At the Jr. B# Musical Club of Central New York, 7 pm

My performance tonight is part of an evening that includes Helden Tenor Jon Frederik West giving a talk about the role of Samson in Camille Saint-Saens’ Samson and Dalilah – a MET Opera HD world-wide theatrical broadcast this Saturday afternoon.

What a great night.  My friend and colleague Jon Frederick West started the evening out with a super presentation on Samson and Dalilah  – MET’s upcoming HD Theatrical Broadcast, this Saturday afternoon.

The tiny room was packed with young musicians, some of whom I have coached in the past – Jr. High and High School players all from within about 50 miles around Utica.  Like this morning, I let the music flow where it would, and in the interests of making an early evening for all, I only took a few of the repeats. 🙂 . Thank you to Sar Strong, Senior Advisor/Coordinator of the Jr. B# Club, for inviting me.

This 39th performance in the Journey of 100 was a house warming concert for Robert, Deborah and their friends.  Before starting, I described my intention through the series of performances to more deeply explore the rapport between a Divine musical work, the listeners and me the performer.  After hearing some of the audience’s response to the music I began to feel in awe of the potential Music has to open connections between us as people because it was clear that folks felt  moved, seemingly more connected with themselves and with the composer’s spirit.

It has been over a year since performance #38 and to be honest, I have not missed the piece.  Yet as I write this morning, I am totally enthused about getting back inside it for the performances coming up this week.

Last night I continued to explore the balance between creative freedom in the timing of the phrases and liberties with the rhythmic pulse (for example how far I might move away from a metronome’s steady beat), and sticking with pulse – the powerful framework in all of Johan Sebastian’s music.  Towards the beginning of playing I felt self conscious at times that I was manipulating the phrases rather than responding to the inner guidance of the music.   

Another aspect that I must rethink is how to handle the repeats written in each of the two sections of the Allemande, Corrente, Sarabande and Gigs (the first four movements) – generally I take the first repeat and not the second.  I wonder if this is somehow undermining the long-form flow of the work because the Ciaconna (the last movement) is a simple flow of variations, with no repeats at all.

Program opens with Schumann Sonata #1 in a, Op. 105, with Sar-Shalom Strong, Piano

Utica College Jackson Lunch Hour Series. 12:30P.M.

In my most recent post, I wrote about seeking the balance between pulse and freedom – between expressing Bach’s internal structure and the freedom of flow, in doing so.

I decided for today’s performance to allow my impulse for flow to lead the way.  To be honest I am not certain how I feel about the results, there was a recording made and I will listen –  I was deep into flow most all of the way through.  I also made both repeats in the Corrente and Giga (this may sound really picky to some of you readers, but truly, it isn’t) and felt the results were “right”.  There is another performance tonight, so I will see later where it all ends up.

10:00-11:30am Lecture-Performance Musical Responses to Oppression through the music of Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Gershwin

In this lecture program we explore three astonishingly different works:

Prokofiev’s Sonata in D Major Op.94a written during the middle of WWII when he was protectively sequestered by Soviet authorities, deep in the Ural Mountains; Preludes Op. 34 by Shostakovich, written when his life seemed to be hanging by a thread under Stalin’s displeasure; and Jasha Heifetz’s arrangements from George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

 with Oxana Mikhailoff, Piano

JCC on Hudson

371 S Broadway, Tarrytown, NY 10591

Sparkill Concert Series

Oxana Mikhailoff and Vassily Primakov, Artistic Directors

Union Arts Center Sparkill, NY