On a cold snowy night last week, Diane and I drove to Buffalo’s Kleinhans Music Hall to hear the Castalian String Quartet: Sini Simonen (violin), Ruth Gibson (viola), Daniel Roberts (violin), and Stefan Morris (cello). We found the music a little dark, but it fit the wintery weather we were experiencing. The Quartet played well and the 200 listeners in the audience with us clapped enthusiastically at the end of the performance.
Diane and I arrived early to hear the Q&A session before the performance and learned interesting facts about the musicians’s lives and backgrounds. The Quartet will be in Schenectady, NY and then New York City next week. Worth traveling in the darkness and snow showers to hear. Are you a fan of chamber music? GRADE: B
PROGRAM:
STRING QUARTET IN D MINOR, K. 421 — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
STRING QUARTET NO. 1 “Kreutzer Sonata” — Leos Janacek
STRING QUARET in B flat, Op. 130, with Grosse Fuge, Op. 133 —Ludwig van Beethoven
I have to admit that I’m not such a fan of classical music – unlike many of my friends.
Don’t know what went wrong. Maybe part of the problem was our musics teacher who forced us to listen to Wagner etc.
Wolf, Diane enjoys chamber music more than I do. I prefer the Big Sound of Orchestral pieces.
Nah not so much.
Jeff, I have to be in the mood for chamber music in order to really enjoy it. I’m more of an orchestral music guy.
I love it. My favorite music of all. Although any classical music, except the most atonal, is wonderful.
Patti, my college roommate–who went on to be the Manager of the Madison Symphony Orchestra–got me into classical music. He has about 5000 vinyl albums and about the same number of classical music CDs.
I’m with you, George. I’ll listen to chamber/classical music, but prefer big band music and of course, rock
Maggie, I was surprised at the number of classical music references there were in Bob Dylan’s new book, The Philosophy of Modern Song. Dylan obviously knows and loves classical music.
I am going to have to wait month to get the Dylan book from my library. I may have to put that on my Christmas list.
Patti, I saw discounted copies of THE PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SONG at BJ’s Warehouse. The retail price is $45 but BJ’s Warehouse had it priced at $29.95.
I will go a long way to hear a performance of the grosse fuge by a top-notch string quartet. “Tuneful” it’s not, but monumental it is. Also, I collect the various orchestral arrangements of the movement, and 2-piano versions as well. But I don’t think I’ve heard either of those versions live. Glenn Gould was a nut, but I won’t argue with this quote: “For me, the ‘Grosse Fuge’ is not only the greatest work Beethoven ever wrote but just about the most astonishing piece in musical literature.” Tonight I’ve got a chamber concert, all-Beethoven duo and trio works, the “Archduke” trio the big piece.
Art, when I saw this entry, I immediately thought of you. I seem to remember you once commenting that you “do not enjoy the human voice raised in song.”
Not my favorite kind of music.
Beth, I’ve heard Art Scott rail against opera singing which he likened to singers “pumping iron.”
Beth, there are only two singers whose recordings I really enjoy: Jimmy Rushing & Blossom Dearie.
There are worse exceptions to make, but so many that can sound rather similar to either…
Art, the “Grosse Fuge” is monumental.
A belated note to suggest that my catholicism in music appreciation, even with tinnitus, definitely extends to the chamber ensembles, quartets or small orchestras and beyond, as well as to the larger ensembles, and while opera is not as common a listen as is instrumental court & ceremonial (“classical”) music, I dig it, too…and the atonal (even if Ted White once dismissed my bona fides as a 20C music dj…you haven’t lived if White hasn’t grumped about you, at least as at least a fringefan). My first oral report in junior high was in music class about Varese’s “Poeme Electronicque”, after all.
One of my favorite concerts in the DC area was the night the Kronos Quartet opened for the Modern Jazz Quartet at Wolf Trap, and they played together (of course) for about a half-hour after their individual sets. (Pity WT requires amplification.) One of my favorites in Philadelphia so far was a Wu Man performance on pipa, even if she apparently saw Alice and me sitting together as Another Instance of those white (-looking) guys who have Asian fetish populating her concerts, as she noted from the stage (you haven’t lived until Wu Man has snided at you, etc., etc….I suggest as much as she was looking directly at us as she began the comment).
So I’m (not quite) surprised to learn so few of your Common Crowd lean into the eclectic. So much for my buying a group ticket to the punk and 3rd Stream and bluegrass and art song and rap festival happening somewhere soon…but, then, adorably but witlessly arch showtune performances and most AOR/hair-metal can turn me right around, so there is that…don’t include me in the BeeGees/Mountain/Guess Who/Journey/KISS cover-nostalgia tour groupon purchases anytime soon.
The Curtis Institute student performance of THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, with the “pit” orchestra directly in front of us on the same floor as our (front row) removable audience chairs, was another of my favorite Phil-area/era music memories as well. I will admit that I am never averse to seeing women musicians or any sort perform, even beyond the performances of their counterparts, as opposed to being non-favoring in the hearing of their work. The concentration and the enjoyment of producing the music is sexy as hell. Any and all ethnicities welcome, btw, Ms. Wu.
Todd, Diane loved the performances of the two women players in the Castalian String Quartet. She found the male violinist to be “robotic.” I, on the other hand, frequently just close my eyes and focus on the music without the distraction of performer gyrations.
Todd, audience characteristics play a big role in these chamber music performances. The audience for the Castalian String Quartet was a mix of younger listeners and a majority of gray-haired music lovers. Walkers, canes, and hearing aids were plentiful.