Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
FEBRUARY 23, 2020 – Someone in my book club (not I) had the bright idea of choosing a biography of Beethoven by the American scholar/composer/teacher, Jan Swafford. Nearly 1,000 pages long, this “score” is no beach book. I’m only at page 420—with 12 days before our book club meeting. I’d previously read George Marek’s tome about …
December 9, 2019 – Yesterday I came off a satisfying practice session with my good friend and piano collaborator, Sally S. As I drove away, I said to myself, “That piece is coming along.” We plan to perform it at our annual house concerts—this time in the spring. “That piece” is the Mendelssohn violin concerto. …
SEPTEMBER 21, 2019 – Yesterday evening my wife and I joined 20 others to hear one sensationalist artist, Steve Copes on violin, accompanied by another phenomenon, Hanna Hjunjung Kim, deliver a pinnacle performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1. For 35 minutes, our lower jaws were in dangle mode. At the end, we were …