Category Archives: performance

12 Caprices, Op. 7 for Cello and 2nd cello ad libitum

I get many inquiries about Franchomme’s most well-known pieces, his Caprices, Op. 7.  For example, this afternoon, Selma Gokcen of the London Cello Society wrote to me looking for an accurate edition.  Many cellists here in the US know the Klengel edition, published by International Music Company- accurate notewise, but lacking Franchomme’s fascinating fingerings and bowings, lacking the 2nd cello part entirely, and completely missing the slow sections of Caprice No. 7.  Franchomme’s original title was “Douze Caprices pour le Violoncelle ave Acct d’un second Violoncelle ad libitum,” but this was surely for practical purposes…it’s not always easy to find a cellist to play with you, but it’s ideal to at least have the part, just in case!

The original edition is the Janet et Cotelle edition from around 1835.  The BnF Department of Music in Paris of course houses a copy, but someone nicked the solo cello part, unfortunately! The Hofmeister reprint (which you can order from UNC Greensboro music librarian) has Franchomme’s fingerings and bowings, as appeared in the original French edition. As I discuss in the Dover Franchomme edition, his fingerings are pretty fascinating, including lots of vocal slides up and down single strings that are pretty out of fashion today.  I try to use them as often as possible, trying to play with the elegance that his bowings (and contemporary accounts of his performances) suggest was his hallmark. Luckily for us, in addition to this early German edition, a very rare copy of both parts is held by the library in Karlsruhe, and someone there took the trouble to post it online in its entirety (BOTH parts, yay!)

https://digital.blb-karlsruhe.de/blbihd/periodical/pageview/148910

I use this part for my performances and recordings.  A live recording of Franchomme’s Caprice No. 9 with Julia Bruskin:

 

and another of Caprice No. 7 with Philippe Muller, including the parts left out by Klengel!

 

 

In a Paris Minute: A Rush Hour Concert in NYC, Feb 13

ANNOUNCING OUR RUSH HOUR CONCERT IN THE WEST VILLAGE
Thursday, February 13th, 2020, starting at 5:45 pm

LOUISE DUBIN and JULIA BRUSKIN, cellists
SPENCER MYER, pianist

Greenwich House Music School, Weiler Concert Hall, 46 Barrow Street, NY, NY

Please drop in for a short concert including cello duos and piano-cello works by Debussy, Fauré, Philippe Hersant, and Auguste Franchomme.  Some juicy historical tidbits will be explained from the stage by Louise Dubin after the performance at around 6:20 pm, for those who don’t have to hurry out.

Donations gladly accepted but entirely optional!

PROGRAM

– Fauré, Duo
– Auguste Franchomme, Nocturne Op. 14, No. 2 for Two Cellos
– Philippe Hersant, Caprices 6, 10 and 11 for Two Cellos:
Un combat…Champs mornes…Encore un petit ornament…

– Debussy, Scherzo for Cello and Piano

– Debussy, Sonate for Cello and Piano in D Minor
Lent, Sérénade, Finale

Since her debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at age 17, Julia Bruskin has established herself as one of the premiere cellists of her generation. She performed Samuel Barber’s Cello Concerto with conductor Jahja Ling at Avery Fisher Hall and has also been soloist with the Nashville Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Utah Symphony and Pacific Symphony. As a founding member of the Claremont Trio, Ms. Bruskin has toured the country extensively and released six recordings. Her recent CD of music by Beethoven, Brahms, and Dohnanyi was praised by Fanfare Magazine for its “exquisite beauty of sound and expression” and was chosen for BBC Music Magazine’s Critic’s Choice award. Ms. Bruskin plays frequent solo recitals with her husband, Aaron Wunsch, and together they are the artistic directors of the Skaneateles Festival in the Finger Lakes region of New York. In addition she has performed at La Jolla Summerfest, Mostly Mozart, Caramoor, Saratoga, Bard, and Norfolk, and toured with the Musicians from Ravinia. Ms. Bruskin is a graduate of the Columbia/Juilliard double degree program, and is a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, where she’ll play right after this concert! http://claremonttrio.com

Gold Medalist of the 2008 New Orleans International Piano Competition, Spencer Myer has been soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Cape Town and Johannesburg Philharmonics, and Beijing’s China National Symphony Orchestra. His 2005 recital/orchestral tour of South Africa included a performance of the five piano concerti of Beethoven with the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa. In December 2014 he made his second solo recital appearance at London’s Wigmore Hall. In 2004, he captured First Prize in the 10th UNISA International Piano Competition in South Africa, and won the 2006 Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship from the American Pianists Association. He was a member of Astral Artists’ performance roster from 2003 to 2010. An avid chamber musician, he has collaborated with the Jupiter and Pacifica string quartets, the Dorian Wind Quintet, cellists Lynn Harrell and Ralph Kirshbaum, and clarinetist David Shifrin. His growing reputation as a vocal collaborator since winning the 2000 Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition has lead to partnerships with Cardiff Singer of the World winner Nicole Cabell and Wigmore Hall Song Competition winner Martha Guth, among others. Spencer Myer is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, The Juilliard School, and Stony Brook University, and is currently a member of the Piano and Collaborative Piano faculty of Boston’s Longy School of Music of Bard College. His two latest CDs — Piano Rags of William Bolcom and the two Brahms Cello Sonatas with Brian Thornton — were released in 2017 on the Steinway & Sons label. Spencer Myer is a Steinway Artist. http://www.spencermyer.com

