Great Barrington — One of the most significant figures in the history of the violin, Niccolò Paganini, was known for technical virtuosity so extraordinary that he was accused of selling his soul to the devil. Truth be told, Paganini wasn’t nearly that debauched. But neither was he above the trick of deliberately breaking strings in order to demonstrate his one-string violin playing technique, a spectacle his fans hungrily devoured. In its season opener on Sunday, November 5, Close Encounters with Music (CEWM) will provide patrons the opportunity to witness equally impressive displays of virtuosity via works from Paganini, Kapustin, Ysaÿe, Saint-Saëns, and Brahms, all performed by a group of truly intrepid musicians (one of whom will demonstrate his own one-string performance technique).
Most CEWM patrons have heard about the organization’s annual High Peaks Festival, the intensive summer program for aspiring young musicians on the road to greatness. Sunday will give us our first chance to hear one of the High Peaks students perform in a regular CEWM concert: A student of cello with Yehuda Hanani and associate principle cellist of the New York Youth Symphony Orchestra, 17-year-old Philip Thompson also studies piano at the New York Piano Academy with Ronn Yedidia. Mr. Thompson joins pianist Adam Golka, violinist Giora Schmidt, and cellist Yehuda Hanani on the Mahaiwe stage in daring performances of some wickedly difficult repertory.
When “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso,” by Camille Saint-Saëns, is performed on violin, the show-stopping piece is considered challenging enough. (Mr. Hanani calls it a “minefield.”) But Mr. Thompson will play it on cello, and when he does, the Mahaiwe crowd (i.e., you) will go wild. This, of all moments in the program, is not to be missed.
Here is the program for Sunday:
- Nikolai Girshevich Kapustin — Concert Etudes op. 40 nos. 7 and 8 (Intermezzo and Finale)
- Niccolò Paganini — Variations for One String on a Theme from Rossini’s “Moses”
- Eugène Ysaÿe — Caprice d’après l’Étude en forme de valse de Saint-Saëns (Op. 52, no. 6)
- Camille Saint-Saëns — Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso
- Johannes Brahms — Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major, op. 8 (revised version)
Russian/Ukrainian composer Nikolai Kapustin smeared the line between jazz, classical, and pretty much everything but the kitchen sink. His Concert Etudes comprise some of the most thrilling and colorful piano pieces you are likely to hear on either side of the classical-jazz divide—riveting stuff that will especially please fans of Paul Schoenfield and Conrad Tao.
Paganini’s Variations for One String on a Theme from Rossini have all the makings of a prank. A recording of the piece, with its lyrical main theme and unsurprising structure, may sound unremarkable at first. But then come the harmonics—lots of them, executed at positively hazardous speeds. Paganini’s Variations turn out to be a showcase for virtuosos, even before it dawns on you that the entire thing is performed on one string! And now the prank has turned quite serious. It is recommended that ordinary cellists attempt this high-wire act only at home.
Pablo Casals claimed never to have heard a violinist play in tune before he heard Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe perform, and violin pedagogue Carl Flesch called Ysaÿe “the most outstanding and individual violinist I have ever heard in my life.” So, when Ysaÿe wrote for violin and did what came naturally to him, he created some of the most challenging and virtuosic violin pieces in the classical music literature. His “Caprice d’après l’Étude en forme de valse de Saint-Saëns,” performed on Sunday by Giora Schmidt, is a perfect example of the kind of technique Ysaÿe seemed to expect of every professional violinist.
After all the excitement of the first four pieces on the program, Brahms’ Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major provides a welcome moment of repose, its stately opening theme being one of the composer’s most beloved. (H.L. Menken, writing as a critic for the Baltimore Sun, called it “the loveliest tune, perhaps, in the whole range of music.”) But this piano trio is no snoozefest: It quickly picks up steam and emotional intensity, and soon the players are scrambling to keep up (or so it may seem). This will be the beefiest performance of the Brahms trio you have ever heard, because the “trio” of musicians will include both of the evening’s cellists.
Hear a program of frighteningly virtuosic classics from Close Encounters with Music at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center on November 5, at 4 p.m. Tickets, $52 (orchestra and mezzanine), $28 (balcony), and $15 for students, are available through Mahaiwe or by calling (413) 528-0100. CEWM subscriptions (available at cewmusic@aol.com) are $250 (seniors, $225) for seven concerts.
