On Sunday evenings I go over to my friend DG’s house, and after dinner and board games with his kids, we usually have time for one or two violin sonatas. DG is an amazing pianist, and an incredible sight-reader. His improvisational skills are also excellent, so when he makes a sight-reading mistake, it usually sounds completely correct. The only problem is, the violin part sometimes doesn’t fit with what he’s playing!
I usually bring my violin to DG’s house, even though I consider myself primarily a violist these days. There are just so many more readable violin sonatas than viola sonatas (we’re on our second time through the Mozart sonatas, for example). Perhaps after DG’s piano recital this spring he’ll have some time to practice the piano parts to some viola sonatas.
We started this evening with a violin-piano transcription I’d done of Piazzolla’s “Oblivion”. A wonderful little piece, although I think it will sound even better an octave lower on the viola (particularly the final octave glissando down to the open C string).
DG’s wife had asked for Handel sonatas (perhaps she’s tired of Mozart), so I’d unearthed the copy from my childhood, and this evening, we played the F major, the only one I’d worked on back then. It was great fun, even though modern scholarship labels this sonata as “spurious”. I’m not one to look down on a piece of music just because it wasn’t written by a “great” composer!
This edition was interesting for a couple of reasons. The copyright date was from the 1960s, and it was amusing to see what was standard for Baroque music before the original instruments revolution. It was completely filled with additional dynamics, along with romantic bowings and fingerings.
It was also nostalgic for me to see my violin teacher’s handwriting. I think Angelo LaMariana was a great teacher: very good with children, with just the right blend of firmness and gentleness. He had a love of all kinds of classical music, up to the most modern: it was he who introduced me to the Bartok Duos I mentioned last time. He passed away just a couple of years ago, and I miss him.
I really enjoyed playing the Piazzolla with you. Thank you so much for transcribing it. Piazzolla was an Argentinian composer who is best known for his modern Tangos, and also his ability to use a startling variety of textures and sounds in his music. One of my favorite recordings (and also my kid's favorite) is a free concert he and his orchestra performed in Central Park around 1990 where the violinist uses glissando in the upper stratosphere while the bass play does the same on the lowest strings. Just remarkable.
ReplyDeleteI have also been thinking about my old music teacher, Frederick Marvin. I am working on a Prokofiev piece that he taught me, and I was wondering if he is still alive. Not only is he alive, but at age 91 he married his long-time partner last October at a ceremony presided over by the mayor of Syracuse, NY. Here is a link that also has an interview with Marvin and his partner, Ernst Shuh:
https://nccnews.expressions.syr.edu/?p=32170