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TRIBUTE In Warm Remembrance October 3, 2002
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By Mack McCray
A moving and highly appropriate musical tribute to the memory of Nathan
Schwartz was presented last Thursday in the San Francisco
Conservatory's Hellman Hall, where Nate had performed in countless memorable
concerts. The evening was moving not only because of the high level and
spontaneity of the playing, but because of the current of deep feeling
running throughout the hall, in both players and audience. That the tribute
was appropriate was seen in detail after detail during the entire evening of music-making.
As I passed through the lobby and into Hellman Hall I saw faces that I
hadn't seen in twenty years, as well as people I had been working with three
hours ago. The hall was filled to capacity with musical luminaries from the
Bay Area, scholars and writers and artists, old students as well as new ones,
Nate's fellow teachers and performers from the Conservatory faculty, and of
course numerous music lovers from the faithful audience he had given so much
to over the years.
The first work on the program was Schubert's last piano sonata in B-flat
Major, D.V. 960, performed lovingly and with remarkable freedom by Paul
Hersh. This great and graceful sonata, written in the year of Schubert's
death and performed with depth and knowledgable care by an artist who was a
longtime friend and collaborator with Nate, was one of Nate's favorite works,
one which he himself often performed.
Following the Schubert was a videotaped performance of Schwartz and his wife, cellist Bonnie Hampton in their final Hellman Hall concert on March 17, 2002, playing the Beethoven Cello Sonata in C Major, Opus 102, No.1. The C Major sonata is one of Beethoven's gentle enigmas, elusive and as mysterious as the famous model's smile, a perfect choice for the occasion. The wisdom and sublety produced by the long years these two noble artists spent together, studying and thinking and loving and performing this music, simply humbled every musician in the hall. The concluding performance of the Dvorak Piano Quintet in A Major, Opus 81, was appropriate in that it asked us to consider other aspects of Nate Schwartz. The group consisted of colorfully mixed forces: violinist Ian Swenson represented the "Young Turks" of the Conservatory, that group of newer, younger artist/teachers who recognized Nate's great gifts and happily worked at his side, while Bonnie Hampton and Paul Hersh (now playing viola) represented the distinguished Old Guard, scarred and decorated from years of service to music. Pianist Seth Knopp, a former student of Nate's and now a chamber music colleague during summer festivals, and violinist Beatrice Kohlloeffel, a current chamber music student at the Conservatory, completed the quintet, in the process representing the spirit of Nate's commitment to performing with younger and older musicians, and with students as well. Even the passionate performance, distinguished by fervent and radiant playing rather than by scrupulous ensemble, represented Nate's musical energy and his willingness to take chances — if you knew him you could hear his voice saying "Let's try this!" or "Why not try that?" There could not have been a more perfect choice than this sunny, sweet, luminous music. In this age of relentless modern tragedies, with the resulting street corners and walls piled with flowers, teddy bears and photographs, there is something that inspires hope and pride in a musical tribute. We sense the generous evocation of a human spirit in the performance of music, and the sheer wordlessness and lack of a limited vocabulary send our consciousness arcing out into unexpected infinities. Finally, there is a hint of defiance in the act: a determined gathering together, a fierce celebration of the joy of beauty even in the face of fading memory, and that exultant final whisper of Camus' dying Emperor, "I'm still alive!"
(Mack McCray is a concert pianist and a
member of the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.)
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Nathan Schwartz