Bach, Goethe and Hans Christian Andersen Transcription of a pre concert talk given at Wilton’s Music Hall. December 2008 Most musicians discover the Mendelssohn Octet when we are, or rather, were, around about the same age that he wrote it. Not surprisingly, it seems the most natural thing in the world, a piece of music [...]
December 4, 2009
Bursting open the Salon Doors Talk given at Wilton’s Music Hall-30th November 2008 The one unifying feature of most late 18th century chamber music is that we know next to nothing about the circumstances of its performance. Of course, there is a simple reason for this. Until the third decade of the 19th [...]
December 3, 2009
Gloria and I flew to Munster together on the concert morning, meeting the rest of the quartet who had taken an unconscionably early flight from Stansted that morning. The Lufthansa plane was too small for me, and 20 minutes before landing we ran into the worst turbulence that I have ever experienced , which pitched [...]
December 2, 2009
Dimensions of the Clouds In March 1991, I visited Istanbul for the first time. There were two concerts on the agenda; one a performance of ‘Dimensions’ with the Istanbul State Orhestra, the other a recital with Aaron Shorr, which would include S?d?ka’s new work for piano and violin. It was a very interesting time [...]
November 30, 2009
Interview on Collaboration University or York Music Press 2008 The Kreutzer Quartet have commissioned countless (how many?) new works over the years they have been together – what is the motive for commissioning new works when the string quartet repertoire is already so rich? I think that it is worth beginning by saying [...]
November 27, 2009
To my suprise-New Scientist Magazine (15th September Issues) has published a letter that I wrote. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727780.300-acoustic-intent.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=letters Scattered thoughts on being a vagrant musician
November 8, 2009
Scattered thoughts on being a vagrant musician. Aaron and I have just played George Rochberg’s entire violin and piano music in one go at the Arsenale as part of the Venice Biennale. I am absolutely shattered, my hands aching, my brain empty, and the inevitable downer that follows a big concert. There was certainly something [...]
December 4, 2009