| Two Reviews by Justin: Thomas Martin @ Juilliard and Max Dimoff @ Carnagie
Lots of cool classical bass stuff going on around here...
On October 4 the great Thomas Martin gave a class here at Juilliard. I'm sure he needs no introduction but in case anyone forgot, Thomas Martin was principal of LSO, teaches at Guildhall, and has released 4 CDs of Bottesini.
His class here was great. Three students from the school played. With each performer he worked towards achieving the composers original intention. Drawing on the composers career as well as other compositions, Mr. Martin is clearly not only a great player but also a very complete musician. With a movement of Bottesini, he discussed a more opera like phrasing on the basis of Bottesini's opera conducting influencing the way he heard his own melodies. A short piece by Prokofiev was compared to the composer's other works. Finally a student's Vanhal was made more "classical". All in all, it was an excellent class and I would encourage anyone who has the chance to play for Mr. Martin.
On the 7th Carnegie hall hosted the Cleveland orchestra for three concerts, the second of which featured the great Thomas Quasthoff signing three Mozart concert arias including "Per Questa Bella Mano". Mr. Quasthoff was fantastic, despite reports of illness threatening his performance. For his encore he included a slightly bluesy solo version of the spiritual "Swing low, sweet Chariot". Unfortunately Mr. Dimoff played the "Per Questa..." solo from the section without solo tuning. During the break he explained that this was just easier for everyone involved, however it was hard to hear him, even in the acoustically sound Carnegie. Regardless, Mr. Dimoff was spectacular, he played the solo part convincingly, in an appropriate classical stlye. The second half of the concert was Bruckner 5, which I unfortunately couldn't stay for, as I had agree to split the ticket with a brass playing friend.
Until next time,
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Last edited by Justin K-ski : 10-16-2006 at 01:24 PM.
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