Ditty for Erika

Here's a little melody I wrote in 15 minutes while I was pondering a birthday gift for my friend Erika, who incidentally wants some semi-easy music to learn for piano.  The video quality is not great, but I don't think it's important to redo it, so I'll just make adjustments for the next video based on this one.

Seattle Symphony, Oct 2, '14, Korngold's Violin Concerto, Philippe Quint, soloist

Watch out, Ms. Hahn!

...would be a pretty catchy hook line, but for one, it's not terribly likely that the Violin Queen will be ousted from her crystalline throne any time soon, and for two, it's not very nice or fair since currently Hilary Hahn is suffering a hand injury, thus necessitating the switch last night to Philippe Quint.

It happened to be an accident that I was able to hear Mr. Quint tonight at all.  I decided to usher tonight for the chance to hear Dvořák's 9th Symphony--which naturally I could sing note for note from the recordings I've metaphorically worn thin from listening to them so many times--but this would have been my first live hearing of the Symphony, and if the ecstatic applause from the audience bears any parallel to the quality of the performance, I'm rather sorry I missed out on it.

But I ramble.

Anyway, I have heard Hilary Hahn's performance of the Korngold Concerto--which I like to affectionately refer to as "Korngold's Concerto for Singing Mice" due to the atmospheric demands of pitch from the soloist--on YouTube, where else.  It's a pretty thing, to be sure. But as with many works of art, there really is nothing like experiencing it live.

The melodic quality of the work is very ethereal, a little spacey, cuckoo, with wide leaps to non-harmonic tones left unresolved, fluid yet unpredictable.  It aches; it cajoles; it sulks. There is nothing random or out-of-place about it, however; in response to the need for a clear platform from which the violin needs to sing out in its aerial abode, the orchestra bows away quietly, gives room.  Everything is lush, yet clean, with richness and depth of timbre, dynamic contrast and range, but nothing distracting.  The violin sings out in all its required virtuosity.

Philippe Quint's performance was startlingly different from Hahn's virginally pure tone, meticulous planning, intense focus on a detailed idea.  It felt to me as though he was immersing himself in the moment, letting things happen. In the first couple of minutes in the first movement, I was impressed with his technique, but not particularly drawn in to his expression.  Yet the further into the piece he got, the more his focus intensified, and things just happened.  His balance with the orchestra was extraordinary.  He hung on the notes or let them fly.  His bow dove and pranced.  Although personally I feel that the timbre of the violin itself (the "Ruby" Stradivarius) didn't appeal to me, I enjoyed the expression of his strength and control.

In my heart, Hilary Hahn will always reign over the sounds of the violin I have locked in the vaults of my imagination...but change is always good, and I feel privileged to be able to hear this performance tonight by Mr. Quint.

http://www.philippequint.com/