On Monday, Ellen and I had the immense privilege of giving a joint master class at TCG Nordica (I posted about this location last week, after my Welcome Dinner and practice sessions there). On the docket that day was:
Schumann, Quartet Opus 44 (first and second movements, with a different pianist per movement)
Dvořák, "American" Quartet
Lunch Break
Chausson, Opus 21 for Solo Violin, Piano, and String Quartet
Mozart, Quartet in C Major, K. 465 ("Dissonance")
I took the pieces with piano, and Ellen took the string-only pieces. It was wonderful to talk to the groups about things I've thought about for years about this kind of repertoire (and what Dr. Barr and Professor CR in particular have definitely worked on with me during my time at Eastman).
The Chausson is a less familiar piece (and composer) to me, but the late-19th-century French-but-Wagnerian style is now familiar territory. And I'm no stranger to Schumann, and his virtuosic piano parts, his intimate qualities, his devotion to an incredibly vocal line, and a quirkiness and fantasy that brings me back, with delight, every time I get to play his music.
I adored working with the piano students and the string players of the Kunming Orchestra. The second violinist of the Chausson had said in a later conversation,
"You weren't here long enough."
I cannot begin to say how true that feels. And ... I have been invited back for a three-month (!!) residency in Kunming, dates and arrangements to be decided, but, I am excited about it. I'm forever telling my students and colleagues to "get rehired."
The picture is a photo of the morning session string players, pianists, and Ellen and I.
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