“Rosamunde” Quartet
In 1823, after writing incidental music to Helmina von Chézy’s play, Rosamunde, Princess of Cyprus, Franz Schubert was so pleased with the result that he repurposed the music into the second movement of this gorgeous work for string quartet. Putting this piece together with James, Ellen, and James was fun while cozily ensconced on Ellen’s farm in Hyampom during the fortnight of deluge we endured. After a few years in a row of thorny, complicated, late Beethoven string quartets, it was different and fun to work on something more simply constructed. Schubert’s ear for melody and texture is extraordinary; another one of those composers where we have to wonder what could have been if he hadn’t died decades before his time.
Schubert “Rosamunde” Quartet
Quatre Visages
In November 2022 the pianist Alan Clark and I stopped into Pulp Arts in Gainesville, Florida to record Darius Milhaud’s Quatre Visages (“Four Faces”), a jazzy work for viola and piano from 1943. Each movement represents the face of a fictional woman: one from California, one from Wisconsin, one from Brussels, and one from Paris. The French-Jewish composer Darius Milhaud (1892-1974), one of Les Six, was commissioned by the Belgian player Germain Prévost (founding violist of the Pro Arte Quartet) in 1943 and these have been popular with violists ever since. Milhaud was a talented violist himself (he performed the premiere of Debussy's Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp) and his familiarity with the instrument shines through.
In 1940, Milhaud and his wife fled the Nazis and settled in Oakland, CA where he composed while teaching at Mills College. The Pro Arte Quartet had a summer residency at Mills and a residency at the University of Wisconsin which explains the locations.
Quatre Visages for Viola and Piano
Eyeglasses Duo
Ludwig van Beethoven’s famed duo “requiring two pairs of eyeglasses” has been a mainstay of my repertoire since childhood (my sister is a cellist). Charly and I decided to give it a casual read this summer in Hyampom after the rest of our ensemble fell ill. Here we are sitting on our friend Ellen’s back porch in beautiful Hyampom, California.
3 Songs for Piano & Viola
During the Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival’s 2021 tour, Ian and I spent some time rehearsing and recording these three songs from Kim Kashkashian’s and Robert Levin’s collection for viola and piano called Asturianas, some of our favorite repertoire to play.
Sonya Stahl - “Garlic” Duo
In December 2021, the San Francisco-based violist and pedagogue, Paula Karolak, visited Gainesville for a duo concert as part of the Hogtown Chamber Music Series. Along with miniatures by Telemann, Einaudi, and Berio, we performed this beautiful little duo by Gainesville composer, Sonya L. Stahl.
Dvořák - Piano Quintet
As part of the Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival’s first 2021 summer shows, we performed this live-streamed performance of the Piano Quintet in A-major, op. 81. It was my first time learning the viola part for this piece.
Bach - Sonata No. 1
During the summer 2020 CoVID-19 lockdown in Florida, I updated my recording equipment setup and started practicing Bach on violin for the first time since I was a teenager. This is an outtake from practicing and recording spiced up with some (hopefully humorous) commentary.
Beethoven op. 135
At the end of my winter 2019 residency at the Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival, I performed Beethoven’s final work, the delightful String Quartet in F-major. After a rehearsal retreat in Hyampom, California (population 241), the festival went on tour, culminating in this show at Monument, a communal living/performance space in SOMA, San Francisco.
Bach, Suite in C
Two live performances of the same work, about 6 months apart. The second video includes a brief spoken introduction. The first video was recorded in Gainesville, Florida and the second in Eureka, California.
Impromptu Bach
While in the Italian-speaking region of the Swiss Alps called Rovio, the morning after a day of hiking around the area, I ducked into one of the local churches (SS Vitale e Agata), and with the help of his friends, Charly Akert and Ian Scarfe, recorded this video.
Ch’io mi scordi di te
Mozart’s Concert Aria, K. 505 is a treat, a showpiece for piano and voice. Here, I perform with soloists Jamie-Rose Guarrine and Ian Scarfe at the Morris Graves Museum of Art. This was the same summer the music festival presented Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915.
Back at School Bartók
Working with Mark Sokol and the Chamber Music Faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music was an amazing experience. I was part of quite a few unforgettable chamber music experiences. This was my first Bartók string quartet (all the way back in 2008!), and playing it with Daniel, Midori, and Adaiha was so much fun.