Colleen and I enjoyed an evening of classical music with members of the LA Chamber Orchestra led by Jeffrey Kahane. The program opened with an introduction of Arnold Steinhardt, violin, who talked about his life in Los Angeles during the 1940's and '50's. He talked about hitch hiking around town to his violin lessons. Once while standing on a corner waiting for a ride, Frank Sinatra drove up with Ava Gardner in the car in a Cadillac comfortable. Sinatra looked at Steinhardt, gave him the finger, and drove off. The 77 year old violinist also told about wanting to get a coach to play a violin solo by Igor Stravinsky. He asked his friends for advice since he had never played it. One called back with the phone number of Stravinsky who Steinhardt called and Stravinsky answered the phone and said he would be glad to teach him.
The concert began with Concert a tre for violin, cello and clarinet by Dahl composed in 1946. This was followed by "Marietta's Lied zur Laute" by Korngold in 1920 with Mr. Steinhardt on violin and Mr. Kahane on piano. The final piece was Schumann's Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op.44 composed in 1842. This piece in four movements had many parts that are very familiar to me and very enjoyable.
The evening ended with a question and answer session. It was a very enjoying night out-on-the-town.
 |
| Jeffrey Kahane, Music Director and Pianist |
 |
| Arnold Steinhardt, Violin |
No comments:
Post a Comment