A breakup caused by a violin

It's not a breakup of 2 partners in a romantic relationship but a string quartet. And it's not any violin but a Bergonzi violin worth US$900k before Y2K. I wanted to write about the story of the Audubon Quartet way back. Basically, three members of the quartet wanted to kick out their first violinist David Ehrlich because the latter promised the services of the quartet, free of charge, in order to secure donations to pay for a $900,000 violin without consulting or notifying them. The quarter is not a no-name either: They were the first American string quartet ever to win a first prize in an international string quartet competition, starting with the International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France in 1977. The issue ended up in court. The first violinist won, with a $611k judgement. The bankruptcy court almost had the cellist and the violist sell their instruments to cover it but then a settlement was reached to reduce the amount and an investor stepped in to pay that amount and become owner of the instruments. He then loaned them back to the musicians for 10 years (this is the 10th year!) Audubon actually continued with a new violinist until 2011 when they disbanded.

Menuhin Competition

Came across an interesting article from the magazine of my Alma Mater University of Texas about a violin competition held there in Austin back in Feb.

Part of the competition was to play an original piece by UT faculty member Don Grantham, commissioned for the 2014 competition. Each semifinalist performed the tune as part of their repertoire, having received the sheet music just four weeks ahead of the premiere.
Stephen Waarts, the eventual winner, was the first one appeared on the video. The video editor did a good job piecing all these different performances together! I went to a concert in Palo Alto that featured Stephen Waarts as the soloist a few years ago and was already very impressed by his techniques.

Regina Carter's Southern Comfort

I think the advertising agency used by Southern Comfort did a good job. I knew nothing about this brand of liqueur until I saw its attention grabbing commercial. I still haven't tried it but at least I know it's kinda like whiskey/bourbon now. And combining the phrase Southern Comfort with great violinist Regina Carter certainly sounds awesome even though I guess the music has nothing to do with the brand.

This is probably the 3rd or 4th time I've been to a Regina Carter concert and she's one of the artist that I consider "couldn't go wrong": anything she played has high musical values. Of course, that's a huge compliment to a musician. Before her last 2 albums, Regina Carter had already played a large variety of jazz throughout her career, including her early, heavily pop-influenced "Something for Grace," classically-influenced "Paganini's Dream" and the jazz-standard filled "I'll be Seeing you: a sentimental journey" which established her status as one of the top jazz violinist. In my opinion though, it was the last 2 releases that broke away from mainstream jazz and propelled her from "merely" good (skillful, versatile and enjoyable) musician to a truly great master.

In her last album "Reverse Thread," Regina Carter collaborated with African musicians and came up with authentic, original music by combining elements from African music (folk tunes and rhythms) and jazz (improv) She continued her musical journey tracing the roots of her ancestry in the South. This time she used a lot of melodies from her childhood. Her performance at the SFJAZZ center included playback of such music pre-recorded in the South as references for the audience. We could clearly hear how she used the simple tunes as building blocks and transform them into vehicle for improvisation. The concert hall was filled with joyful mood. The encore piece was about going home by train and it deeply moved me as it brought back all those old memories of taking KCR trains home after school or work when I was in Hong Kong.

Music of the day: Phantasia

What was that background music used by Patrick Chan (Canadian Figure Skater)? That's the question I had when it was on TV. And I was not the only one who asked the same question!

Music of the day: David Tanenbaum & SFCM Guitar Ensemble

I went to this concert today. Judging from the description and the organizer (San Francisco Chamber Orchestra), I expected a program of old and new classical guitar materials, probably from the likes of Fernando Sor and Leo Brouwer. What a surprise I was in! First of all, I saw the co-host holding a Samick acoustic (folk) guitar. Then another performer (turns out to be Mr. Tanenbaum) holding a resonator guitar (best known for its appearance on the cover of Dire Straits' classic album: Brothers In Arms) Also, the show was not in the format of your traditional concert. Instead, it was in the style of a variety show, with music-related games in between performances, not to mention detailed explanation given by performers/composers. Mr. Tanenbaum told the story of his resonator guitar. This type of guitar originated in 20s and is made of steel and consists of "speaker cones" to make it sound loud. The brand of his is National and it came from National's factory in the lovely city of San Luis Obispo. And his is not your "ordinary" National Steel Guitar but one custom fretted in Just Intonation (the alternative to equal temperament, which most musicians are more familiar with. You could see how unique the guitar frets look) Tanenbaum teaches classical guitar at conservatories. You might wonder why he didn't play it at the concert. It was because he has asked composer Lou Harrison to write a piece for him for a long time. Finally Harrison wrote one, not for classical guitar but a National Steel guitar with Just Intonation. He wanted to write something special and it turned out to be his last work before he passed away. It's called "Scenes from Nek Chand" which is based on the sculpure and architecture of Nek Chand in northern India and was indeed very Eastern sounding.

