Isaac Stern's violin, etc.

Last week we watched this amazing old music documentary called From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China. It was filmed soon after Richard Nixon made the first official visit to the People's Republic of China. Hardly anyone had been to China in 1979-- the country was isolated and the Chinese still in their Mao suits. The violinist Isaac Stern was invited to collaborate with the China Central Symphony Orchestra. With all his big heart, he taught and explained (through translators) violin technique and the art of musical expression. Many of the Chinese musicians were already playing classical music well, but mechanically. What comes across is his honesty and caring as he connects across the cultures. Isaac Stern passed away in 2001 at age 81.

Just by coincidence, at the Seattle Symphony this Sunday the guest violinist Renaud Capucon was playing Stern's personal favorite instrument-- the "Panette" violin, made by the Italian Guarneri del Gesu in 1737. Stern treated his violins with respect and care, still it's hard to imagine this precious instrument has been changing hands for almost 300 years. When it was made, where we sit in Benaroya Hall was an unexplored wilderness! This violin has a long provenance, but most recently a Northwest violin collector named David Fulton owned the Panette from 1994 until 2005. It was sold to a Swiss bank and is now on loan to violinist Renaud Capucon.

After 26 years of Gerard Schwartz as director of Seattle Symphony, we now have a new French conductor. The young maestro's name is Ludovic Morlot (he likes to be called "Ludi") and he's only 37 years old. He comes across as energetic, good-natured (he smiles a lot) and most importantly, the orchestra seems to like him.

Morlot conducting in New York

One of Ludi's ambitions for Seattle is to bring a younger, more diverse audience to the symphony. This is a good thing, because if you look around at the demographics of the audience, most of us won't be there in 20 years. Under Ludi's direction we'll be hearing more French music, and along with the usual Beethoven one of the surprises on the program Sunday was Frank Zappa's Dupree's Paradise. The couple next to us were either talking or texting through the whole concert-- I guess just listening to music was apparently not enough to keep their attention. So we'll see how this goes...maybe Ludi will give a lecture on audience etiquette to the younger demographic?

And when we get too old and cranky to make our way downtown for live performances, we can always stay home and listen to John's collection of classical CD's.
:-)