and the Franck Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major, all of which were finely rendered, but it was the Schubert that kept revolving in my mind, and still is, in all its glory.
Just when one thinks that the great, original recital is virtually dead these days, and one tires of the boring overload of our computer generation of little machines that pass for musicians, along comes something truly special like this concert.
________Dave Gross
Did I miss it, or did you not cover the magnificent recital given by violinist Vadim Repin and pianist Nicolai Lugansky? There cannot be a much better violin-piano duo at present in the world than these two! It seems that Joshua Kosman did not cover this exceptional recital either. Is it that music critics "don't do matinees"?
________Didier de Fontaine
[MICKEY BUTTS RESPONDS: Despite appearances from covering as many as a dozen concerts each week, far more than any local publication, SFCV does not have the funds, the writers, or the staff necessary to publish reviews of every one of the Bay Area's rich profusion of classical music events. I am flattered that the expectation is there, however. In this case, every attempt was made to cover this worthy event, but we were unfortunately not successful. Thanks to Dave for his thoughtful review, and to both of you for noticing.]
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