Michael Steinberg, 1928-2009

I just wanted to call your attention briefly to the recent passing of Michael Steinberg, one of the giants of music criticism. The longtime program annotator of the San Francisco Symphony, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and Minnesota Orchestra died last weekend at the age of 80.

For me (and I'm sure for many others in the business of writing program notes), Steinberg was the pinnacle to which I aspired. His writing was always evocative, clear, personal, detailed, approachable to those both versed or unversed in the technical aspects of music, and full of interesting and cogent historical anecdotes and byways. And he was able to open up musical compositions, to bring one inside the mind of the composer, better than anyone since the great Donald Francis Tovey. It’s a safe bet to say that no writer has taught me more about music than Michael Steinberg has.

His program note collections The Symphony, The Concerto, and Choral Masterworks: A Listener's Guide are constant companions. His most recent book, a collection of essays and incidental pieces co-written with Larry Rothe called For The Love of Music: Invitations to Listening, not only provide short and cogent introductions to some of the great composers of history, but also some insight into Steinberg’s own background.

An obituary by Joshua Kosman from the San Francisco Chronicle can be found here. And to find out more about Michael Steinberg and why was such a significant figure, read Mark Swed’s touching remembrance from the Los Angeles Times.

(photo of Michael Steinberg by Terrence McCarthy)

NCMF in July Concert and Chamber Music for Bass

Summer here in the RCO office is flying by. On July 9th we had a terrific concert in Nightingale Hall--our "Nevada Chamber Music Festival in July" performance. Between 200-300 people came to hear Ruth Lenz, Ted Kuchar, John Lenz, Jim Winn and me play the Hummel: Quintet and Brahms: Quartet in g minor. It was a fun concert and, from the response, it seems that the audience really enjoyed it.

As a bass player, it is frustrating that there are relatively few pieces written for my instrument in the chamber music repertoire. I'm always on the look out for pieces that include a bass, and this weekend (while in Portland for our granddaughter Zelia's 1st birthday party!) stumbled across a CD and an ensemble that may lead to a treasure trove. The Nepomuk Quintet is a group consisting of violin, viola, cello, bass, and piano. It is named after the distinctive middle name of Johann Nepomuk Hummel, whose quintet we just performed. This instrumentation is most famous for being the one used in Schubert's "Trout" Quintet, and this group has dedicated themselves to researching and unearthing works for this configuration. The liner notes of the CD I bought indicate that they have found more than 20 pieces from the late classical era for this type of band. I can't wait to find out more and increase my chamber music repertoire substantially.