Another guest on the program was violinist Jeremy Cohen. I didn't know he was the founder of Quartet San Francisco, of which the music I really enjoyed! He played a violin solo piece and a viola duet (Tango #8, with himself and Ben Simon, SFCO's director, both on viola) piece from his etude books and also the jazz standard Honeysuckle Rose (with himself and Julian Smedley both on violin) What a versatile player! (in terms of instruments and styles)

Musician of the day: Svend Asmussen

Mr. Asmussen is a 94 years old jazz violinist. During his long and still on-going career, he has played with the best of the best in jazz, including Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington! I have been listening to his albums (Still Fiddling, Makin' Whoopee!... and music!) and enjoyed them very much.

Joke of the day: What is a string quartet?

My teacher taught me today:

A good violinist, a bad violinist, a failed violinist, and someone who hates violinists.

Music of the day: O mio babbino caro

I know playing opera tunes on violin sounds kinda cheesy. Well, Joshua Bell did it (on his Romance of the Violin album) too so it feels a bit more justified. I gotta admit I like it a lot when I heard it on the radio yesterday. I've got the sheet music and this will be the song I practice next!

新晉小提琴家Ann Marie Calhoun

這位可能是繼Vanessa Mae後另一位將會紅起來擁有亞裔血統的女小提琴家。她有份參與荷里活大製作福爾摩斯的配樂，亦是Yanni及Steve Vai樂隊的成員。

和另一位小提琴家Samvel Yervinyan比試：


為搖滾結他大師Steve Vai的live performance伴奏：

Music of the day: Let's have a new start

I am in the mood of some good old Hong Kong pop as well as violin music and this album is the perfect fit for me. It features 13 tunes that are among the most popular songs in HK during the 80s and 90s, rearranged as orchestral music and performed by violinist Takako Nishizaki (西崎崇子) Nishizaki is one of the most beloved violinist in HK as she lives there and put in great effort in promoting classical music locally.

Music of the day: more jazz violin

After the Regina Carter concert, I went to another jazz violin show: Mads Tolling Quartet at Yoshi's SF. I heard a tune from his latest album "The Playmaker" on the radio and was immediately impressed so I listened to his 2 albums on Rhapsody and went to his concert. It is not exactly the classic jazz violin sound that I enjoy so much (i.e., Stephane Grappelli) His sound is more fusion like, which I also found very interesting. For some reason I had a feeling he would end the concert with his Led Zeppelin cover, "Black Dog," and I was right!

I found it interesting that so many jazz violinist are from Europe, like Mads Tolling. Through the Jazz violin tag radio on Last.fm, I've also listened to other Europeans like Mateusz Smoczynski, Zbigniew Seifert, last but not least, the great Jean-Luc Ponty. I heard his live version of "Cantelope Island" on radio and it was fabulous.

I should also mention that Mads Tolling is a violinist of the most well-known jazz string quartet in the world: Turtle Island String Quartet. In fact, I have not heard of any other jazz string quartet until I heard Quartet San Francisco playing Dave Brubeck on the radio! If you like jazz string quartet, please also check out Basquiat Strings.

Book of the month: Stradivari's Genius

This book started with the history of violin making from the earliest days, with special focus on the greatest violin maker of all time: Antonio Stradivari. Then it traced the ownerships and famous players of six of Stradivari's masterpieces: 5 violins and 1 cello. One might think it must be boring to read such history but the opposite is true. This books read like a novel, with unexpected twist at the end! This is a must-read for all violin lovers.

Musician of the day: Jenny Scheinman

I am totally in the mood of jazz violin, after listening to Chris Church (from Jesse Cook's band) and Regina Carter last week. And I "discovered" Scheinman from Ben Allison's latest CD Think Free(BTW, Allison has always put out interesting music and this CD is no exception) Now I'm listening to her CD The Rabbi's Lover.

Topic of the day: Violin Hero

I was curious whether a Guitar-hero-like game exists for violin. I can't believe such thing indeed exists! However, it had been discontinued for a long time. I guess it wasn't that successful. There seems to be a market though, judging by Facebook having a Violin Hero group with 500+ members.

Music of the day: Flamingo

What could be more inspiring after a violin lesson than listening to the works of some great violin master? That's exactly what KCSM (our local jazz station) did for me today, by playing Stephane Grappelli's Flamingo.