Last night I had my first experience at the American Theater in Hampton. The theater itself is beautiful and old. The turnout was disappointing pathetic. Fill-a-seat Hampton Roads even gave away tickets and I doubt that half the theater was filled. It makes me sigh at how the Cultural Arts are dwindling. Or are they? Well, this is not a post about that so let's move on.
We went to see the above mentioned concert. Let me preface by saying I am not a big "flute" fan. Perhaps it is because I used to play it (elementary through middle school). I don't know why but I used to be embarrassed by the blowing into the mouthpiece. Also, no guys played the flute (meet Miss Tomboy) and so the flute represented every thing I despised: frills, femininity, awkwardness, and the color pink (I am unsure why the color pink fits in here but when I think flute, pink is its aura). I disliked its high pitched timbre also. As part of the symphony, I do believe the flute is as integral and necessary as the french horn, the bass, and the percussion section but on its own? Well, it's just not my cup of tea but it came up as one of our free events on fill-a-seat and we were available. So we went.
Eugenia Zukerman, Flute
Eugenia Zukerman is just a wisp of a thing. It was hard to imagine she had enough wind to propel through her instrument but she did it and she did it beautifully. I did not rush home to find all things "flute soloist" via Google, but I did gain an appreciation for the sound of the instrument. In part, I give credit to the back-up trio. Is it fair to call the Jacques Thibaud String Trio backup. Probably not. They carried the concert performing as a trio and as accompaniment to her.
This Jacques Thibaud String Trio (I say this because I am unsure this is the original trio or the only trio as evidenced by the images on Google) consists of Burkhard Maiss (Berlin), Violin, Hannah Stribos (Amsterdam), Viola, and Bogdan Jianu (Romania), Cello.
I noticed some things about the Berliner. (1) He has this fantastically curly hair (as you can see in the image above). His hair was messy and disheveled yet not. That sentence is reminiscent of how he described the piece the trio did by Jean Francaix, String Trio. He said it is funny yet not, not quite tonal but not atonal either. Yes, that is how his hair was. I am embarrassed to admit I spent a bit of time wondering how he got his hair to look that way. (2) He wore a wedding band (neither of the others did). This, in itself, is nothing but it set me to thinking of his spouse. Was she in Berlin alone, waiting for his return? Does she have any idea what his life is like while he is away? Do they talk every night? At the time I was having this thought it was 9 p.m. our time which I believe is 3 a.m. Berlin time. Was she resting peacefully? Such strange musings during such a lovely concert.
What did I noticed about the Trio? They watched each other constantly, looking for clues as to when to enter the piece, the tempo, the intensity. They smiled during the piece by Jean Francaix, even chuckling. The song did make me smile and really, would you have thought classical music could have a sense of humor? Their faces reflected the mood of the music: stern, intense, romantic, silly. Their instruments were used, weathered, dented, scarred, battered which was in stark contrast to Ms. Zukerman's flute which was blindingly brilliant. It was evident to me, all three love their craft.
The evening held: Franz Shubert - Flute Quartet in G Minor; Ludwig Van Beethoven - String Trio in C Minor, Opus 9 No. 3; Jean Francaix - String Trio; Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Duo For Flute and Violin; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Flute Quartet in D Major. Their encore was by Johann Sebastian Bach, Air On A G-string. Enjoy it below:
