Monday Morning Violin Gossip, Op. 21

By Darcy Lewis

The big music news this week is that a librarian at Palmer Theological Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa, recently discovered a working manuscript score for a piano version of Beethoven's 'Grosse Fuge' in an archival cabinet. It was in the composer's own hand, according to Sotheby's auction house. The 80-page manuscript in mainly brown ink includes many changes and cross-outs and dates from the final months of Beethoven's life.

The New York Times opines, "Any manuscript showing a composer's self-editing gives invaluable insight into his working methods, and this is a particularly rich example ... It may shed light on Beethoven's conception of the 'Grosse Fuge,' a work with almost mythical status in the music world." Wakin notes: "The 'Grosse Fuge,' originally part of a string quartet, had been badly treated by a baffled public, and [Beethoven] was evidently eager to see it live on in a form in which music lovers could play it on their pianos at home."

Auditions

There are still some interesting string auditions coming up:

Section cello – New York Phil, December TBA, deadline 10/27
Section viola, section bass - Palm Beach Opera, 11/13, deadline 11/1
Section violin (2+) – San Diego Symphony, 12/5, deadline 11/5
Assoc. principal cello – Sydney (Australia) Symphony, audition date TBA, deadline 11/21
Section violin – New York Phil, Spring 2006 TBA, deadline 12/18

Transitions

Arnold Sklar retired as principal viola of the Grant Park Symphony at the end of the Summer 2005 season.

The Spokane Symphony, following a period of turnover in its bass section, has hired three new bassists. Chang-Min Lee has been named principal, while Stephen Swanson and Eugene Jablonsky are new section members.

Juliette Kang has been named first associate concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra. A native of Edmonton, she comes to Philadelphia from the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where she served as assistant concertmaster from 2003 to 2005. Prior to that she spent two years in the first violin section of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and one season (1999-2000) as principal second violin in the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra.

Violist and conductor Dongmin Kim has been appointed the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s Paul and Martha Schmidt Conducting Study Fellow for 2005-06. Kim, a doctoral candidate in instrumental conducting and viola at Indiana University, earned a performer's diploma in viola before undertaking studies in conducting. He also holds a bachelor's degree in viola performance from Yonsei University in his native Seoul.

Andrew Sewell has renewed his contract as music director of the Wichita Symphony through the 2008-09 season. He has served in this post since 2000. Sewell serves concurrently as music director and conductor of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.

IMG Artists has opened a new Asia regional headquarters in Singapore. The new office will spearhead IMG Artists' business in Asia, including the Middle East, India, China, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. The Asia regional headquarters was previously based in Kuala Lumpur.

The National Symphony Orchestra has named Ivan Fischer as its principal guest conductor, starting with the 2006-07 season.

Marin Alsop has extended her contract as principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony through 2008.

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra has launched a new partnership with XM Satellite Radio. A new season of 26 DSO concert programs began October 2. XM is producer of the satellite programs, which are hosted by Martin Goldsmith. The XM series is sponsored by General Motors, which offers the satellite radio service in its vehicles. DSO concerts are also heard on traditional terrestrial radio stations nationwide, syndicated by WCLV-FM.

Conductor John Mauceri will step down as the director of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra at the end of the summer 2006 season.

Other News

10/5/05 – The Washington Post reports that the National Symphony Orchestra acknowledged for the first time that a search committee, made up of board members, musicians and management, has been formed to find a replacement for [outgoing Music Director Leonard] Slatkin.

10/7/05 – Talk about a sad story: the St. Petersburg (FL) Times reports that “for more than two decades, violinist Stewart Kitts held a prestigious leadership position in the Florida Orchestra, and was one of the Tampa Bay area's brightest cultural lights. He had come from a musical family, and was in the process of raising three children of his own. But somewhere along the line, Kitts got divorced, began dating a drug addict, and became addicted to crack cocaine himself. Less than two years later, his arrest record reads like that of an inner-city gang member, and he has been officially dismissed from the orchestra following a failed intervention last season.” click here

10/11/05 - The Takacs Quartet, considered one of the world's best chamber ensembles, has launched its first season without longtime violist Roger Tapping, who left the group this past summer. The San Jose Mercury News offers this assessment of the new violist Geraldine Walther, formerly of the San Francisco Symphony: "With less than a month's worth of performances under her belt, Walther -- with her warm, honeyed tone, her clarity and confidence -- is already a fit with the group, which sounded remarkably, delicately in balance... There was an incredible airiness to Sunday's performance, with its refined, tremulous atmospherics: It evoked sunlight passing through fog. You could 'see' each refracted ray."

10/13/05 - The Wall Street Journal reviewed a high-profile October 2 concert at Carnegie Hall by the Red Bull Artsehcro ('orchestra' spelled backwards). The show was organized by the energy drink company Red Bull, and the piece featured a piece titled Concerto for Turntable and Orchestra by Raul Yanez. The orchestra, "made up of more than 60 crack classical performers from music schools around the country ... sounded terrific, and the hall was packed with people in their 20s. The idea is wonderful: the turntable ... has emerged from hip-hop as a spectacular musical instrument, startling and flexible. And the Red Bull soloist, DJ Radar was strong ... But the orchestral music part of the concerto was hopeless -- empty, unimaginative, full of corny old clichés from film scores, imperfectly remembered classical works, Super Bowl halftime shows, and bad Broadway musicals." Hmmm…..

10/14/05 - The Grand Rapids Symphony and its musicians have agreed to a new three-year labor contract. The pact calls for the musicians to receive a 2 percent increase for the 2005-06 season, and 3 percent increases for both the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons. The orchestra has also received a $480,000 grant from Steelcase Foundation to fund the position of Music Director David Lockington. The grant will be allocated over three seasons, beginning in 2005-06.

10/21/05 – Violinist Jennifer Koh will make her solo debut with the Honolulu Symphony. She will play Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy.

The Cleveland Orchestra is in the midst of an eleven-concert European tour, which will include its second residency at the Musikverein in Vienna. In addition to the five-concert Vienna residency, the tour, running through November 3, will include concerts in Cologne, Luxembourg, Budapest, and Frankfurt. The Musikverein residency was conceived as a multi-year relationship, with concerts led by Music Director Franz Welser-Most.

Finally, last week marked the 15th anniversary of the death of Leonard Bernstein, a true American original.

Link to previous columns

http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2005/10/16/Arts/montreal-strike051016.html