December 2010 MIMI! an Interview with Mimi Stillman by Wendy Stern
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December 2010 MIMI! An interview with Mimi Stillman by Wendy Stern imi Stillman, called “a magically gifted flutist, a breath of fresh air” by The Washington Post, is internationally Macclaimed for performances as soloist and chamber musician at major concert halls and festivals throughout the United States, Europe, and Mexico. At 12, Ms. Stillman was the youngest wind player ever admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music, where she received her bachelor of music degree in 1999, studying with Julius Photo: Ira Peppercorn Baker and Jeffrey Khaner. In preparation for this interview, Mimi and I had many email conversations before we met in person just after the Dolce Suono Trio’s first concert of the season, in Philadelphia on October 22. WENDY STERN: In the ’90s, I remember Julius Baker raving about his wonderfully gifted young Curtis student, and I am so glad we have finally met…you sounded absolutely gorgeous in this evening’s concert. The performance was rich in musical variety, sonority, and texture, and the ensemble conveyed an obvious joy in making music with one another. MIMI STILLMAN: I appreciate your kind words. It’s so meaningful to hear from people who were close to Julius Baker, as he was such an important, nurturing, and much- loved person for me. Cellist Yumi Kendall and pianist Charles Abramovic, my Dolce Suono Trio colleagues, are some of my closest friends, as well as In Concert musical partners. Charlie and I have been DOLCE SUONO TRIO performing as a duo for about eight years, and Mimi Stillman, flute the three of us have been a trio for about five Yumi Kendall, cello years. Very special music-making comes out Charles Abramovic, piano of such long-standing relationships because we know each other’s playing so well. We Sunday, December 19, 2010, 5:30 pm also have a great time! Charlie is an excellent Engelman Recital Hall, Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (Cont’d on page 4) (entrance on East 25th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues) IN THIS ISSUE Three Watercolors Philippe Gaubert (1879 - 1941) MIMI! Trio Ned Rorem (b. 1923) An Interview with Mimi Stillman byWendy Stern........................................1 Trio in G Minor, Op. 63 Carl Maria von Weber (1786 - 1826) From the President: Three for the Price of One Remembering Neda Richard Danielpour (b. 1956) by Nancy Toff........................................2 New York premiere Member Profile: Judith Mendenhall..................3 Anouncements Suite of Songs and Dances arranged by Dolce Suono Trio Music by Dvorak, Gershwin, Pixinguinha (Dininha), and Flute Happenings...................................................3 Altamiro Carrilho (Aeroporto do Galeão) Stolen Flute/Piccolo.................................................3 2011 Young Musicians Contest..............................3 Holiday reception to follow concert NYFC Ensembles Program Update........................7 Holiday Refreshments.............................................7 Program subject to change From the Archives..................................................7 2 — NYFC Newsletter Three for the Price of One by Nancy Toff he combination of flute, cello, and piano is a long and venerable one, with roots in the mixed consort THE NEW YORK FLUTE CLUB INC. Tof the Renaissance—and one that will be represented in thoroughly modern style this month by the energetic and 2010–2011 innovative Dolce Suono Trio. It is a seemingly logical grouping, Board of Directors wind and string, treble and bass with keyboard, yet it is a Nancy Toff, President repertoire that is surprisingly little played. It is, in essence, an David Wechsler, First Vice President ensemble hiding in plain sight. Ardith Bondi, Second Vice President Not surprisingly, this is a combination with an American Jeanne Wilson, Recording Secretary tradition dating back to Barrère. His second chamber group John McMurtery, Membership Secretary From the in the United States—founded shortly after the New York Nneka Landrum, Treasurer President Symphony Wind Instruments Club—was the Trio Rameau, with Keith Bonner Robert Dick pianist Lillie Sang-Collins and cellist Paul Kéfer. Dedicated to Susan Friedlander Lucille Goeres promoting French repertoire, in February 1907 the trio gave Susan Lurie Fred Marcusa two New York concerts, performing Rameau, Hüe, Debussy, Fauré, Leroux, and Karla Moe Rie Schmidt Dubois, with a Bach sonata for good measure. The second concert branched out Stefani Starin to include a Beethoven Trio and a Mozart aria, with soprano Susan Metcalfe, future Advisory Board wife of Pablo Casals, as guest artist. Both programs brought in a singer for a Rameau Jeanne Baxtresser Gerardo Levy cantata, as Barrère had been at the epicenter of the Rameau revival at the Schola Harold Jones Marya Martin Cantorum in Paris. Robert Langevin Michael Parloff In February 1909, Barrère, Kéfer, and Walter Damrosch at the piano gave a joint Jayn Rosenfeld concert at the Lyceum Theatre in New York, where the Weber trio and a selection of Rameau’s Pièces en concert were the featured works. Later, Barrère’s long-standing trios, the Trio de Lutèce and Barrère-Salzedo-Britt, substituted harp for piano, but Past Presidents Carlos Salzedo had won first prizes in both harp and piano at the Paris Conservatoire Georges Barrère .................... 