performance update

There are a lot of things going on here every day, but my schedule is so tight that I can usually make it to only 2 or 3 events a week. I was there for Opening Night to hear Vladimir Feltsman play a Shostakovich Piano sonata, to be joined later in the Piano quintet by my teacher and other excellent artists. It was a very fine start to the festival. Several days later I heard the Jupiter Quartet, a very young ensemble, play a Mozart, Shostakovich 8, and Dvorak Op. 106. They were all excellent, but the Dvorak was the one that surprised me with its brilliance and beauty. It was most enjoyable. A couple weeks ago I heard the Shostakovich A-minor Violin Concerto performed by Jinjoo Cho. Remember that name, folks. You’re going to hear it again. She was fantastic. Beautiful tone, flawless intonation, excellent interpretation...oh, and she’s 18. She just finished up the precollege program at CIM, and is going to Curtis for her undergraduate. Sickeningly good.

One of the greatest artistic highlights for me so far has been hearing the Takacs quartet. I’ve never, ever heard such fine musicmaking in my life. They did the Mozart Dissonant, Britten No. 3, and Schubert’s Death and the Maiden. The ensemble was rock-solid. Those of you who have taken Ms. Lee’s chamber music class will know what I’m talking about when I say that their entrainment was perfect. It was such a joy to hear them, and such a great program of music.
Other great performances have included hearing the super-trio of Gil Shaham, Truls Mørk, and Yefim Bronfman play the Tchaikovsky Trio and the Beethoven Triple Concerto, as well as hearing a really fine performance of Mahler 1 by the Aspen Festival Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Zinman. Incidentally, I was able to buy a recording of the Beethoven Triple made a couple years ago by the same artists, and I got it signed by all four after the performance. Pretty nifty.