Photo: Columbus Indiana Philharmonic
Alex Kerr is the first violin soloist with the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic in their performance of Vivaldi and Piazzola.
Event Information
Four Seasons con Tango
Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, conducted by David Bowden
Erne Auditorium Columbus North High School, 1400 25th St. Columbus
Saturday, October 9, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Led by artistic director David Bowden, the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic celebrates a rather abrupt shift into autumn with a Saturday evening concert entitled Four Seasons con Tango.
Antonio Vivaldi is the author of those durable violin concertos that make up The Four Seasons. Astor Piazzola is responsible for the “Con Tango” part of the evening: the Philharmonic will perform his Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.
We All Owe, But Violinists Have A Special Debt
IU faculty member Alexander Kerr will be the soloist for the Piazzola pieces. He explains how these pieces came to be written for violin. “All of us are indebted to Piazzola for the music, but violinists are especially beholden to Leonid Desyatnikov. He’s a very gifted Russian composer who orchestrated the pieces into lovely little violin concerti. “
It was not a one-man job. “Desyatnikov worked with the violinist Gidon Kremer on the pieces. Working with a player as gifted and versatile as Kremer, he didn’t hesitate from making them very difficult. The straight violin playing is hard enough, but Desyatnikov was also inspired by the sounds of the instruments that Piazzola and his folk ensemble played.” It is a challenge Kerr welcomes. “I have to come up with a wide variety of bowed and plucked tones. In some places I have to imitate the scratching of a stick on a ridged gourd.”
Why Stop When You’re Having Fun?
The composer’s work did not end with orchestration, Kerr says. “Desyatnikov didn’t stop there. He also worked in little quotes from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons that fit neatly in ways that are recognizable but actually contrast with their use in the original pieces.”
Violin soloists from the Philharmonic include
- Veronique Mathieu
- Colin Sorgi
- Michelle Lie
- Ann Fink
Fink will be playing Vivaldi’s concerti, interspersed with Alexander Kerr’s performances of the Piazzola. That Ann Fink is a student of Kerr’s adds a nice touch to the evening.
