Musical memories

There is music, and then there is MUSIC. When I was interviewing William & Mary's legendary choir director, Frank Lendrim, for my "Classical Hour" show for the college's radio station WCWM in 1984, I asked him what music he would recommend to the listeners for some "simply beautiful music". He hardly hesitated before saying that Beethoven's slow movements are where it's at. MUSIC.  Listen to the second movement of his Violin Concerto and I think you'll agree with Dr. Lendrim. I'll send you to a recording by David Oistrach , because he seems to be most violinists' favorite. On the other hand, you can never go wrong with either  Jascha Heifetz or Itzhak Perlman . This entire piece is a joy from beginning to end, showing off the beauty of the instrument as it scales the heights and depths of the instrument. The orchestra supports the soloist and adds other colors with the woodwinds, brass and timpani.  My newest discovery among the plet...

That certainly didn't take as long as I thought it might. My original goal was to play in the classical Untertürkheimer Kantorei orchestra in December 2020. However, thanks in part to the lock-down but much more to my enthusiasm for the new instrument, I've made quite some progress with the violin. The Virtuoso Violinist posts very helpful tips on  Instagram  about implementing the Dounis Method when playing strings. I try to internalize - or at least try out - the ideas and get an idea for what challenges face me in the coming months and years. I was also lucky enough to run across a live living-room concert given by the incredible violinist Augustin Hadelich during the restrictive lock-down. When I watch such concerts online, I rarely stay with the canned performance more than two minutes but this time I was spell-bound. Never having heard of him or this concerti series before (mea culpa!), I began by trying to judge the performance from a critic's point of view. He...