The Rise and Fall of the Classical Musician: Igudesman and Joo feat Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica
16 Nov 09, 8:30 p.m, Dewan Filharmonik Petronas
Disclaimer: Review will contain spoilers that may be "recycled" in upcoming Igudesman & Joo concerts.
The YouTube sensational duo Igudesman and Joo, classical musicians cum comedian entertainers stopped by Kuala Lumpur during their tour and Malaysian audiences were lucky enough they brought with them the legendary violinist Gidon Kremer and his chamber outfit Kremerata Baltica to perform the first night. Maestro Kremer, an ever thought-provoking and one of the most original minds in classical music has worked with conductors as diverse as Karajan, Bernstein, Ozawa, Abbado and Giulini then helped to champion and premiere works of his contemporaries Schnittke, Arvo Part, Piazzolla and Glass. Is there anything else Gidon Kremer haven't done? From a shallow point of view, to collaborate with Igudesman and Joo playing "circus music" might seem a step backwards to an artist of Kremer's calibre but there is more to the eye about "The Rise and Fall of Classical Musician" than just juxtaposing Bach with Piazzolla or Bond with Mozart.
Indeed the seemingly autobiographical theme of the concert indirectly tells the story of Kremer's journey as a musician, whether it is real or made up. One of the "sets" has Kremer in a sort of a mafia-style interrogation led by Richard Hyung Ki-Joo who must get assurances that this virtuoso will at least win the Paganini competition that he will be taking part while at the same time showing impatience with contemporary "garbage" such as SCHIT-nittke (pun intended). Then there is a classroom tutorial where a lesson in playing Bach turns into a riverdance jig (yeah y'all are screamin "We've watched it on YouTube already", pipe down). Igudesman turns into a violin coach, coaxing a Kremerata member with his satarical German accent and throws in Bahasa Melayu words into great effect! The most brilliant sketch is definitely "recording studio" where Igudesman played Kremer and records a Bach partita in studio where he is "tyranised" by an overzealous manager (Richard Joo on mikes) forced to add gimmicks such as "reverb" and 1930's era grainy noises to "sound like Yehudi Menuhin", an obvious dig to nostalgists who worship Heifetz, Kreisler etc.
The show raises obvious questions to audiences who could see through the humour and the slapstick effects. What is a celebrity's role in art? Can an artist still maintain his/her integrity despite pressure to "sell out"? What is their intention of juxtapoxing Mozart with James Bond even though their programme notes states that they hope the show helps to distance classical music from usual commercial "dumbing down"? Indeed there are a few numbers in the show where comedy takes a back seat, one which has Kremer playing a radical cadenza to Beethoven Violin Concerto's 1st movement with obvious quotation from Berg's Violin Concerto to a reflective final number of Mahler's 10th symphony Adagio which Kremer remarks before the Kremerata plays the abridged version "Would life be a mistake, if music didn't exist?".
Disclaimer: Review will contain spoilers that may be "recycled" in upcoming Igudesman & Joo concerts.
The YouTube sensational duo Igudesman and Joo, classical musicians cum comedian entertainers stopped by Kuala Lumpur during their tour and Malaysian audiences were lucky enough they brought with them the legendary violinist Gidon Kremer and his chamber outfit Kremerata Baltica to perform the first night. Maestro Kremer, an ever thought-provoking and one of the most original minds in classical music has worked with conductors as diverse as Karajan, Bernstein, Ozawa, Abbado and Giulini then helped to champion and premiere works of his contemporaries Schnittke, Arvo Part, Piazzolla and Glass. Is there anything else Gidon Kremer haven't done? From a shallow point of view, to collaborate with Igudesman and Joo playing "circus music" might seem a step backwards to an artist of Kremer's calibre but there is more to the eye about "The Rise and Fall of Classical Musician" than just juxtaposing Bach with Piazzolla or Bond with Mozart.
Indeed the seemingly autobiographical theme of the concert indirectly tells the story of Kremer's journey as a musician, whether it is real or made up. One of the "sets" has Kremer in a sort of a mafia-style interrogation led by Richard Hyung Ki-Joo who must get assurances that this virtuoso will at least win the Paganini competition that he will be taking part while at the same time showing impatience with contemporary "garbage" such as SCHIT-nittke (pun intended). Then there is a classroom tutorial where a lesson in playing Bach turns into a riverdance jig (yeah y'all are screamin "We've watched it on YouTube already", pipe down). Igudesman turns into a violin coach, coaxing a Kremerata member with his satarical German accent and throws in Bahasa Melayu words into great effect! The most brilliant sketch is definitely "recording studio" where Igudesman played Kremer and records a Bach partita in studio where he is "tyranised" by an overzealous manager (Richard Joo on mikes) forced to add gimmicks such as "reverb" and 1930's era grainy noises to "sound like Yehudi Menuhin", an obvious dig to nostalgists who worship Heifetz, Kreisler etc.
The show raises obvious questions to audiences who could see through the humour and the slapstick effects. What is a celebrity's role in art? Can an artist still maintain his/her integrity despite pressure to "sell out"? What is their intention of juxtapoxing Mozart with James Bond even though their programme notes states that they hope the show helps to distance classical music from usual commercial "dumbing down"? Indeed there are a few numbers in the show where comedy takes a back seat, one which has Kremer playing a radical cadenza to Beethoven Violin Concerto's 1st movement with obvious quotation from Berg's Violin Concerto to a reflective final number of Mahler's 10th symphony Adagio which Kremer remarks before the Kremerata plays the abridged version "Would life be a mistake, if music didn't exist?".
posted by Corgan Sow at 12:38 am
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