Music Speaks - Past Programming
UNDER A TREE, WE WANDER
Winter 2023
BACH - SONATA NO 3 IN C MAJOR
PAGANINI - CAPRICE NO 10
DU YUN - UNDER A TREE, AN UDATTA FOR VIOLIN AND TAPE
SHIRISH KORDE - SVARA YANTRA
WOLFGANG VON SCHWEINITZ - PLAINSOUND ETUDE
"Under a Tree, We Wander" explores the many musics and sounds of human feeling and creation. Bach's glorious Solo Sonata in A Minor - an exquisite example from the High Baroque, with sublime slow movements, a dazzling fugue, and a fiery finish! - is juxtaposed with Pulitzer Prize winning composer Du Yun's "Under a Tree, an Udatta for Violin and Tape" combines an electronic recording of Vedic Sanskrit chanting with a live performance of a cadenza-like violin solo, to a shockingly vivid and powerfully evocative effect. Shirish Korde's "Svara Yantra" was originally written as a violin concerto, combining Indian and Western classical music aesthetics. On this program, the first movement is presented as a solo violin piece with a tanpura drone, arranged by the composer. Paganini's Caprice No 10 has been astonishing audiences with its virtuosity since its premiere by the legendary virtuoso Paganini himself. "Under a Tree, We Wander" offers an incredibly broad variety of musical styles and sounds, and demonstrates the vast range of expression and aesthetics that are possible on the classical violin - and in the human imagination.
DEEP TIME, SENSE OF PLACE
Fall 2023
BACH - SOLO SONATA NO 2 IN A MINOR
PAGANINI - CAPRICE NO 20
MATTHEW BURNTNER - ELEGY FROM MUIR GLACIER
PAULA MATTHUSEN - LULLABY FOR DEAD HORSE BAY
HILDEGARD VON BINGEN - O VIS ETERNITATIS
"Deep Time, Sense of Place" tells a story of ecological change, human creativity, and the enduring artifacts of spirit and place that convey rich history and meaning to those who listen.
The music on this program - spanning nearly a millennium of composition - roughly tracks developments of the Muir Glacier in Alaska. It begins with the Medieval chants of Hildegard von Bingen, the earliest European female composer with surviving written music. The glacier was at its peak size during the "Little Ice Age," when Bach wrote fugues of unsurpassed invention and creativity. In the early 19th Century, Paganini emerged as the most famous violin virtuoso of all time as the glacier began its retreat. Finally, in present day, Muir Glacier has receded to a landlocked, terrestrial glacier, and has been captured in sound in Matthew Burtner's Elegy, which combines live violin performance with field recordings from Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve over the past decade. A parallel story, on a more human time scale, is portrayed in Paula Matthusen's "Lullaby for Dead Horse Bay," which blends a wandering violin soliloquy with sounds recorded through ebbing tides inside bottles on the historic New York bay of the same name.
An astonishing juxtaposition of change and loss on a geological timescale, with examples of fleeting human creation that have either endured or perished, "Deep Time, Sense of Place" raises questions about what is transient, our place in the grand scope of the natural world, and the importance of protecting beauty of both natural and human creation.
WINTER BIRD
Winter 2021
BACH SOLO SONATA NO 2
TOSHIO HOSOKAWA WINTER BIRD AND ELEGY
HILDEGARD VON BINGEN AVE MARIA
Toshio Hosokawa, an incredibly exciting living composer, is regularly played by major orchestras in Europe. This program spans his career, including Winter Bird, his very first piece as a student in Berlin, and Elegy, an example of his later, mature work. Hildegard von Bingen’s Ave Maria haunts us from a thousand years ago, played here beautifully on the violin, casting in a fresh light the old adage that the violin most closely resembles the human voice! Bach’s Sonata No 2 is powerful, dramatic, emotional, and riveting - a piece Peckins has performed extensively in Europe, Japan, and the United States.
IMPROVISATIONS
Winter/Spring 2022
BACH SOLO SONATA NO 1
ODALINE DE LA MARTINEZ IMPROVISATIONS
BIBER PASSACAGLIA
Odaline de la Martinez, a fantastic and engaging living composer, has written comparatively few works for solo violin. Her Improvisations, featured here, begins deep and full of feeling, includes a rustic and lively dance, and ends free and fresh, like breathing. Biber’s Passacaglia, an older work from the Baroque, has remained incredibly popular through the centuries. It is haunting, exciting, and beguiling in its complexity through simplicity - a kaleidoscope of sound and emotion! Bach’s Sonata No 1 is a fitting end to this series - improvisatory and exciting, it is also the first work of its kind Bach ever wrote!
Awakening
Fall 2021
Bach Solo Partita No 3
Jessie Montgomery Rhapsody No 1
Polina Nazaykinskaya Caprices
Experience Jessie Montgomery’s compelling Rhapsody No 1 live, a piece Peckins performed extensively during the pandemic (virtually). Polina Nazaykinskaya - a classmate of Peckins from their graduate studies at Yale School of Music - wrote her Caprices in 2020. Instantly engaging, tremendously virtuosic, and dazzlingly expressive, these pieces join Montgomery’s as new works sure to become part of the violin’s virtuoso canon. Bach’s Partita No 3 is the final solo violin work from his famous collection - glorious in its purity, depth of refined feeling, and true beauty.
Winter Bird
Winter 2021
Bach Solo Sonata No 2
Toshio Hosokawa Winter Bird and Elegy
Hildegard von Bingen Ave Maria
Toshio Hosokawa, an incredibly exciting living composer, is regularly played by major orchestras in Europe. This program spans his career, including Winter Bird, his very first piece as a student in Berlin, and Elegy, an example of his later, mature work. Hildegard von Bingen’s Ave Maria haunts us from a thousand years ago, played here beautifully on the violin, casting in a fresh light the old adage that the violin most closely resembles the human voice! Bach’s Sonata No 2 is powerful, dramatic, emotional, and riveting - a piece Peckins has performed extensively in Europe, Japan, and the United States.
Improvisations
Winter/Spring 2022
Bach Solo Sonata No 1
Odaline de la Martinez Improvisations
Biber Passacaglia
Odaline de la Martinez, a fantastic and engaging living composer, has written comparatively few works for solo violin. Her Improvisations, featured here, begins deep and full of feeling, includes a rustic and lively dance, and ends free and fresh, like breathing. Biber’s Passacaglia, an older work from the Baroque, has remained incredibly popular through the centuries. It is haunting, exciting, and beguiling in its complexity through simplicity - a kaleidoscope of sound and emotion! Bach’s Sonata No 1 is a fitting end to this series - improvisatory and exciting, it is also the first work of its kind Bach ever wrote!
DETAILS / BOOKING
Click here to learn more about Music Speaks - concept, current repertoire, booking, and more.
For all booking inquiries, please contact Anne Christiansen at:
booking@joshuapeckins.com | (617) 383-4556