Yahoo Finance Lexington music festival a chance to see what world-class musicians did during lockdown
Piano four hands is intimate music.
“The composers would write these pieces for friends or their students just to share music together in a smaller setting in a salon or a small little hall,” pianist Lucille Chung said of the form, in which two pianists play on the same keyboard at the same time. “It gives into that feeling of sharing music together among friends.”
Or spouses. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Chung and her husband, pianist Alessio Bax, confined themselves to their New York City apartment for four months to protect themselves and their immunocompromised daughter from the virus.
There was plenty of practice on their own, as they each have busy careers as concert pianists and needed to keep in practice, even if theaters were shuttered. But they also took time to practice together, and audiences in Lexington will see the results of some of their work at this weekend’s Chamber Music Festival of Lexington (CMFL).
Chung is one of the featured artists at this year’s fest, along with violinist Johnny Lee. And Bax has been part of the CMFL lineup since the festival’s inception in 2007. The festival brings together a mix of world-class and local musicians for chamber music, music composed for small ensembles of instrumentalists.
Chung’s presence this year actually brings the fest’s number of couples up to three, as its core ensemble since the beginning has included violinists Nathan Cole and Akiko Tarumoto, who married in 2006, and cellist Priscilla Lee and violist Burchard Tang, who are also married.
“We kind of all grew up together in our careers and having kids,” Bax says of the core ensemble. “What we went through, the amount of music we played, and because in general, we don’t usually need two pianists, I always felt that I was missing out, you know, by myself. I wanted to share that with Lucille.”
Chung did come one year as a guest and she and Bax played a CMFL fundraising event together. Chung was also a soloist with the Lexington Philharmonic in 2012, playing Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Emperor” concerto. While it might seem like bringing her in was a bit of pandemic programming, Chung and Lee were scheduled for last year, before the pandemic put everything on hold.
While these are musicians who had the good fortune to ride out the pandemic with loved ones who were also world-class musicians, they ultimately want people to hear them. This weekend will be a bit like joining them in their living room — an intimate experience which is what the Chamber Festival is all about.
Musicians on COVID lockdown
Like Chung and Bax, the other couples were also on lockdown together, sometimes helping each other keep artistic inspiration going without the call of the concert hall, as well as doing things many other people were doing, like helping their young children with online school.
Cole and Tarumoto are both violinists in the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with the busy schedules those roles entail. So, Cole, a Lexington native and artistic director of the Chamber Music Festival, says initially it was nice to have a breather. But, like athletes, playing an instrument like violin is a physical activity, and both he and Tarumoto needed to stay in shape. And it’s not like performance was impossible.
“We wanted to take the chance, since we’re two violinists in the same house, to play together, which was something that a lot of people couldn’t do,” Cole says. “There were a lot of solo performances going up online. We had a chance to actually play together in the same house, so we did that and put up a couple performances (online).”
As the pandemic was taking hold in New York, Bax and Chung were preparing for a performance of Bela Bartók’s daunting “Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion” for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Then, they got the call the center was shutting down. The performance was canceled. But, if they wanted to come in and play it one time before the center closed, they would record it.
They recall the subway ride vividly, getting stares for masking, when it had not been recommended yet. Since their daughter is immunocompromised, masking was already part of their lives during times like flu season. They went and recorded the dizzying work, to no applause. No audience.
“And then we never came out of our apartment for four months,” Chung says. “I kid you not. Not even for groceries. We just went downstairs to our doorman to pick them up. And we just stayed cooped up in our little Manhattan apartment.”
They stayed busy, life largely revolving around their then-5-year-old daughter’s virtual school schedule. But they continued to practice and perform, like Cole and Tarumoto posting some videos themselves or through the Chamber music Society. One video showed their life under quarantine, and Bax, who has always enjoyed photography, dove into learning how to record video of performances at home. He even took a crack at learning to tune their home piano.
“You get a little bit better, then you realize how great professionals are,” Bax says. “You think you can do something until you can’t.”
Chamber Music Festival of Lexington program
Chung and Bax will share the keyboard for two pieces: Johannes Brahms “Hungarian Dances for Piano: 4 Hands” and Claude Debussy’s “Petite Suite for Piano 4 Hands.”
“The music, the forehands we’re playing is very touching, humorous, very direct,” Chung said. “Everyone can recognize those famous tunes, so it will be very uplifting.”
From commissioning pieces to programming underheard composers, the festival has been known for championing new works. This year there will be contemporary composers, including Nathan Cole. His “Fast Rows of Summer” is on the final day program.
But Cole points to some of the more traditional works as signs of how sweet it is to be back to performing.
“One of the things I’m most looking forward to — I actually won’t be playing in it, but I look forward to hearing it — is a Beethoven string quartet Opus 59, No. 2,” Cole says of a piece scheduled for Saturday night. “That Beethoven work has a special significance this summer, just because it’s one of those things that you take for granted. As violinists, as professional musicians, as people who got used to playing with colleagues day in and day out, you always assume that anytime you wanted to, you could sit down with three other people and read a Beethoven string quartet or, you know, there was always going to be next season to perform this Beethoven string quartet.
“Having gone through a season where it wasn’t possible to play any quartets, what did we find ourselves looking forward to? You know, it’s the great pieces by Beethoven. So, it’s certainly not an easy piece and not always a comfortable piece, but it’s a little bit like comfort food for us.”
While these are musicians who had the good fortune to ride out the pandemic with loved ones who were also world-class musicians, they ultimately want people to hear them. This weekend will be a bit like joining them in their living room — an intimate experience.
Rich Copley is a former arts writer and editor for the Herald-Leader who continues to enjoy Lexington’s arts and culture.
Chamber Music Festival of Lexington
When: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 17-18; 2 p.m. Sept. 19 (different programs each day)
Where: Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center, 141 E. Main St.
Tickets: $35 adults, $15 students
Online: chambermusiclex.org, for online tickets and complete program lineups
Call: 859-425-2550
COVID restrictions: All audience members are required to wear a mask or face covering over their nose and mouth while attending the performances.
