This music is amazing! We’ll be performing the Brahms G minor Sonata for Violin and Piano and Mendelssohn’s Trio No. 1. It’s really an awesome journey to work with these pieces and you have to marvel at the genius of these composers. I hope you can make it to hear us perform tomorrow night!
Danielle Cummins, violin
Kevin Mills, cello
Vernon Snyder, piano
Wednesday, May 23, 8:00 pm
Cal Poly Pomona Music Department Recital Hall, Building 24
“To be a violinist is to have your strengths and weaknesses held out on a dish for anyone to see and hear, for them to devour or love as they will, to have your humanity made real and present to yourself right under your ear, to live under fire and to love it”. ~Me
Now you can find information on Baroque and Early Classical technique of the “Violin: From Baroque to the Future” page on this blog. I’ll be adding information taken from the primary sources written by Leopold Mozart, Francesco Geminiani, and Giuseppe Tartini. It’s exciting to read about technique directly from the source, especially if you are working on and performing historical music. If you have any questions or are looking for information on a specific technique, let me know and I’ll do some more research and add it to the page. Check it out at http://daniellecumminsviolinist.com/violinfromthebaroquetothefuture/.
The String Theory original “Forest of Cedars” has been completed and is now part of our standard set list. The subject is rather an unusual one for this type of musical setting. It’s based on the four-thousand-year-old Mesopotamian epic poem about Gilgamesh, King of Uruk. This particular piece is about the middle part of the story, when Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu travel to the ancient cedar forest to fight it’s guardian, the monster Humbaba. It’s a timeless story about the quest for gaining immortality by means of far-reaching fame. The studio version of the song will be featured in our upcoming album. The video was taken at our last two gigs, the Blue Fin and the Anaheim Farmer’s Market. You can learn more about what String Theory’s up to at stringtheoryquartet.net.
Lyrics:
[Narrator] Harken and I’ll tell you a story a story of long ago a tale about fame and glory, life and death and friend and foe.
Knowing that his body was mortal and longing for his soul to be free the king of Uruk, high-walled city, set out on a quest to seek immortality.
[Gilgamesh] Come friend and we’ll go together! Come friend and I’ll show you the way, the way to make our names forever shine with a glory that’s bright as the day!
In the distant land across the desert, many days journey from here, there stands an ancient cedar forest guarded by terror and evil and fear.
We will go into the forest of cedars and fight him who the gods of old have given careful watch of their forest Humbaba its guardian from times untold!
Friend, we slew him, the monster Humbaba, at whose cry all the mountains quaked! We shall fell the lofty cedar and take it to Uruk in triumph and honor and praise!
Groups like this are so cool. They’re not afraid of being unique. One of my young violin students told me about them. This Vienna-based orchestra plays instruments made from fresh vegetables. Music making always requires the use of materials from nature and this is just another example of that. I love this video that starts with the intense preparation that takes place before each concert.
