Newsletter,
Summer 2011
A
word from John Montanari.............................................
John
Montanari
Artistic Director
Attention
music lovers! Could you use a bit more allegro in your
moderato ? Are you suffering from acute Beethoven withdrawal?
Do viola jokes make you cry? Then step right up and try Music
In Deerfield's magical elixir: a program of six concerts over
six months, guaranteed to restore your sonic vigor and cure the
chamber music blues.
The
season opens on October 1 with an evening to satisfy even the
hungriest Beethoven fans: all five of his Sonatas for Cello and
Piano in one fabulous concert. On hand will be Pieter Wispelwey,
the Dutch cellist whose combination of fire and sensitivity have
earned him fans all over the world and here in the Pioneer Valley
through his previous MID performances. His collaborator will be
Lois Shapiro, the Boston-area pianist who matches Wispelwey's
interpretive skills note for note.
She's
been called "the pianists' pianist for Generation X"
and a throwback to such high priestesses of Bach as Wanda Landowska
and Myra Hess. She's been interviewed by NPR, the Wall Street
Journal and even the Howard Stern Show. Her new album “Bach: A
Strange Beauty” even cracked the Billboard Top 200. And on October
29, young American pianist Simone Dinnerstein plays just for you—or
it will seem that way during her program of Bach and Schumann.
Over
a six-week period every summer, top musicians from many generations
gather in southern Vermont to explore great works of the chamber
literature, only performing them when they feel they have gotten
the maximum from the music. Then, select repertoire from each
summer is featured on nationwide tours, one of which comes to
MID on November 11. That's when Musicians from Marlboro will perform
gorgeous String Quintets by Mozart and Mendelssohn, and the Quartet
No. 1 of 1906 by the English composer Frank Bridge.
Known
for their electrifying programming, the Boston-based Borromeo
Quartet will literally plug in for their concert of January 21,
in order to perform one of the most compelling artistic statements
of the last generation. In his “Different Trains”, Steve Reich
superimposes segments of interviews conducted with people recalling
train travel in the U.S. before World War II, as well as Holocaust
survivors describing life and trains during and after the War.
The combination of speech, sound effects and Reich's motoric but
flexible music results in a work of rare and visceral impact.
And the intensity will not lessen when the Borromeo performs Schubert's
“Death and the Maiden” Quartet on the second half.
Also
based in Boston, the Jupiter String Quartet came to prominence
as resident ensemble with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln
Center. In their tenth season, the Jupiter recently took the major
step that all quartets must in their careers, by performing Beethoven's
complete quartets in concerts in New England and at the Aspen
Festival. They'll show us what they've got on February 4 with
works by three of the greatest quartet composers: Haydn (Op. 77,
No. 2), Beethoven (“Harp”) and Bartók (No. 6).
You
know what Music In Deerfield hasn't done in a long time? Present
the premiere of a major new chamber work. So, on March 31, our
season-concluding concert will feature the latest String Quartet
by Donald Wheelock, who recently retired after a long and productive
career on the faculty of Smith College, and whose works form a
worthy and distinguished contribution to the musical traditions
created and continued by the other composers on our series. Performing
will be the Ciompi Quartet, resident ensemble at Duke University
and frequent performers in New England, joined by flutist Laura
Gilbert, artistic director of New Hampshire's Monadnock Music
Festival.
So,
let's see…an evening of Beethoven, a stellar pianist, a world
premiere and three of New England's best ensembles. That ought
to keep you satisfied for while!
Newsletter,
Summer 2010
A
word from John Montanari.............................................
John
Montanari
Artistic Director
OK,
it's still early summer. Tanglewood has barely begun, and the
sweet corn is still weeks away. But before you know it,
the days will shorten, the leaves will reveal their inner brilliance,
and the time will come to put our summer music away and settle
in for the hearty sounds of fall and winter. When that time comes,
Music In Deerfield will be ready with a 32nd season filled with
superb artists and rich repertoire, beckoning you to join us and
your fellow music lovers for six concerts in the comfortable confines
of Smith College, Sweeny Concert Hall.
A
couple of seasons ago, after playing one of the late quartets
in their first Music In Deerfield appearance, I knew that the
Chiara Quartet was the right group to play the next complete Beethoven
cycle for us. Now half-way through their series, I join you in
eager anticipation of their three all-Beethoven concerts this
season. One interesting feature will be the Quartet in B-flat
Major, Opus 130, done “both” ways—with the alternate finale (Beethoven's
last music) on October 30, 2009, and with the original finale,
the amazing Grosse Fuge, on March 5, 2011.
