Reviving the art of the string duo

By Jennifer Gersten, 14 October 2017

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“She plays with the fearlessness of a child touching the instrument for the first time”

Reviewed at Park Avenue Armory, New York City on 9 October 2017

Scelsi, Duo for Violin and Cello (Movement 1)

Traditional, Winchester Troper

Gibbons, Fantasia in A major

Widmann, 24 Duos for Violin and Cello, Book 1 (Selection)

Ravel, Sonata for Violin and Cello

Hersch, "...das Rückgrat berstend” for violin/speaker and cello (World première)

Xenakis, Dhipli Zyia

Ligeti, Hommage à Hilding Rosenberg for Violin & Cello

Machaut, Biauté qui toutes autres pere

Kodály, Duo for violin and cello, Op.7

Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Violin

Jay Campbell, Cello

David Wolfson, 10th November

The JACK Quartet give an immaculate performance of a disastrously programmed concert at the 92nd St Y.

*1111

The JACK Quartet’s thing with strings could launch a revolution

Christopher Woodley, 11th May

At Wigmore Hall, the JACK Quartet's sonic mastery gives a lift to Liza Lim and threatens to start a carrot revolution.

****1

JACK slows time at Time:Spans

Kurt Gottschalk, 25th August

An insistently slow premiere by Eric Wubbels is followed by a longer work by Catherine Lamb which makes the former sound almost like a calypso.

*****

How it's done: John Zorn celebrates his 60th birthday at the Barbican

Paul Kilbey, 12th July

John Zorn doesn’t look 60. He looks 35, or whatever age it is where you’re still just about young enough to get away with wearing baggy camouflage pants. “And that’s how it’s done!” he yells through his mic at the end of the first half, over huge applause and cheering from this passionate Barbican audience.

*****

A curious evening from Noseda, Kopatchinskaja and the LSO

Mark Valencia, 26th February

Good, bad, but never ugly, a curious evening unfolds at the Barbican, inspired at times, ill-judged in places.

***11

The art of connection: the Toronto Symphony visits Vienna

Chanda VanderHart, 9th February

On their European tour, the Toronto Symphony calls in at the Wiener Konzerthaus for a diverse program conducted by Gustavo Gimeno.

****1

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Jennifer Gersten

Jennifer Gersten is a freelance writer, editor, and violinist from Queens, NY. She is an assistant managing editor at Guernica and has published work in WQXR, NPR Music, and The Toledo Blade. Jennifer studied English and creative writing at Yale and is currently pursuing a master's in violin performance at Stony Brook University.

Kopatchinskaja and Campbell revive the art of the string duo at Park Avenue Armory