I am very excited to be playing for one of my dear creative colleagues next Monday. Since the last Chaconne (#25, 12/28/2014) I have been focussed on moving my residence, and have allowed the Bach to lie fallow through the deep winter.
Now it is Spring, and I am coming back to the Bach after these few months’ hiatus; I am finding a new level of understanding, particularly in terms of tempo and rhythmic organization, choosing to explore specific influence from two great Maestros with whom I have worked at the MET for many years. More on that later!
in memory of my friend Lev Gogish. White Plains, NY
Greene Gallery, on the Guilford Green – Guilford, Connecticut
5 PM – $15 admission to benefit Guilford Better Chance
RSVP 29 Whitfield St, Guilford, CT 06437
(203) 453-4162
Sunday June 29, 2014 – 6 PM – FREE ADMISSION – West 89th Street between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues. The Chaconne opens this short program…Beethoven’s String Trio in G Major comes next – played with my friends Artie Dibble, Viola, and Lindy Clarke, Cello.
This outdoor concert was blessed with perfect weather and a large, appreciative audience…lots of families with children, and the little ones were getting up and coming to the front of the stage area and dancing away with pure delight…somewhat astonishing for me because their delight and joy was like a second counterpoint to this work of Bach’s and it was challenging to stay plugged into the deep flow of the Work and not “fall out” into the dancing of the children!
I had spent a lot of time in the last week working on purity of intonation as well as stronger rhythmic organization, and I was happy that that work wasn’t wasted…that being said it is humbling that even at this 23rd time, for me, thorough practice is still an essential component: there were areas of which I assumed in my practice sessions “ok, that part’s fine, don’t need to invest time there”, that would have benefitted from slow, mindful work….sigh….I remember reading Kreisler’s writing about train travel providing him time to review in his mind every tone of the works he was performing, to sort of, in his words, “re-carve” the grooves on the disc (the vinyl or glass LP recordings of his time)….I will remember that going forward.
The Beethoven seemed an easy delight to play – in gusty winds that required us to pause and carefully replace the clothespins that held the music onto the stands!!! Artie and Lindy are, simply put, terrific.
On campus in the CAPA LENS.
Tuesday night’s 10 p.m. performance of the entire D Minor Partita produced one of the most memorable results I have ever experienced as a soloist. The audience of about 60 or so stayed sitting together in a profound, relaxed silence for a good 8-10 minutes. Slowly, one or two students at a time would quietly put their things together and leave the room. About six stayed for talkback and conversation that was captured by our Catamount Access cameraman. I will put the students’ insightful comments together in an edit, and post it here as soon as I can.
One of my comments about the performance is that the emotional arc of my performance felt sloppy to me – and when I shared that, Matthew (one of the students) replied that “emotions are sloppy” and that the rawness of my musical expression (his words) was what made it so powerful. That gives one *much* to consider in terms of balancing personal expression with expressing musical understanding of Bach’s fine works.
Vlad Gogish 
Ilya Gogish 
Serafima Dashevskaya 
Eugenie Ford 
Judy Gardiner 
Lee T. McQuillan 
sgwp_a1 
Reggie Reid 
Craig helmrich 
Lindy Clarke 
Diana Bloom 
Randa Kirshbaum 
Dolph LeMoult
Good luck on all fronts, Shem.
lucky people in NYC april 6 (how can they even imagine what perfomances we heard befoer
Wonderful news,Shem!
Thanks everyone!
Shem brought the sorrow and turbulence of Bach’s piece to life. In the intimate setting of a NYC living room. Shem conveyed the struggles that seemed to have shaped Bach as he wrote this piece at a difficult moment of his life. At certain points, Shem managed to make his instrument sound as if there were several violinists playing at once. The physicality of the performance was also quite moving.
A fantastic evening! So thought-provoking and so moving. The opportunity to hear great music played with extraordinary skill in an intimate setting is sadly so rare. There was such a sense of communion and immediate community in the sharing of this experience. And to sit so close to Shem, to hear the physical effort that goes into the performance. One could almost see the sound waves vibrating across the room. And while I have heard The Chaconne before, never have I payed such close attention. If it is indeed an anguished dialogue between the grieving composer and his God, it is a complex multi-layered one, worthy of Job.
Shem, it was such an honor to experience your Chaconne in our private world of good friends and family. I personally adore that we were number 26 (one of my two lucky numbers!)
I related to your comment about getting lost in your performance…how nothing else exists during those moments. I would imagine that during those moments you are feeling love….. love of life, love of your gift. And the beauty of that is that we, your audience, find ourselves immersed in that same feeling of “love”.
Thank you, Deborah