Imagine
this: a two-CD set of J. S. Bach's complete Suites for Solo Cello
making it to #1 on the Billboard Classical chart, and remaining
there for several weeks. Now, imagine the artist featured in the
set coming to Northampton to play all six Bach Suites in one evening.
That's what will happen on November 20, 2009, when American cellist
Zuill Bailey occupies the Sweeney stage all by himself for a special
concert starting at 7:00 p.m. This should be a hot ticket, so
get yours early. Then, enter Zuill's name in the search window
at npr.org to listen back to an interesting conversation.
Experienced
record collectors (I won't say how experienced) may
recall a series of chamber music recordings on the Harmonia Mundi
France label featuring a flexible group known as “Les Musiciens.”
On February 18, 2011, three mainstays of the group (pianist Jean-Claude
Pennetier, violinist Régis Pasquier and cellist Roland
Pidoux) will feature trios by two of the most French of composers,
Gabriel Fauré and Maurice Ravel, along with a masterful
trio by Robert Schumann.
Speaking
of Fauré, perhaps the greatest French composer of chamber
music: The second of his two sensuous Piano Quartets (i.e., quartets
for piano and strings) will highlight the March 26, 2011, concert
by the Los Angeles Piano Quartet. In its 34th season, the LAPQ
is the standard-bearing American ensemble specializing in this
combination of instruments. But not content to stick exclusively
to the classic works in the genre, they'll also play a 2010 work
by Kamran Ince, an intriguing Turkish-American composer.
So…Beethoven
Quartets, Bach's Cello Suites, two French masters and something
new and different. That ought to keep us going until next summer!
Won't you please join us?
While
I have you, allow me to urge that you come around an hour before
the music starts for "Concert Conversations."
Starting at 7:00 p.m. in Earle Recital Hall, the musicians and
I have an informal and educational discussion about the night's
programming. And you're invited to join in the conversation
too!
Newsletter,
Summer 2009
A
word from John Montanari.............................................
John
Montanari
Artistic Director
A
rare solo appearance by a chamber music legend. One of the world's
finest string quartets. The beginning of a two-season journey
through the center of the chamber repertoire. A springtime visit
from the leading American summer chamber festival.
Add
them all up, and you get Music In Deerfield's 31 st season—one
which promises to take its place among the best ever. Join us
for six evenings of performances to delight the ear, fill the
soul and savor for years to come.
From
its Tanglewood debut in 1955 to its final concerts in September,
2008, the Beaux Arts Trio set the international standard for the
piano trio. While several fine string players passed through the
group along the way, only one musician ever occupied the piano
chair—Menahem Pressler, one of the great names in chamber music.
Also a solo artist of depth and sensitivity, Mr. Pressler will
open Music In Deerfield's season on October 30 with a wonderful
program of Beethoven (Sonata No. 31, Op. 110), Debussy (“Pour
le piano”) and Schubert (the heavenly final Sonata in B-flat major).
Long-time
record collectors associate the Talich String Quartet with highly
regarded recordings of Beethoven and the great Czech composers.
Area music lovers who attended their first two Music In Deerfield
concerts know that the Talich plays with a rare combination of
fire and tonal luster, producing one of the sweetest quartet sounds
in the world, while generating enough excitement to lift you out
of your seat. Neither group of fans need much of a recommendation,
then, to join us for the Talich's November 20 program of youthful
Mendelssohn (Quartet in E-flat, Op. 12), new music from important
Israeli composer Benjamin Yusupov (Musica Mundi, 2008) and powerful
Shostakovich (Quartet No. 2, 1944).
No
chamber music series should ever go too long without re-examining
the core repertoire of chamber music, Beethoven's String Quartets.
Music In Deerfield opened with a complete Beethoven cycle featuring
the Concord Quartet, and many will fondly recall the six-season
traversal by the Orion Quartet. Now, the Chiara Quartet, a young
ensemble ready to stake its claim as major Beethoven interpreters
for its generation will offer its interpretation of Beethoven's
profound musical autobiography. Their first three all-Beethoven
concerts take place on December 5 (Op. 135; Op. 18, No. 4; Op.
59, No. 1), February 13 (Op. 18, No. 3; Op. 132; Op. 59, No. 3)
and April 10 (Op. 18, No. 1; Op. 95; Op. 127). The final three
programs will take place during Music In Deerfield's 32nd season.
Now
into its sixth decade, the Marlboro Music Festival still lovingly
holds onto the vision of its legendary founders (Rudolf Serkin,
Adolf Busch, et al.), in providing top musicians of every generation
a chance to escape the bustle of their normal music lives, and
come together in an idyllic setting to explore at leisure the
great works of chamber music. Always a highlight of New England
's summer music calendar, the Festival also presents each season's
best in year-round concerts. And what a treat they will provide
at Hills Chapel on April 30—delectable Boccherini (String Quintet,
Op. 20, No. 3) and Stravinsky (Three Pieces for String Quartet)
to start, then Schubert's glorious String Quintet in C major to
conclude a memorable season.
Newsletter,
Spring 2008
A
word from John Montanari.............................................
John
Montanari
Artistic Director
One
definition of the word “generation” is as follows:
The
term of years, roughly 30 among human beings, accepted as the
average period between the birth of parents and the birth of their
offspring.
That
definition of “generation” came to mind during the Music In Deerfield's
concert on March 14, 2008. In the audience was Norman Fischer,
the former cellist of the Concord Quartet, the adventurous American
ensemble that performed the complete Beethoven Quartets during
Music In Deerfield's first season. On stage that evening, 29 years
later, performing an all-Beethoven concert, was the Chiara Quartet,
an innovative American ensemble that included Norman 's daughter
Rebecca Fischer on first violin.
One
generation has passed for Music In Deerfield—and another begins,
with an extroadinary 30 th season featuring six evenings of musical
surprises and delights. Here's what we have in store for you in
2008 - 09:
What
do you call a group made up of three distinguished soloists? Since
this is classical music, you add in a dash of Italian, and come
up with Trio Solisti. With pianist Jon Klibonoff,
violinist Maria Bachmann (formerly with the Pioneer Valley favorite
Lark Quartet) and cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach, the Trio is well-named—and
well-poised to take its place among America 's finest chamber
ensembles. The program is still in the works for their October
4 season-opening concert at Smith College 's Sweeney Concert Hall,
but we can promise Tchaikovsky's magnificent Trio in A minor as
its concluding selection.
After
some of the Music In Deerfield concerts of the past few seasons,
you might have been amazed by just how young and how good string
quartets can get. Well, get ready to be dazzled! You will have
a chance to be thrilled during our November 14 concert by the
Calder Quartet at MID's traditional home, the
First Church of Deerfield. Just a couple of years out of the Colburn
School and fresh from a graduate residency at Juilliard, the Calder
is already earning raves from the press for its musical understanding
and on-stage flair. Don't miss the opportunity to hear this up-and-coming
quartet!
During
its years as one of America's most popular and in-demand classical
groups, the vocal ensemble Anonymous 4 always
looked forward to their Music In Deerfield performances, both
for the magnificently resonant acoustics of St. Mary's Catholic
Church (just across the gate from Smith College), and for MID's
warm and discerning audiences. Anonymous 4's first Northampton
concert was featured on CBS's Sunday Morning ; their
next will feature medieval music for Christmas on December 11,
2008 . Tickets are always in demand for this unique group's local
concerts, so don't delay.
Something
refreshingly out-of-the-ordinary will sound from the stage of
Sweeney Concert Hall in early March of 2009 an —endearing program
of music from Scandinavia . The Martinson Project
with members of the Gothenburg Symphony , Sweden
's leading orchestra, will perform Edvard Grieg's superb String
Quartet, during the first half of the program, as well as a variety
of chamber music and song from Sweden . Amy-Elizabeth Wheeler
(perhaps familiar from her recordings with archguitarist Peter
Blanchette) will add her limpid soprano to seven charming settings
of the Swedish poet and Nobel laureate Harry Martinson.
The
state of American string quartet playing may currently be, group
by group, concert by concert, at its highest level ever. To hear
one of the best of the best, come to Sweeney Concert Hall on April
4, 2009 , for an evening with the Pacifica Quartet .
Winners of the Naumburg and Cleveland Quartet Awards, and recipients
of the Avery Fischer Career Grant, the Pacifica is poised to be
one of the standard-bearing quartets into the next generation.
