Rain, Rain, Rain! - and more music!

Last night, we really got hit with heavy rain that went on and on. We must have gotten several inches. We saw the effects on our driveway going out this morning - we got out ok, but there are some pretty serious washouts.  But now we are at Marlboro and Katie Tolles met us here. The Mozart String Quartet K. 464 just started. I am sitting in the way back where my computer won't distract anyone. The sound is great back here - indeed, any place in this hall. But the blend is particularly good in this spot. 

The musicians in this piece are Robyn Bollinger & Stephanie Zyzak, violin; Samuel Rhodes, viola; Alexander Hersh, cello. Robyn Bollinger and Alexander Hersh are well-known to us by now- we have heard them several times. Robyn is immediately recognizable by her laugh, which is frequent. Samuel Rhodes is older, and is faculty. Let's see - indeed he is - he has been here at Marlboro since 1960! 61 years! He is also on the faculty at Julliard, and a member of the famed Julliard String Quartet. 

"Violist Samuel Rhodes, born in New York City, has appeared as soloist with orchestras in Oregon, New Jersey, and New York. He has played solo recitals at Columbia University, Princeton University, and Carnegie Recital Hall. He has participated in the Marlboro Music Festival since 1960 and several times was the featured artist in the Music From Marlboro series at Town Hall and on tour throughout the Eastern U.S., Canada, in a State Department-sponsored tour of Europe, and in the Near East. Rhodes was a member of the Galimir String Quartet from 1961-69. He joined the Juilliard String Quartet in 1969. He received his B.A. from Queens College and his M.F.A. from Princeton University. He has studied with Earl Kim, Roger Sessions, Sydney Beck, and Walter Trampler. Rhodes has been a faculty member since 1969 and was co-chair of the viola department from 1992-2001. He has been chair of the viola department since 2002." 

Samuel Rhodes, violist

Stephanie Zyzak made her first solo appearance at the age of seven with Cincinnati’s Starling Chamber Orchestra at the Aspen Music School, where she became the youngest recipient of a New Horizons Fellowship. The following year, she performed in Germany as an invited guest of the Internationale Kunstakademie Liechtenstein. A passionate chamber musician, Stephanie has had the privilege of collaborating with artists such as Ralph Kirshbaum, Steven Tenenbom, Kim Kashkashian, Miriam Fried, Paul Biss, Marcy Rosen, and Robert McDonald. She has also performed at the Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, and Marlboro Music Festival. Stephanie studied with Miriam Fried at the New England Conservatory and with Mark Steinberg at City University of New York. She performs on a 1778 Joseph and Antonio Gagliano violin, generously on loan from Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute. As part of her fellowship with Ensemble Connect, Stephanie teaches at Brooklyn High School of the Arts in Brooklyn.

Stephanie Zyzak, violin

Later - Noon:

We had almost an hour break and I took advantage of the time to do my exercises. Ellen and Katie took a little walk. 

Next up is the Schumann Piano Trio that we heard Wednesday, with Jonathan Biss, piano, Maria Ioudenitch, violin  and Zlatomir Fung, cello. As I mentioned last time, this is an amazing piece of music.

The Schumann Trio from the back of the hall

Here is what Wikipedia has to say:

The Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 63, by Robert Schumann was written in 1847. It has four movements:

1. Mit Energie und Leidenschaft
2. Lebhaft, doch nicht zu rasch
3. Langsam, mit inniger Empfindung
4. Mit Feuer

The first piano trio (first of three works with this title plus the Fantasiestücke Op. 88 for the same forces) is in an intensely romantic style, and is the most celebrated of Schumann's trios in the modern repertoire. The opening movement begins with a surging theme that is heard in counterpoint initially between the piano's bass and the violin; the scherzo's driving dotted rhythm shares its smoothly ascending contour with the flowing trio section. The third movement features a duet between violin and cello, and moves without pause to the heroic tonic-major finale.