Gunther Schuller

On Wednesday evening, Gunther Schuller and the Borromeo String Quartet teamed up for a lecture/concert at the Harvard Musical Association. The quartet had played a piece by Schuller in December, and he suggested that he could come and explain it to us. The offer was accepted.

The proceedings began with the composer pointing out various instances of contrast and of near-repetition in the piece, with the help of the relevant parts of the score projected on a screen for the audience to follow as the quartet played the passages he had spoken about. He also pointed out a section where he had quoted Mozart and another where he had quoted Beethoven, both at the request of people involved with presenting the piece, and both somewhat disguised so the audience might not recognize it. He also demonstrated the 12-tone row he had used in this piece and many others.

After his illustrated lecture, the quartet played the piece straight through. It certainly sounded musical, rather than a jumble of unrelated sounds. Afterwards I said to Mr. Schuller that it was a very good evening, but it would not help with the works of Elliott Carter (in which I have not been able to detect anything musical except pitch — no rhythm, no harmony, no repetition or near-repetition or development of themes) and he said that if Carter came and gave a similar lecture I would understand that piece just as well.

Jean-Frédéric Neuburger

Last Friday evening M. Neuburger gave a concert at the Harvard Musical Association. He's about 22 years old and has been winning prizes as a pianist and organist for the past ten years. He gave a piano program of five pieces — Bach, Franck, Ravel, and 2 by Chopin. It was over an hour of music, and he did it all from memory. More importantly, he did it well. The audience applauded enthusiastically, and he gave an encore, by Debussy, also from memory.

So here's another name to look for in a concert hall near you.

18 Year Old Cellist

This evening I went to a concert at the Harvard Musical Association. The performer was Tavi Ungerleider, the person referred to in the title of this post. He is the latest winner of the Association's High School Achievement Award.

The announcement of the concert said, "A freshman in the Columbia-Juilliard School of Music joint degree program, Tavi Ungerleider has won numerous accolades, including First Prize, New England Conservatory Concerto Competition, and First Prize, National Federation of the Music Clubs Award. He will present Beethoven’s Sonata No. 4 for Piano and Cello in C Major, op. 102, no. 1; Britten’s Cello Suite No. 1, op. 72; and Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne (from Pulcinella), for cello and piano. Mr. Ungerleider’s recital partner will be pianist, Sayuri Miyamoto."

He played the second piece from memory, and he did very well on all three. Seemed as if he was having the most fun with the last one.

His identical twin brother, Oren, who plays violin and is also studying at Julliard was runner-up in the competition for this award; and they have an older brother who plays piano.

I think we'll be hearing his name a lot once he embarks on a full-time career. So remember, you heard it here first.