The
last time our friend, cellist Matt Haimovitz ,
played for Music In Deerfield, he was joined by two of his Canadian
colleagues, violinist Jonathan Crow and violist Douglas McNabney,
for a spellbinding evening of Mozart and more. On April 17, 2009
, Matt and the Trio will be on hand at Helen Hills Hills Chapel,
Smith College , for their arrangement of one of the endlessly
fascinating works of the classical repertoire: J. S. Bach's “Goldberg
Variations.” Need I point out how special this promises to be?
For
a chamber music presenter to survive for three decades is no mean
feat given the obstacles—but enough self-congratulations. A new
generation of chamber ensembles has arrived. Music In Deerfield
welcomes the opportunity to present to our devoted audiences world-class
musicians that we hope will spark the interest of a new generation
of chamber music fans. Please join us for our 30th and bring along
someone who has never heard chamber music before—you may have
a convert on your hands!
A
word from John Montanari.............................................
John
Montanari
Artistic Director
As
the curtain goes up on the musical “Sunday in the Park with
George,” the painter Georges Seurat thusly contemplates
the tabula rasa that by the end of Act I will be covered with
his masterpiece Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.
As composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim makes clear in his songs,
Seurat’s pointillist method of applying unmixed dots of
color to canvas, then allowing the viewer’s eye to blend
the colors, nicely analogizes to the music composer applying dots
to paper, then allowing the listener’s ear to blend the
separate tones into harmonies.
Seurat has been dead for 115 years. Nonetheless, the visitor to
the Art Institute of Chicago can today enjoy a direct, unmediated
encounter with Sunday Afternoon, much as its original 1886 viewers
had. A piece of music from the same year and place—César
Franck’s Violin Sonata, for instance—is not so accessible.
Perhaps an expert score reader may be able to make his or her
own silent music out of Franck’s dots. But for most of us,
the Sonata does not exist as a work of art until it is brought
to life in performance. Franck’s musical work can no more
be appreciated merely by its visual manifestation than could Seurat’s
painting have been understood merely by having heard the sound
of his brush applied to canvas.
Further, the act of musical recreation in classical music can
never be a neutral act, as if the dots on the page were just a
kind of musical Morse code. The story told by the music depends
not just on the author, but also on the teller. In the best recreations,
the performer or ensemble adds layers of meaning and nuance to
the composer’s original, making the performance itself into
a work of art.
Nowhere is the genius of the recreative art more apparent in classical
music than in the medium of the string quartet. With its perfect
balance of instruments, evenly distributed over the entire musical
range, the quartet provides all the tools necessary for complete
musical expression. But compared with the symphony orchestra,
with its four families of instruments, the quartet, by relying
just on strings, allows its composer comparatively little opportunity
for colorful display. The quality of the music had better be in
the notes of the quartet, otherwise it has no chance to be in
the sound. And the members of the performing quartet, each contributing
the whole, and with no one to hide behind, had better be able
to “bring it ” like the individual members of a basketball
team. Moreover, these unique personalities must cohere into a
musical organism that, through hours of rehearsal, every day over
many years, just might develop into a unified ensemble. Even then,
unless the quartet can tell a different story than has ever been
heard before, they add nothing to the musical universe.
That uniqueness is what Music In Deerfield listens for when auditioning
quartets for the series. There are more quartets currently performing,
and performing at an unprecedented level, than ever before. The
field gets more crowded, and the quality bar raised higher, every
day. Standing out among their peers is harder for a quartet to
do than ever before. The quartets who do are the quartets we choose
to present. Let’s take a look at the four very different
quartets that will perform in Music In Deerfield’s 2007-08
season.
Befitting their name the American String Quartet exhibits all
the hallmarks of the “American” quartet. The basic
sound, rich and sleek, opens with vigorous attack, sustains powerfully,
and finishes with an impeccable taper. If their sound were wine,
it would be a top-notch Napa cabernet. But that’s just the
basic. With a palette to match any painter’s, and turn-on-a-bar-line
flexibility, the American leaves no note uncolored, no phrase
unshaped, no piece uninterpreted. Also typically “American”
is the American Quartet’s voracious repertoire. Mozart,
Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Schoenberg, Bartók—you
name the composers; the American has performed them all, completely.
But do you want to hear what they can really do? Listen to them
play works with little or no performance tradition other than
their own, such as their knockout CD of Quartets by Kenneth Fuchs
(Albany Records). Then join us on November 30 to hear the same
thing in person.
