For years I’ve been tempted by Music from Copland House concerts, at Aaron Copland’s National Historic Landmark home in New York’s lower Hudson Valley, but they always seemed out of reach. On Monday (2/20), however, the Mountain came to Mohammed III when several of the ensemble’s artists played a tasty program of mostly lightish American music at a dual benefit concert at Christ and St. Stephens Church on West 69th Street.

Following a performance by students and teachers of UpBeat NYC, a “grassroots organization” in the South Bronx modeled after El Sistema, the Copland House portion began with a world premiere by Rob Smith of Chaw, followed by works by Pierre Jalbert, Paul Schoenfield, Derek Bermel, Copland, and Grainger. All were executed winningly, especially Copland’s Vitebsk, which was given a stunning reading by violinist  Harumi Rhodes, cellist Nicholas Canellakis, and pianist Michael Boriskin.

Music from Copland House next performs in Manhattan at the Ecstatic Music Festival at Merkin Hall on March 28.

Korngold: Concerto in D for Violin and Orchestra

Puerto Rico Symphony/Maximo Valdes

October 15, 2011

“The Austro-Hungarian composer Erich W. Korngold is considered one of the ‘founders’ of cinematographic music. He emigrated to Hollywood in 1934, and [was] part of an era that created musical film scores of great artistic quality…[However] disillusioned with Hollywood in 1946, he left the movie business to fully dedicate himself to ‘symphonic’ music. His Concerto in D major for Violin and Orchestra, written in the romantic style that is characteristic of Korngold’s music, is a spectacular vehicle for the soloist. In this occasion, we had the pleasure of hearing Elmar Oliveira, whose masterful interpretation, unambiguously romantic, and electrifying virtuosity displayed violin playing of the highest caliber. His instrument produced a robust yet refined tone, with an absolutely flawless high register.”

Luis Hernández Mergal, El Nuevo Día

Complete review: Here (Spanish)

WORLD PREMIERE: Symphony Space, NYC    September 24, 2011

PORTALS – an full-evening multimedia musical exploration of the human    longing for connection in the digital age featuring violinist Tim Fain.

Composers:  Philip Glass, Aaron Jay Kernis, William Bolcom, Nico Muhly, Kevin Puts, Lev Zhurbin, Leonard Cohen, Jacob Rubin

Tim Fain: Violinist, Producer & Creative Director
Nicholas Britell: Pianist
Kate Hackett: Co-Producer, Director

Fred Child: Spoken Word

Benjamin Millepied: Choreographer, Director-Dance Films

Haylee Nichele, Julia Eichten, Craig Black: Dancers

Here’s what the Critics are saying:

New York Times:  “An ingeniously practical show that Fain can take on tour, unencumbered by much more than a laptop. His goal is to find new ways to frame the music, and in that he succeeded admirably. It was the music, conveyed through Fain’s warm, beautifully centered tone; expressive and varied vibrato; and matter-of-fact virtuosity, that commanded the attention. He expanded the show’s purview by including poetry interludes in which Fred Child read works by Leonard Cohen, often appearing on the screen framed in a Web browser page or on a laptop or an iPad. Several movements of the [Philip] Glass — a rugged, seven-movement suite that draws on both the intensity of Bach’s solo violin music and Mr. Glass’s patent use of repetition — were mated to quirkily narrative, athletic dance sequences, choreographed by Benjamin Millepied.”

Hollywood Today: “The charismatic Fain flawlessly held the audience focused throughout while performing some of the finest virtuoso modern repertoire…the concert truly explored the technical possibilities of the solo violin reminding us where Bach, Ysaye and Paganini might have pointed us and where the future of the art will lead us. Adding film, dance and the spoken word made it possible to change the mood…Tim easily gave us a glimpse of the virtuoso of the future while redefining the idea of the violin recital…”

Los Angeles Times: “‘Portals’ [is] an interactive film directed by Kate Hackett [that] intriguingly attempts to reinvent the violin recital for a what-you-see-is-what-you-get iPad era. [Tim Fain's] partner in ‘Portals’ is a large screen, against which Fain interacts in various ways…The perspective changes regularly and unpredictably in clever ways…

Shout! Omaha: “‘Portals’ is well-balanced between the film aspect and live performance, Fain’s emotion in delivering the contemporary violin solos and violin/piano duets is matched by his astonishing precision on his violin. ‘Portals’ opens many doors, not just between artists and audience, or different media, but within the mind of the individual, as well. Fain’s synaptic path in ‘Portals’ unlocks a gateway for modern violin music, connecting the past with the future.”

