by Jarrett Hoffman
In Pictures, the debut album from composer and pianist James Wilding, every piece was inspired by something outside the world of music, from the concrete (a particular sculpture) to the abstract (a vision of the end of the world).
CD Review—Brian Thornton & Spencer Myer, Robert Schumann: Works for Cello & Piano
by Jarrett Hoffman
Hearing the music of Schumann through the lens of cellist Brian Thornton and pianist Spencer Myer is to experience a level of expressivity one might forget even exists.
CD Review—Jeffrey Rathbun & Marc Shapiro, Endeavor: Works for Oboe & Piano
by Jarrett Hoffman
It was the late 1980s when oboist Jeffrey Rathbun and pianist Marc Shapiro first tackled Herbert Howells’ Sonata for Oboe and Piano, written in 1942 but not published for another 45 years.
Cleveland Chamber Choir: a conversation with composer and chorister Corey K. Rubin
by Jarrett Hoffman
“Holidays Old & New” describes Cleveland Chamber Choir’s performances this weekend in more than one way. The main thread that artistic director Scott MacPherson has woven through the program is the pairing of ancient and modern holiday works — from as far apart as the 14th and 21st centuries — that bear the same text.
The other thread comes in the form of arrangements. That art form is all about old and new, but the emphasis is on the latter here: Hanukkah tunes arranged by Andrew Rindfleisch and Corey K. Rubin will receive their world premieres.
Performances take place on Saturday, December 7 at 7:30 pm at Lakewood Congregational Church, and on Sunday, December 8 at 3:00 pm at First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland. Charles McGuire will talk about the program 45 minutes before both concerts. Tickets are available online.
Dover Quartet brings new David Bruce work to Cleveland Chamber Music Society
by Jarrett Hoffman
On Tuesday, December 3 at 7:30 pm at Plymouth Church, the Dover Quartet will return to the Cleveland Chamber Music Society bearing a healthy, six-week-old piece of music by David Bruce alongside works by Britten and Brahms.
The group premiered Bruce’s The Lick Quartet in October on the Dallas Chamber Music Society, then played it again at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Stadthaus in Ulm, Germany. That makes this the fourth performance of the piece, and if you want to get geographic about it, the East-of-the-Mississippi U.S. premiere.
And about that title — it has nothing to do with anyone’s tongue, but rather it’s the word for a melodic fragment in jazz. According to Bruce’s notes on the piece, the term “lick” has become a cliché, an Internet meme, and an inside joke among musicians. But after he noticed the resemblance of a lick in his early sketches for the piece, he decided to challenge himself to use it unironically.
Tuesday Musical Association: a conversation with pianist Fei-Fei
by Jarrett Hoffman
Following in a line of pianists that has included Garrick Ohlsson, Yuja Wang, Emanuel Ax, and Conrad Tao, the latest performer to be featured in Tuesday Musical’s Margaret Baxtresser Annual Piano Concert is Fei-Fei.
A finalist in the 2013 Van Cliburn Competition and winner of the 2014 Concert Artists Guild Competition, Fei-Fei was also featured in Virtuosity, a documentary about the Cliburn that aired on PBS.
Beyond her resume, Fei-Fei has a unique approach to programming and is simply a delightful person, as I discovered during a recent phone call to talk about her recital at E.J. Thomas Hall on Thursday, November 21 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are available online.
BlueWater: violinist Jinjoo Cho to play the Tchaikovsky Concerto
by Jarrett Hoffman
Violinist Jinjoo Cho was born in Seoul and lives in Montreal, but you could easily say she’s from Northeast Ohio. She moved here as a teenager and enrolled in the Cleveland Institute of Music’s young artist program, and she didn’t leave the area until last year, when she joined the faculty of the Schulich School of Music at McGill University.
Her time living in Cleveland saw her career take off. Cho won a major competition (International Violin Competition of Indianapolis), made an important solo debut (Carnegie Hall), took on teaching positions (CIM and Oberlin Conservatory), and founded and continues to run a summer festival (ENCORE Chamber Music in Gates Mills).
Cho has been featured by many of the area’s prominent ensembles and presenting organizations — and she’s still adding to that list. She will play Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto this weekend in her first appearances with BlueWater Chamber Orchestra, led by Daniel Meyer.
Contemporary Youth Orchestra: a new piano concerto, without the pianist
by Jarrett Hoffman
When the Contemporary Youth Orchestra opens its 25th season this weekend, those in the audience will see players playing, conductor conducting, and a piano whose pedals and keys depress and release, letting out the most artful of sounds, but without anyone laying a finger on it.
A talented ghost? Not exactly. Steinway & Sons has developed a high-resolution player piano known as the Spirio. By measuring hammer velocity and pedaling, it can reproduce a performance that, according to the company, is “utterly indistinguishable” from the original.
Using a Spirio, Antonio Pompa-Baldi has already recorded the solo part to Roberto Piana’s new Concerto Fantastique. That instrument will be onstage in front of the Contemporary Youth Orchestra and music director Liza Grossman, playing back Pompa-Baldi’s performance during the work’s premiere on Saturday, November 16 at 7:00 pm at Mandel Theatre on the Eastern Campus of Cuyahoga Community College. The program also includes Gustav Holst’s The Planets. [Read more…]
Akron Symphony to feature Brunfelt & Guegold in Vivaldi & Strauss
by Jarrett Hoffman
This weekend, the Akron Symphony will spotlight two of its own. Concertmaster Tallie Brunfelt will take on the quadruple challenge of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, and principal horn Meghan Guegold will play Richard Strauss’s early Concerto No. 1 on Saturday, November 16 at 8:00 pm at E.J. Thomas Hall.
When Guegold was an 18-year-old student at the University of Akron, she was determined not only to learn the Strauss, but to play it memorized on that uncommon and ambitious event: the freshman recital.
“I thought, you know, I want to perform for a living, so I might as well jump right on in,” the hornist said during an interview.
That work, a pillar of the horn repertoire, wasn’t a surprising choice. “It’s definitely one of the best concertos we have,” Guegold said, adding that it might be the best from the Romantic era. The lyricism and the heroic quality of the writing attracted her. “I think it was the start of my real love of Strauss’s music.”
Brunfelt, Guegold, and Wilkins on Akron Symphony’s “Stand Beside Her”
by Jarrett Hoffman
The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in August of 1920, and leading up to the 100th anniversary of that event, the Akron Symphony is highlighting six women composers through a project called “Stand Beside Her.”
I spoke to concertmaster Tallie Brunfelt and principal horn Meghan Guegold — who will both be featured as soloists in the Orchestra’s November 16 concert — and asked what this programming initiative means to them.
“I’m just so thrilled that the ASO is doing this, especially in light of the centennial,” Brunfelt said by telephone. Being a woman at her position in the Orchestra makes this project all the more exciting for her. “There aren’t many female concertmasters, and I think representation and visibility are extraordinarily important,” she said.