It
doesn't seem as though it were all that long ago that I was sitting in Miss
Saigon, in University City, having lunch with David Halen and asking him
questions about the Barber
Violin Concerto. He performs it this weekend with Peter Oundjian conducting. Brahms
Symphony No. 2 is on the program as
well.
In the summer David played the
Barber at the Missouri River
Festival of the Arts--David is
artistic director for the festival--in
Boonville, Missouri, with Ward
Stare conducting an orchestra of Kansas City Symphony and
SLSO musicians. David told me the best
way to get to know a piece is to play it in concert. But David has been
learning the Barber simply by
sitting in close proximity, as Concertmaster, to the
many soloists who have performed the
work with the SLSO.
You
can read what I drew from that lunch conversation with David here.