1920– 1944 John Wummer ........................ 1944– 1947 and occasionally took his place at the keyboard. Milton Wittgenstein ............. 1947– 1952 In those pre-harpsichord revival days, the flute-cello-piano trio was the Mildred Hunt Wummer ........ 1952– 1955 combination of choice for the performance of the baroque trio sonata repertoire that Frederick Wilkins .................. 1955– 1957 was just beginning to emerge from the archives; the originals, of course, called for Harry H. Moskovitz ............... 1957– 1960 gamba and harpsichord. Though the performances may have lacked authenticity by the Paige Brook ............................ 1960– 1963 Mildred Hunt Wummer ...... 1963– 1964 standards of the modern early music movement, they gave new life to old music. Maurice S. Rosen ................ 1964– 1967 The combination of flute, cello, and piano was reasonably popular in the classic Harry H. Moskovitz .............. 1967– 1970 and early romantic periods: Hummel, Kreutzer, Kuhlau, Clementi, Dussek, and J.C. Paige Brook ........................... 1970– 1973 Bach all produced such pieces, but none of them, it is fair to say, are masterworks. Eleanor Lawrence ................ 1973– 1976 Harold Jones ......................... 1976– 1979 Haydn’s London Trios, however, are delightful and were staples of Rampal’s concerts. Eleanor Lawrence ................ 1979– 1982 Romantic trios are fewer, but high in quality: Weber’s is frequently heard, Louise Paige Brook ........................... 1982– 1983 Farrenc’s lovely Trio, op. 45 (1862) less so. Amy Cheney Beach’s Two Pieces, op. 90 John Solum ............................ 1983– 1986 (1921), written in similar style, was published only in 2009. Mendelssohn reworked his Eleanor Lawrence ................ 1986– 1989 superb piano trios (originally for violin, cello, and piano), substituting flute for violin in Sue Ann Kahn ....................... 1989– 1992 Nancy Toff ............................. 1992– 1995 arrangements that are surprisingly effective. Rie Schmidt ........................... 1995– 1998 In the twentieth century, the trio has received first-class pieces from Gaubert Patricia Spencer ..................... 1998– 2001 (Three Watercolors), Pierné (Sonata da Camera, op. 48, commissioned by Elizabeth Jan Vinci................................... 2001– 2002 Sprague Coolidge in memory of Louis Fleury), and Martinu (Trio, 1950). Flutist- Jayn Rosenfeld ....................... 2002– 2005 David Wechsler...................... 2005–2008 composers have also contributed to the repertoire: Otto Luening’s Trio I (1966), Harvey Sollberger’s Divertimento (1970), and Katherine Hoover’s Lyric Trio, op. 27 Newsletter (1983). More recent works have come from Jean Françaix (1995), the prolific Lowell Katherine Saenger, Editor Liebermann (op. 83, commissioned by Galway in 2002, and op. 87, commissioned by 115 Underhill Road the University of Kansas for David Fedele in 2004), Chen Yi (Night Thoughts, 2004), Ossining, NY 10562 914-762-8582 and Hilary Tann (Gardens of Anna Maria Luisa de Medici, 2005). George Crumb’s [email protected] atmospheric Voice of the Whale (1971) for electrically amplified trio played by masked instrumentalists, is in a class by itself, haunting and evocative. Naomi Ichikawa Healy, Designer Curiously—and by total coincidence—the New York Flute Club program of 230 East 71st Street, Apt. 4D New York, NY 10021 exactly 50 years ago, featuring Milton Wittgenstein, presented the same combination 646-417-3789 (see program, p. 7). It included a baroque trio sonata (by Antonio Lotti), a Haydn trio, [email protected] and Eugene Goossens’ programmatic Five Impressions of a Holiday, alternating with sets of flute and cello solos. Mimi Stillman and friends take a different tack, giving www.nyfluteclub.org us five full trios, including one hot off the presses—Richard Danielpour’s brand new Remembering Neda, which it commissioned—and a group of their own arrangements. Copyright © 2010 by The New York Flute Club Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Please join us on December 19 to hear the sweet sounds of the Dolce Suono Trio. December 2010 — 3 FLUTE Member Profile High school: Edina Senior High School in Edina, MN. HAPPENINGS