Author Archives: Ryan Libel
A Matsuev Matinee
Symphony Hall was nearly full yesterday for a matinee recital by Denis Matsuev, the 43-year-old Russian pianist. I bought a cheaper seat, since I wasn’t previously a fan and I didn’t think the playlist included any of my favorites. But sometimes programs change – after I bought the ticket, I went online to check the […]
Overdue Housecleaning: Suzuki #MeToo
William Preucil has long been one of Suzuki’s biggest success stories. Heralding from the first family of American Suzuki, he traveled the world as a young performer. Early in adulthood, he established himself as a first-rate concertmaster, holding the post with several prominent orchestras. He settled into the top job at The Cleveland Orchestra in […]
Bach, for Reals
As the pieces In the Suzuki Repertoire get longer and more complex, they take longer to work through. My most recent piece, Karl Bohm’s Perpetual Motion from Little Suite No. 6, was an exception. All the pieces that preceded it in Book Four took longer. Still, I began the Perpetual Motion at the beginning of […]
Aimard and Stefanovich’s Contemporary Playlist for Two Pianos
The season at the CSO includes a series of 10 piano recitals on Sunday afternoons – clearly I’m not the only one who enjoys the format. Yesterday’s matinee performance packed two pianists and two concert grand Steinways onto the stage – Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Tamara Stefanovich, both veteran interpreters of The 20th century and contemporary […]
Musical Me: Five Years of Practice
This month marks the five-year anniversary of Musical Me. I conceived of beginning to play the violin and of chronicling my musical pursuit via this blog whole-cloth on a dreary Monday afternoon in October 2013 as I mourned a dead cat and too much wasted time in my life. The writing and my playing were […]
Stradivarius News
The latest chapter in the story of the Ames/Totenberg Stradivarius has just begun. The Totenberg family sold the instrument after it was recovered from the wife of the man who stole it in 1980 when she had it appraised upon his death in 2015. The instrument was returned to the Totenberg family, who then sold […]
An Opera, A Poem, and Florence
Richard Strauss’s opera Capriccio opens with a sextet for strings – The Jerusalem Quartet opened with the piece as well in the first chamber music performance of the 2018-2019 season yesterday at Chicago’s Symphony Center. The renowned Israeli ensemble is on tour with the legendary Pinchas Zuckerman on viola and cellist Amanda Forsyth, who round […]
Allegro
As I warmed up for my lesson yesterday, I managed to get through my Wohlfahrt etude that’s all sixteenth notes in 4/4 time at 120 bpm – allegro! I must say doing so felt like an accomplishment. But allegro with an etude and allegro with real music are different things – even getting there in […]
Program Music and the Human Male
The Archduke Rudolph of Austria was one of Beethoven’s closest friends and patrons. A younger man than the composer, Beethoven began tutoring Rudolph when he was in his thirties and the Archduke was in his mid-teens. Beethoven developed a strong bond with Rudolph – since he had no children himself, it seems likely that his […]
Busy with Beethoven
As I continue to read the Swafford Beethoven biography, I’m listening to Beethoven almost exclusively. The author’s passion for the composer’s music is intense, and he imparts in me a desire to listen to all of it. The biography presents works as they appear in Beethoven’s life, mostly chronologically, with an occasional hint about things […]
Ryan Libel 