We’ll have performances by artistic directors current and founding this week on “Music from Marlboro.”
Mitsuko Uchida, who has led the Marlboro Music School and Festival since 2013, will join violinist Soovin Kim and cellist David Soyer (of the legendary Guarneri Quartet) for Beethoven’s “Archduke” Trio.
The Philadelphia-born Soyer, who taught at Marlboro for over 35 years, could be notoriously ornery. In particular, he was known for snapping at pianists for playing too loudly.
According to Uchida, “I avoided him for years because he was known to be nasty to pianists and because for him every pianist was too loud. We joked about it, but one day, I thought, listen, it’s about time that I risked being shouted at by David – ‘you are too loud!’ So I plucked up my courage and we did the ‘Archduke’ together with this wonderful violinist Soovin Kim. I think David tolerated me for the first week because of his love for Soovin Kim. He told me all the time, ‘oh you are too loud, too loud.’ But then there was a moment when he realized that actually I was not too loud. From then on it was smooth sailing. I learned so much from David, from the way he played, from the way he could make the cello sound with such unbelievable accuracy, simplicity and honesty, and, of course, he played louder than anyone else. In the ‘Archduke,’ but also in the slow movement of the Schubert E-flat Trio, I think nobody ever played like that, apart from Pablo Casals. There was a quality of his that was so moving, every time, in rehearsal.”
We’ll hear Uchida, Kim and Soyer in the “Archduke,” in a performance captured in 2006.
Then founding director Rudolf Serkin will join Philadelphia-based soprano Benita Valente and hornist Myron Bloom for Franz Schubert’s “Auf dem Strom” (“On the River”), a work composed in tribute to Beethoven. The text, by Ludwig Rellstab, was originally intended for the older master. The song was first performed on the only concert devoted exclusively to Schubert’s music during Schubert’s lifetime, which took place on the first anniversary of Beethoven’s death, March 26, 1828. Schubert himself would die only eight months later. The Marlboro performance dates from 1960.
I hope you’ll join me for music of Beethoven and Schubert played by Marlboro artistic directors, this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page
PHOTO: A lighter moment (not too loud) with Soovin Kim, Mitsuko Uchida and David Soyer
