Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

  • Jules Eskin Boston Symphony Cellist Dies at 85

    Jules Eskin Boston Symphony Cellist Dies at 85

    The beloved cellist Jules Eskin has died. Eskin was principal cellist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 53 years. Eskin was living history. His association with the orchestra extended back to the days of Serge Koussevitzky.

    Born in Philadelphia in 1931, Eskin was picked up by the Dallas Symphony at the age of 16, where he performed under the direction of Antal Dorati. He studied with Janos Starker in Dallas, then with Gregor Piatigorsky and Leonard Rose at the Curtis Institute of Music. In 1948, he was a fellowship student at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he performed in the TMC Orchestra under Koussevitzky. He then spent three years as principal cello of the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell and seven years with the New York City Opera. In addition, he participated in the Marlboro Music Festival and played in the Casals Festival Orchestra in Puerto Rico. He joined the BSO as principal cello in 1964, when Erich Leinsdorf was music director.

    Eskin died yesterday at his Brookline home. The cause of death was cancer. Earlier, he had withdrawn from the Boston Symphony for a season to undergo cancer treatments in 1981. He is survived by his wife, BSO violinist Aza Raykhtsaum. The couple celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in January. Eskin announced his retirement from the orchestra only last month. He was 85 years-old.

    We’ll honor him with some of the recordings he made with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, of which he was a founding member, this afternoon from 4 to 7:00 EST on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

  • Voice Trio Concert at Temple Judea

    Voice Trio Concert at Temple Judea

    On today’s Noontime Concert, Emily Burn, Victoria Couper, and Clemmie Franks, the female vocal trio known as Voice, will present a program titled “If Music Be the Food of Love.”

    The concert will be made up of songs exploring the beauty, heartache, and humor of love, with repertoire drawn from medieval France and Germany, 18th century catches, and arrangements of Shakespearean and traditional songs from England and Scotland. Also on the program will be works commissioned by the group from contemporary British composers.

    The concert took place at Temple Judea of Bucks County in February. Temple Judea is located in Furlong, PA. Voice will be joined by the Temple Judea Choir for several of the selections. To find out more about Temple Judea, which will host the Grammy Award winning Turtle Island String Quartet this Saturday at 7:30 p.m., visit templejudea.org.

    Following the noontime concert broadcast, I hope you’ll stick around for Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 9, among our featured works. The concert will begin at 12:00 EST. I’ll be there, spinning the platters until 4, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

  • Aaron Copland’s Jazz Concerto Birthday

    Aaron Copland’s Jazz Concerto Birthday

    He was America’s foremost composer of “art music.” What he was not was George Gershwin.

    Join me this afternoon, as we celebrate the birthday of Aaron Copland with, among other things, his Piano Concerto, composed in 1926. Copland was still feeling his way toward his “populist period” (which began with “El Salón México,” not given its premiere until ten years later), when he wrote this concerto, which spikes 1920s modernism with American jazz.

    The composer was the soloist in the work’s first performance, which featured the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Serge Koussevitzky. The critics panned it, but Copland’s mother beamed with pride. The composer wrote, “I was delighted when Ma said it was her proudest moment and that my playing in the Concerto made all those music lessons worthwhile!”

    It retained its reputation as a shocker until 1947, when Leonard Bernstein revived it with Leo Smith as the soloist, and it struggles still, even next to Copland’s own Clarinet Concerto. In the meantime, Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” (from 1924) has never been out of the repertoire.

    Hear this underexposed work today, between 4 and 7:00 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

  • Rediscovering Weingartner: Conductor & Composer

    Rediscovering Weingartner: Conductor & Composer

    Felix Weingartner (1863-1942) is best-recognized as a conductor. However, he considered himself equally, if not more so, a composer. He was one of a number of prominent conductors of the day who fit the Mahler paradigm. However, the works of Wilhelm Furtwängler, Otto Klemperer and any number of other famed figures of the podium are very seldom heard.

    Weingartner held many conducting posts over the years. He succeeded Mahler as principal conductor of the Vienna Hofoper, from 1908 to 1911. He led the Vienna Philharmonic in an official capacity until 1927. He was later chief conductor of the Vienna Volksoper.

    He thought very deeply about the problem of the symphony. I remember reading a book he wrote in which he examined the strengths and weaknesses of all the major symphonies written in the shadow of Beethoven, down to the dawn of the 20th century.

    He himself composed seven symphonies, among other symphonic works, and thanks to the enterprising cpo.de – classic production osnabrück label (CPO for short), all of them have been recorded. This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll hear the Symphony No. 2, from 1901, a fascinating mix of old and new, evidently romantic in disposition, yet very much of its time. The recording will feature the Basel Symphony Orchestra, which Weingartner himself directed from 1927 to 1934.

    As a conductor, Weingartner was particularly well-regarded as a Beethoven interpreter. He’d been conducting the Beethoven symphonies as a cycle since at least 1902, and he was the first to complete an integral set of recordings. We’ll have time to sample the scherzo from the Symphony No. 9 from his superlative recording of 1935.

    I hope you’ll join me as we raise a glass to Felix Weingartner. That’s “Wine from Weingartner,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

    PHOTO: Weingartner gets busted in Basel in 1927

  • Brass Practice Hack by Philly Trumpeter

    Brass Practice Hack by Philly Trumpeter

    Okay, this one is for the brass nerds among you.

    A few weeks back, I posted a cartoon by Jeffrey Curnow, associate principal trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra. I suppose it shouldn’t come as any surprise that he would be just as witty and inventive in real life. Here’s a YouTube video he whipped together demonstrating his unique solution to the challenges of practicing on the road.

    Phil Smith, in case you don’t know, is principal trumpet of the New York Philharmonic. Joseph Alessi is the Philharmonic’s principal trombone. Matthew Vaughn is co-principal trombone of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Now that you’ve been forearmed with that brassy esoterica, enjoy!

    More Curnow Cartoons and doctored photos on Jeffrey Curnow’s Facebook page.

    OMG! He attended Wilson Area High School. As a native Eastonian, I would say that explains a lot.

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