Classically Speaking

This morning, I spoke with violinist Gil Shaham.  He’s an amazing performer, with quite a collection of recordings to his name, starting on Deutsche Grammophon, and more recently on the record label he founded in 2004, Canary Classics.

I’ll have to admit, I was pretty nervous about this interview.  When I was in my teens, I saw him perform with the NJ Symphony.  I’ve also heard him on the radio countless times, and I own several of his recordings. The idea of interviewing Gil Shaham was a bit overwhelming.

Happily, Gil is interesting, friendly, and has a good sense of humor.  I really enjoyed our interview.

We talked about his upcoming projects, what it’s been like to start his own record label, and about his discovery of the Butterfly Lovers Concerto. First, he told me a bit about his current projects, musical and otherwise:

Listen to Gil Shaham talk about what he's been doing today

Then we talked about the freedom that he has found with his own record label, and how new technology has made it possible:

Listen to Gil Shaham talk about his new record label

Gil Shaham’s most recent CD, recorded with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lan Shui, includes Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and The Butterfly Lovers Concerto, by Gang Chen and Zhanhao He.  The Butterfly Lovers Concerto was written in 1959, by two students at the Shanghai Conservatory.  Gil relates the story of the piece, his first encounter with the music, and his views on how the music transcends politics.

Listen to Gil Shaham talk about The Butterfly Lovers Concerto

Listen to a brief sample of the music

We've played this recording on Music in the Afternoon, and it's certain to return to the program in the future.  If you want to pick up a copy for yourself, here's more information.

Our interview ended with one more glimpse into what we will be hearing next from Gil Shaham:

Listen to Gil Shaham talk about a future project

For more general information about Gil Shaham, especially his childhood and how he got started in music, check out this interview from Strings Magazine in 1999.

Special thanks to Max Horowitz of Crossover Media for setting up this interview. 

This past weekend, I heard the West Virginia Symphony play Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 3 "The Rhenish."  It was a good performance; they had a warm, full sound. 

The fifth movement was my favorite, it really had a lot of spirit (and speed).  The rest of the symphony, Schumann favored tempos that ranged from slow to moderate.   To read more about the concert, check out David Williams' review in the Charleston Gazette. 

Inspired by the sounds of the horns featured in this symphony, I'm going to be playing Schumann's "Concert Piece for Four Horns and Orchestra" today on Music in the Afternoon (around 2pm).  It's a great piece, but it isn't played all that often.  Are there any horn players out there who have reasons to like or dislike this piece? 

The article about this piece over at the All Music Guide wonders why Schumann calls it a "Concert Piece" rather than a concerto and outlines the form of the piece.  It's a nice little introduction to the piece. 

But all this talk of the "horn" leads me to a bit of trickery related to its name. Here is a picture of the horn also commonly known as the "French Horn." 

Here are some of the many names for this instrument, according to the Grove Dictionary of Music: "(Fr. cor, cor d’harmonie; cor à pistons [valve horn]; cor simple, cor à main [hand horn]; cor de chasse, huchet, trompe de chasse [hunting horn]. Ger. Horn; Ventilhorn [valve horn]; Naturhorn [hand horn]; Hiefhorn, Hifthorn, Jagdhorn, Waldhorn [hunting horn]. It. corno; corno a macchina [valve horn]; corno a mano, corno naturale [hand horn]; corno da caccia, tromba da caccia [hunting horn]. Sp. trompa; trompa da caza [hunting horn])."

Now, the instrument we know as the "English Horn," looks nothing like the horn...it's more closely related to the oboe!  And it's not really English!  It originated in Saxony, which today is part of Germany. 

Those who play the "French Horn," often prefer to just have their instrument be called the horn (in 1971, the International Horn Society indicated a preference for that name...for all things horn-related you can read articles from their journal "Horn Call" on their website). 

No matter what you call it, I hope you can tune in to hear four of them soloing with the Seattle Symphony in music of Schumann this afternoon.  Let me know what you think of the piece, or if you have any thoughts on this whole name dilemma!