If the American represents the best of the established tradition,
the Chiara String Quartet is among the group that has “got
next” on the classical court. Juilliard-trained like the
American, the Chiara does things a little differently than their
elders. They play club dates (such as last year’s gig at
the Montague Bookmill). They produce their own CD singles. They
have a page on “MySpace.” They blog. They champion
composers from their own generation—listen to their CD of
Gabriela Lena Frank’s “Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout”
for something fresh and appealing. They play Beethoven. Okay,
maybe that last one isn’t so different. In fact, it goes
back locally to MID’s first season, when Norman Fischer,
the father of Chiara’s first violinist Rebecca Fischer,
joined his colleagues in the Concord Quartet to play Beethoven’s
complete quartets. And on March 14, Rebecca Fischer and her colleagues
in the Chiara Quartet will perform an all-Beethoven program.
The string quartet was born in the eighteenth century, during
the years preceding the upheavals of the revolutionary era. Its
core repertoire dates from just before the beginning of the 19th
century up to the mid-20th. Now, in the early 21st century, a
number of young quartets started with a different assumption about
what is the core and what is fringe in their programming. For
them, the old European masters works provide the contrast and
context for their investigations of new and ethnically diverse
repertoires, rather than the other way around. In its devotion
to presenting such soloists and ensembles in each year’s
concerts, MID was initially attracted by the Harlem String Quartet’s
mission to “advance diversity in classical music while engaging
young and new audiences through the discovery and presentation
of varied repertoire, highlighting works by minority composers.”
Their unique repertoire also intriguing. But what sealed the deal
was an earful of the Harlem Quartet’s warm, appealing sound.
It will sound great coming from the stage of Sweeney Concert Hall
on February 9.
When the Shanghai Quartet was formed in the eponymous city in
1983, the classical world was unused to ensembles of Asian origin,
much less to works by Chinese composers. A quarter-century later,
the composers they champion, such as Zhou Long, Chen Yi and Bright
Sheng, have been embraced by the entire classical world. As for
the Shanghai, well, no longer are they or other Asian ensembles
to be regarded as exceptional. Rather, the Shanghai has established
itself as an upholder of the finest in quartet playing, as you
can hear for yourself on April 12. And its eclectic west-meets-east
programming exemplifies what Music In Deerfield enjoys presenting
to its open-eared audience—programs that stimulate, challenge,
and satisfy, each program unique, the programs together giving
us a taste of the richness of the classical tradition blended
with inexhaustible diversity.
A
word from John Montanari.............................................
John
Montanari
Artistic Director
Since
you’re taking the time to read Music In Deerfield’s
newsletter, and are therefore an interested and engaged fan of
chamber music at its best, you hardly need a lengthy promotional
preamble to my brief detailing of MID’s 28th season. So,
let’s dive right in…
Dmitri Shostakovich may have been the last composer whose every
new work was welcomed as a vital utterance by a large and engaged
audience, and whose life and art remain topics of hot debate beyond
the confines of music specialists. Our favorite Russians, the
St. Petersburg String Quartet, renowned for their thrilling interpretations
of Shostakovich, will help us celebrate the composer’s centennial
during MID’s season-opening concert on October 28 with a
performance of one of his most gripping chamber works, the Quintet
for Piano and Strings. Seth Knopp, pianist of the Peabody Trio
and artistic director of the Yellow Barn Music Festival, will
also participate.
From the earliest times to the present day, classical music has
had the capacity to absorb and to be enriched by musical vernaculars
from many traditions. In the mid-20th century, an Argentine composer
and musician named Astor Piazzolla married the earthy passion
of his country’s most famous dance, the tango, with the
classical techniques in which he was thoroughly trained. The result,
known as the “nuevo tango,” has attracted the attention
of an impressive and growing roster of classical performers. Among
them is the Cuarteto Latinoamericano from Mexico, who will perform
music by Piazzolla, Heitor Villa-Lobos and George Gershwin on
November 17. Joining them will be Daniel Bineli on bandoneón,
the accordion-like instrument on which Piazzolla was a virtuoso—a
Music In Deerfield first!
Early music for Christmas at the First Church of Deerfield may
not be the oldest tradition for the holiday season, but around
here, it’s one of the most anticipated—and one of
the toughest tickets. On December 15, our old friends, the Baltimore
Consort will cover the First Church stage with more old instruments
than you can imagine, then make them come to life in the hands
of five expert performers, joined by a jubilant voice for “olde
musicke” for the Yuletide celebration.