Ovation Press String Visions: “Violinist Tim Fain Brings the Violin Recital into the 21st Century: “Portals” is a breath of fresh air in a style that has become stale through repetition. Fain’s act is a hit now.”

PREVIEWS

Wall Street Journal: “[Mr. Fain] begins each day with Bach. Any given week, he will play through all the sonatas and partitas. It’s as much for his fingers to find their place as it is for him to feel emotionally grounded. [His] need for that kind of inner centering, even amid the multiplying opportunities to reach out through cyberspace to others, is what’s at the heart of Portals. It’s well captured in the ghostly choreography by Benjamin Millepied, which accompanies the Glass “Partita,” and in the superimposed frames showing Mr. Fain and his friend and accompanist, Nick Britell, reach for their instruments and try to create music together across digital boundaries….”

Vanity Fair:  “Violinist Tim Fain plays like a virtuoso and thinks like a cinematographer. That’s why [he] will wrap his music in gorgeous imagery when he presents his latest concert program. ‘Portals’ – Fain’s multimedia solo event [which] kicks off at New York’s Symphony Space on September 24 and then takes on the road – is a smart mix of sound and vision for the Facebook generation, who love Björk and Beethoven with equal ardor…As Fain performs onstage, carefully synchronized film sequences provide a music and visual counterpoint…audience members become high-tech voyeurs in this private music-making process.”

Vogue: “Fain officially steps into his own headline with the opening of Portals, a multimedia, multigenre production at New York’s Symphony Space that combines music, film, and dance…The idea in putting together a live performance/video hybrid (Fain performs onstage; the piano, dance, spoken word, and other narratives play out on a film screen behind him) was to simulate logging in, ever frequently the mode by which we engage—and exist—in an iPhone age. There is something to be said for a classical artist who can hop on a tour bus with Leonard Cohen as easily as he can envision a violin movement as a representation of Gchat.”

Oliveira mesmerized the audience on the melodious and fiery Saint-Saens’ Concerto No. 3 in B Minor. A half-hour flew by as his impeccable technical presentation and sensitive interpretation created a hushed, expectant atmosphere among the crowd. The first movement alone was ample demonstration of his versatility in form and his precision in technique. He traveled seamlessly from the opulent melodies and fiery acrobatics of the opening to the accelerating volume and tempo of the coda.

In the second movement, Oliveira’s physicality produced compelling sound on the first theme, leading to the gorgeous middle section, a sweet, sensual melody played by the violins. Finally, his amazing dexterity brought the third movement to a final flourish that had people leaping to their feet.

Linda Loomis, Syracuse.com

The second half of the concert was…no less potent, than the first. It began with Visual Abstract (2002), by Pierre Jalbert, a former professor of mine at Rice University….One of the most wonderful aspects of this piece, for me, was Mr. Jalbert’s use of percussion – it was always used to color another idea present in the ensemble. Not only did interesting timbres result from this strategy, but the percussion also felt like it was more integrated into the musical environment than if it had just been an independent entity. Admirably, this aspect of the piece lent the group’s sound a sense of cohesion even when the music was webbed with contrapuntal ideas.

Garrett Schumann, Sequenza21.com

For complete review, click here.

The music teems with echoes, not only of Bach but of other musicians who have paid him homage. Though densely contrapuntal and intensely virtuosic, it never feels scholastic or showy…the slow movement is the heart of Kernis’ piece. One of his ripe lyric utterances, it seems fit company for Bach. The final aria, made memorable by a touch of reserve, is scarcely less impressive. The reduced orchestra sounded superb, the low strings relishing their moment in the sun.

Larry Fuchsberg, The Star Tribune
Complete review: Here