 Hilary Hahn Finds Something to Sing About
Hilary Hahn’s lyrical playing has been complemented by—what else—lyrics on her recent CD Bach: Violin and Voice (Deutsche Grammophon). She’s joined on the recording by soprano Christine Schäfer, baritone Matthias Goerne, the Münchener Kammerorchester, and violoncellist Kristin von der Goltz, among others,
on Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, his Mass in B minor, and several of his cantatas.
For Hahn, repertoire for violin and voice presents the challenge of knowing when to lead and follow. “You have to set up the mood for the singers to come in and sing the words to describe the mood,” Hahn says.
“You have to think about how they want to sing it,
and you have to pay really close attention to what they
want to do and try to interpret that into a nonliterary context saying no words whatsoever, and then you have to translate that into an instrumental context. Somehow, at the end of the introductory passages, when a singer comes in, it has to sound like both a fresh start and
a continuation.”
Hahn has been fascinated by the voice as a model for her own playing since her childhood violin teacher Klara Berkovich recommended that Hahn find inspiration outside
of the violin. “I realized that these concepts
of phrasing and breathing and words determining the articulation, and the sound of a particular tone, are pretty inherent to how
we perceive sound,” Hahn says. “It’s kind of universal for musicians to think about playing the way they would sing something, and also for singers then to listen to instrumentalists to redefine how to approach a certain aspect of interpretation.
“It is very connected, but at a very basic level.” —Rory Williams
Meyers Swift to the Stage
The versatile Anne Akiko Meyers is proving her mettle as the go-to violinist for last-minute engagements. With little notice and even less practice time, Meyers joined jazz trumpeter and former Indiana University Jacobs School of Music classmate Chris Botti’s tour in December and January for performances of his Grammy Award–nominated instrumental arrangement “Emmanuel,” which is on his album Chris Botti in Boston (Sony). The Botti performances came on the heels of Meyers’ tour with Il Divo.
“Diversity and having a wide range of ways to express yourself and not being closed to putting a pickup on your violin makes touring much more interesting,” Meyers says. “I really love exploring these different paths and different mediums, for sure. With my total fascination with jazz, it’s a natural progression to be able to relate to the audience that way.”
Meyers’ latest album project Seasons . . . Dreams (E1 Entertainment) will be released in September. —R.W.
Shoe Shopper Is
Marquee Violinist
Grammy Award–nominated teen violinist Caroline Goulding gave a soulful—or should we say sole-full—impromptu performance at a shoe store in January. Jerode King was working the cash register at the Running Company just a few blocks from the Juilliard School in Manhattan’s Upper West Side when Goulding and her mother approached him to make a purchase. Noticing the violin case strapped to Goulding’s back, King, a fan of both classical and jazz music, told the Gouldings he’d give her a discount if she played a few notes. Goulding, who’d been auditioning for a spot at Juilliard, launched into John Corigliano’s Red Violin Caprices.
“She played and I’m, like, mind blown,” King says.
“I had no idea who she was, and it turns out she’s played with all of these symphonies. It was amazing to see such discipline in a young player.”
Goulding, who released her debut CD last year and graced the cover of Strings, earned her discount and accompanied King to a music store where he bought her album. —R.W.
Cellist Orlando Cole 1908–2010
Cellist Orlando Cole, an alumnus of the inaugural student body and former faculty member of the Curtis Institute of Music, has died. He was 101. Cole, who studied at Curtis from 1924 to 1934 and taught there from 1938 to 2005, was a founding member of the Curtis String Quartet (1932–1981), which has included fellow Curtis graduates violinists Jascha Brodsky and Mehi Mehta, and violist Max Aronoff. The quartet is counted by Grove Music Online as “among the most prominent of the professional groups” in chamber orchestras and small ensembles established in Philadelphia. Cole also worked with Samuel Barber, who had studied at Curtis as well, and premiered the composer’s Cello Sonata (1932), with the composer at the piano, and String Quartet (1936). Cellist Lorne Munroe, who studied under Cole, recalled his teacher’s stringent adherence to the composer’s wishes in an obituary in the Philadelphia Inquirer: “He believed that you play what the composer wrote, even if it was difficult or awkward.” —R.W.
Shanghai, SF Conservatories
Sign Sister Act
Thirty years after San Francisco and Shanghai created
the first sister-city relationship between the United States and China, the San Francisco and Shanghai conservatories of music have signed a sister-school agreement. The formal bond allows for future faculty and student exchanges as well as more artistic collaboration. To mark the start of the relationship, faculty, students, alumni, and friends of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music performed a concert in February as part of the San Francisco Asian Art Museum’s yearlong “Shanghai Celebration.” Featured performers included the Bridge Chamber
Virtuosi, a new string trio featuring San Francisco
conservatory violin teacher Wei He, San Francisco
Symphony violist Yun Jie Liu, and cellist Amos Yang. Works by Shanghai conservatory president Shuya Xu, professor of composition Jia Daqun, and former president Yang Liqing were performed along with vocal works by San Francisco conservatory professor of composition David Garner and music by former student and philanthropist Gordon Getty. —Jessie Fetterling
Sphinx Winner a Confident Soloist
A little expert advice from an eavesdropping Leonard Slatkin is all it took to help 24-year-old African American violinist Gareth
Johnson win Senior Division first place laureate at the 13th annual Sphinx Competition in Ann Arbor and Detroit, Michigan, in February. During rehearsal, Johnson says, “I popped the door open real quick to make sure one of the competitors wasn’t listening to me—because I felt like they were stealing some tricks from me—and actually the great Leonard Slatkin was outside the door listening to me.”
Slatkin, an old friend of Johnson’s mother, offered him pointers and encouragement. “He was like ‘Hey, if you win this, we’ll play together,’” Johnson says. “So that was inspirational, you know?”
For the grand-prize winner, the Sphinx Competition for minority players awards scholarships, master classes, instrument loans, performance opportunities with major orchestras, and even a recording deal with the Naxos label. Johnson is hoping to record his finals-winning Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto, No. 3; work in the fall toward an artist diploma at the Juilliard School; and take on the classical music world as a soloist.
“I feel that I am one of the people that should be doing this, and I feel very comfortable doing it,” Johnson says. “I’m absolutely ready to be a soloist at this point.”
For a complete list of competition winners, visit sphinxmusic.org. —R.W.
SF Symphony’s Mahler Garners Grammys
The San Francisco Symphony and maestro Michael Tilson Thomas’ Mahler interpretations received yet another nod from the Recording Academy, as the ensemble’s two-disc set Mahler Symphony No. 8 in Eb major; Adagio from Symphony No. 10 (SFS Media) won Best Classical Album; Best Engineered Album, Classical; and Best Choral Performance at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards in January. Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 in Eb major, “Symphony of a Thousand,” was recorded live in Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco in November 2008, and the Adagio from Symphony No. 10 was recorded in April 2006. The album is the last in the orchestra’s Mahler cycle project, which began in 2001 and has since won seven Grammys.
Other string winners at this year’s Grammys include cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who won Best Classical Crossover Album for Yo-Yo Ma & Friends: Songs of Joy and Peace (Sony Classical) and the Emerson String Quartet, which won Best Chamber Music Performance for Intimate Letters (Deutsche Grammophon). Visit grammy.com for a complete list. —R.W. |