While cellist Matt Haimovitz has stood out from the classical
crowd with his unusual choice of performance venues (such as Northampton’s
Iron Horse) and eclectic repertoire (including works by rock icons
Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin), Music In Deerfield audiences have
come to admire the way that Matt’s committed and intense
performances of the standard classical repertoire also set him
apart from his peers. On January 26, Matt will join two Canadian
colleagues, violinist Jonathan Snow (concertmaster of the Montreal
Symphony Orchestra) and violist Douglas McNabney, for a program
highlighting Mozart’s Divertimento for String Trio, one
of the composer’s most luxurious and blissful chamber works.
The Talich String Quartet were so impressive in their MID debut
last season that we decided to engage them on-the-spot for our
upcoming season. On March 30, this foremost Czech quartet may
even top last year’s rendition of their countryman Leoš
Janácek’s Quartet No. 1 by performing his even more
highly-charged Quartet No. 2, “Intimate Letters,”
a work of white-hot passion like no other in the repertoire. The
elegance of Quartets by Haydn and Mendelssohn will provide a nice
contrast.
The parenthood of the Miró Quartet’s violinists prevented
their performance for MID last season. But it has also heightened
the anticipation of the return appearance by a group fully capable
of setting a new standard for their generation of American quartets.
Do you recall their shattering MID performance a few years back
of Schubert’s String Quintet? Take it from those who do—you’ll
want to be at Sweeney Concert hall next April 13 for the Miró
performance of Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden”
Quartet. Works by Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, a brilliant
but short-lived contemporary of Schubert, and Béla Bartók
complete the program—and help us look forward to Music In
Deerfield’s 28th season. Stay tuned!
A
word from John Montanari.............................................
John
Montanari
Artistic Director
You
never know what is going to spark someone's love for classical
music. Sometimes, if given the chance, even chamber music
can do the trick. Let me give you an example drawn from
my "real" life in public radio.
Even
though WFCR devotes a number of broadcast hours to classical music,
there are a few professionals roaming its hallways who have no
more knowledge of the classics than I would of, say the ins and
outs of social security reform or health care policy. I
say this without disdain; we
are
just a typical group of reasonably aware, well-educated people.
And among most such groups of people nowadays, classical music
usually lags distantly behind film, literature, and other cultural
pursuits in overall knowledge and appreciation. We may wish
this to be otherwise, but for the moment, that's the way it is.
So
it was to my utter surprise recently when an esteemed colleague,
one not at all known as a classical maven, went absolutely gaga
as she poured her soul out to me about a classical concert she
had recently attended. Folks, it would have done you good
to hear the quivering excitement in her voice as she recounted
the magical experience. And what, pray tell, was the music
that inspired such wide-eyed awe? Beethoven's Ninth?
Rach Third?
Nope,
It was, in fact, the Emerson String Quartet--chamber music, for
crying out loud. And not just any kind of chamber music,
but a string quartet. Their repertoire? Beethoven?
Mozart? Uh-uh. On this occasion, the Emerson played,
of all things a chilly Nordic program of Nielsen, Sibelius and,
her favorite, Grieg. In other words, it was a relatively
out-there program even for string quartets. And unless you
haven't noticed, quartets even of the stature of the Emerson have
not exactly been following Springsteen into sold-out football
arenas lately.
But
I knew right away what it was that knocked her out about the Emerson
Concert. It was the same that that left me almost too emotionally
drained to applaud after the Miró Quartet and Matt Haimovitz
played the Schubert Quintet last spring. It was the same
thing that had me on the edge of my seat as the Orion Quartet
somehow retained their equilibrium while racing through the perpetual
motion finale of Beethoven's Third "Razumovsky" Quartet
in '03. And it was the same thing that I look forward to
reliving in the remaining three concerts in MID's current season.
It's
the intense, immediate drama of great chamber music as it unfolds
before you, like Shakespeare without words. You don't need
to "know" or "like" classical music to appreciate
it. You just have to be human.
So,
if there's a culturally aware person in your life who claims ignorance
of classical music, but who you suspect is one spark away from
turning into a classical lover, we've got a virtual Roman candle's
worth of sparks at our next Music In Deerfield concert.
I'll
see you there.
