This is just in time as Spring has come bursting to Central Park and the streets of Manhattan early this year. Three weeks ago I shared the first glimpses of the new growth in Central Park.
Today I was truly enchanted as I tried to visually capture a spectacular day of Mother earth in all the glory of her woody spring energy pushing up growth and beauty everywhere.
I hope that you enjoy this slideshow as much as I did viewing the real thing. Aside from seeing my beloved forsythia, daffodils, cherry blossom and magnolia blooms, I was blessed with getting two pictures of a gorgeous, fabulously feathered bird. This is the first time I have ever seen such an unusual bird in the park.
If anyone knows what that beautiful creature is called I’d love to know it!
Last week was yet another sensational week of nurturing myself with outstanding musical performances.
When I reflected upon what made these performance so special to me I realized something very simple that often seems to be ignored by music critics and especially by those interested in classical orchestral or chamber music.
The essence of music is play. It is about the play and interplay of instruments and artists that is part of the non-verbal communications and conversations.
Play implies fun, creativity, freedom of expression, spontaneity, joy and pleasure.
The abundance of this quality is what distinguished both of my experiences last week. You can tell a musician is having fun because they smile when they play their instrument and look at the other players.
The first event was a jazz set that took place at The Jazz Standard, www.jazzstandard.com. I had never heard master tenor saxophonist Houston Person or pianist John Di Martino or the bass player Ray Drummond play before. The fourth of the quartet was my favorite drummer Lewis Nash.
The outstanding expertise of each musician was intensified by the musical banter between them all. They didn’t just converse -they played and the joy and fun that they expressed felt like a really great party and celebration was happening.
There was a riot of fun and afterwards when I spoke to Drummond and Nash each pointed to other saying that the other was the “instigator”.
Later that weekend I attended an all piano concert given by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Alice Tulley Hall. www.chambermusicsociety.org. Here is the music they played and the artists are pictured below.
Each pair of artists were clearly delighted by their collaboration with each other. It didn’t matter whether they played on two pianos or one, and no combination of partners was unbalanced with the performances of other pairings.
As each piece was completed the artists hugged each other, were laughing and left the stage engaged in conversation with the other.
The fun they each had was contagious to all present.
At the completion of both the jazz set and the chamber music concert a rare event happened.
It is highly unusual in recent times for performers to give encores.
At the jazz venue, another full piece was performed , to the surprise and joy of the the audience and the four pianists sat together at one piano and played an eight handed piece.
One of the most frequent ways that I nurture myself so that I can be of service to others in my private practice is by attending selected musical performances of mostly classic jazz , classical and baroque orchestral and chamber music.
Last week I was musically blessed to not only experience the superb live jazz of the Cedar Walton Quartet (featuring Cedar Walton on piano, David Williams on bass, Vincent Herring on saxophone and contra saxophone, and Willie Jones III on the drums) at Birdland, http://www.birdland.com, but I also saw the NY Philharmonic performing my very favorite Beethoven Symphony #7.
One of the factors that makes regular attendance at concerts of the NY Philharmonic so interesting and compelling for me is that so many of the very most talented performers and conductors from all parts of the world share their musical passions in my home town.
What was really special for me about the Beethoven and Stravinsky concert last week was my introduction to David Zinman the conductor who has been the director of the Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich for the past seventeen years.
Here is part of what the program said about him.
David Zinman’s career has been distinguished by his programming of a broad repertoire, his strong commitment to the performance of contemporary music, and his introduction of historically informed performance practice. He is in his 17th season as music director of Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra. He has conducted all of the leading North American orchestras, including the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, The Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, as well as the New York Philharmonic. In Europe he performs with the Berlin Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Munich Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Age of Englightenment. He also has relationships with Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw, Vienna Symphony, London Philharmonic, and Philharmonia orchestras, as well as Orchestre de Paris, and Orchestre National de France. His most recent opera performance was a production of Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann at Geneva Opera in March 2010, to be revived in late 2011.
Since the 7th Symphony is one of my favorites I can hear the whole score in my head as the orchestra is performing the music. What was sheer delight for me in this instance was that although I knew the notes, the phrasing and complexion of the music was significantly different from any other version I have ever heard. It was so vibrant that I was entranced and exhilerated.
What is different about Zinman’s direction is that he apparently was one of the first conductors to use Beethoven’s own notations for the score rather than the common applications which have all interpreted what the conductors thought the composer might have been striving towards in the composition.
I found this U-tube commentary on Zinman’s Beethoven by Alan Gilbert, musical director of the NY Philharmonic to be really interesting. I hope that it will be as enjoyable for you.
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Meryl Chodosh-Weiss 