Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
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 …