Great Music, Hard Times
Evening Music | May 6, 2010
It's a story as old as the hills: the "starving artist" who creates great art while languishing in poverty. Tonight we’ll hear some great music that was inspired by hard times.
"My music is the product of my genius and my poverty," wrote Franz Schubert, "and that which I have written in my greatest distress is what the world seems to like the best." Certainly, Schubert knew what it was to suffer adversity; barely able to make a living, he nevertheless churned out hundreds of immortal pieces of music. Tonight, violinist Gil Shaham and guitarist Goran Sollscher bring us a haunting rendition of Schubert’s elegy of unrequited longing, the "Serenade." We'll set the tone first, however, with an unusual (but relevant) offering: guitarist Sollscher channels the Beatles with their anthem of the homeless and downtrodden, "Eleanor Rigby." Another composer who barely managed to keep himself afloat was Carl Stamitz. In addition to sharing constant money woes with his friend and contemporary Mozart, Stamitz was instrumental (no pun intended) in elevating the clarinet as an orchestral and solo instrument (as was Mozart). Virtuoso Sabine Meyer gives us a taste of Stamitz’s clarinet affinity with the Third Clarinet Concerto; Iona Brown leads the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Lively works by Brahms, Janacek and Telemann round out the evening as we finally come full circle with one of Schubert’s works for piano, the Impromptu No. 1 in C Minor, from the ever-engaging Andras Schiff.
"My music is the product of my genius and my poverty," wrote Franz Schubert, "and that which I have written in my greatest distress is what the world seems to like the best." Certainly, Schubert knew what it was to suffer adversity; barely able to make a living, he nevertheless churned out hundreds of immortal pieces of music. Tonight, violinist Gil Shaham and guitarist Goran Sollscher bring us a haunting rendition of Schubert’s elegy of unrequited longing, the "Serenade." We'll set the tone first, however, with an unusual (but relevant) offering: guitarist Sollscher channels the Beatles with their anthem of the homeless and downtrodden, "Eleanor Rigby." Another composer who barely managed to keep himself afloat was Carl Stamitz. In addition to sharing constant money woes with his friend and contemporary Mozart, Stamitz was instrumental (no pun intended) in elevating the clarinet as an orchestral and solo instrument (as was Mozart). Virtuoso Sabine Meyer gives us a taste of Stamitz’s clarinet affinity with the Third Clarinet Concerto; Iona Brown leads the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Lively works by Brahms, Janacek and Telemann round out the evening as we finally come full circle with one of Schubert’s works for piano, the Impromptu No. 1 in C Minor, from the ever-engaging Andras Schiff.