Described as an “artist of refined taste and musicianship” (The Strad), Louise Dubin’s performances take her throughout the US and Europe. Recent appearances include her cello recitals at the American Cathedral in Paris, her VioloncellenSeine performances at Salle Gaveau and CRR in Paris under the auspices of the French Cello Society, and her recitals at the Festival de Violoncelle de Beauvais. She has also appeared as soloist at Bargemusic, Caramoor and Piccolo Spoleto, and been an invited chamber musician in performances with Daniel Hope (Savannah Music Festival), Stephanie Chase, Philippe Muller, Raphaël Pidoux, the Artaria String Quartet, and the Garth Newel Piano Quartet. She premiered Divertissement, composed for her by Roger Stubblefield, at Lincoln Center. As cellist on Stefon Harris’ African Tarantella album (Blue Note), she’s performed in Carnegie Hall, Chicago’s Symphony Hall, the Jazz Standard, and many other venues. Ms. Dubin has served as Principal Cellist of the Auckland Philharmonia, guest Solo Cellist of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, solo cellist of Cirque du Soleil’s Broadway show Paramour, cellist of Harry Connick Jr.’s Cole Porter Celebration, and Principal Cellist of the Charleston Symphony, where her solo concert with the orchestra was lauded as “virtuosic… and soothing, calming the soul” (Charleston Post and Courier). She studied the cello with Tim Eddy and Aldo Parisot while attending Columbia University and Juilliard, and with Janos Starker as recipient of the Eva Janzer scholarship at Indiana University. Many projects have sprung from her doctoral research there, including her internationally acclaimed album of debut recordings The Franchomme Project (Delos); lectures at New York University, Arizona State University in Tempe, University of Connecticut in Storrs, a volume of Franchomme’s compositions compiled and introduced by Ms. Dubin (Dover Publications, 2017); and an upcoming publication of her cello quartet transcriptions. She is on faculty at Greenwich House and at the Hoff-Barthelson School of Music. She has also taught cello and chamber music at Juilliard’s Pre-College, Apple Hill, and the University of Auckland, and given masterclasses at North Greenville University (SC), Queens College, Sam Houston State University (TX), Grand Valley State University (MI), Wichita State University (KS), and University of Virginia.  https://www.louise-dubin.com

Louise Dubin, Philippe Muller and Katie Schlaikjer play Bach Suites 3,4 and 6 tomorrow. Free concert at St. Paul’s Chapel @TrinityWallSt!

Three of J. S. Bach’s solo cello suites performed in one of the best acoustical spaces in Manhattan, the landmark St. Paul’s Chapel (1766!). If you love the cello, and Bach, you won’t want to miss this one! Reception after the performance.  More info here: https://www.trinitywallstreet.org/events/day?day=2019-04-07&nid=18590

St. Paul’s is a special place for New Yorkers.  It survived the 9/11 attacks (miraculously, given its vicinity to the WTC) and became a ministry and oasis for the workers who had the endless horror-filled task of working through the debris.  I was a grad student at IU in September 2011, but I was back in NYC that day to play with the NJSO, so witnessed the strikes first-hand: first on my way to Newark, and when train service into NY were finally restored, in Manhattan.  I visited St. Paul’s months later and was so deeply moved by what they were doing that I wrote this article: https://blogdaysofauguste.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/e2b83-2014-06-29_louise_wtc_article.pdf

 

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Our Salle Gaveau, Paris performance of my Franchomme transcriptions on Performance Today, 1/9/19!

Tune in to Fred Child @FredChildPT @perf_today tomorrow, 1/9/19, for our live performance in Salle Gaveau #Paris of three #Franchomme unpublished #cello quartets, transcribed and completed by me from Franchomme’s manuscripts. Louise Dubin, Raphael Pidoux, Philippe Muller, and Gauthier Brouton, cellists. 2nd Hour, nationwide @NPR syndicate stations, and streaming here:

https://www.yourclassical.org/programs/performance-today

 

Concert Tonight #NYC!

Dear friends and colleagues,

Please join me, Julia Bruskin Wunsch and Spencer Myer for a FREE salon concert of duos, sonatas and showpieces by Debussy, Auguste Franchomme, Chopin, Fauré, Philippe Hersant, Koechlin, and Poulenc.

Thursday, October 18, 7 PM
Maison Française, Columbia University, East Gallery, Buell Hall
More information and RSVP here:

http://maisonfrancaise.org/variations-on-a-french-theme

All solo Bach Concert May 15th NYC!

On Tuesday, May 15th, I’ll be joining forces with Franchomme Project album guest cellist Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir, as well as Alberto Parrini and Katie Schlaikjer, for a program of all Bach solo cello suites at the landmark John Street Church, one of the loveliest spaces and best acoustics in NYC!  Details and tickets here:

https://bachcello.brownpapertickets.com

We hope to see you there!  –Louise

Franchomme performance on APR’s Performance Today @perf_today: broadcast replays for 30 days 

This month, hear my performance with Julia Bruskin of Franchomme’s Nocturne Op. 14, No. 1 on Fred Child’s Performance Today!  We were on air on MPR and its many affiliated stations on August 15, 2017, and for the next 30 days, you can listen to the broadcast here, and see the full playlist.

Performance Today is the fabulous MPR/APR nationally syndicated radio show hosted by Fred Child.  This performance was from our album release celebration concert at John Street Church in lower Manhattan, picture above. Find our world premiere recording of this same nocturne (and many other pieces) on our album The Franchomme Project.

Thanks for the recording, Robert Olmsted, and thank you Julia Bruskin Wunsch, Katherine Cherbas, Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir, and Helene Jeanney for making this concert great!