From the Top’s broadcast this week was taped at the Heifitz International Music Institute in Wolfeboro, NH in July 2009. We asked our performers to tell us about the music they performed on the show:
Ben Fried
Ben Fried, 17, cello
Variations on a Theme of Paganini by Gregor Piatigorsky
“This piece was written as a satire of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. Each variation comically admires and/or pokes fun at a different cellist/violinist. My favorite is the ‘Kreisler’ variation, because I can play it cheesy.”
Alexi Kenney, 15, violin
Grand Tango by Astor Piazzolla
“Le Grand Tango, as with other Piazzolla, is in such a different style from any other piece in the repertoire (part of the reason I chose it), but it still manages to connect to the audience in a huge way. I think the hardest part of the piece is conveying a sense of holding back while still sounding ‘on edge.’ You can’t lay it out in front of the audience at the beginning – it unfolds like a stage production, element by element, to the final climax!” (more…)
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