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chamber music etudes & studies summer festivals

what’s on the music stand, summer edition

The stand isn’t groaning with music as it often can during the symphony season, but there’s stuff still there awaiting my attention. Here’s what’s on the docket for July.

  • Scales, Arpeggios, and Double StopsMichael Kimber. A great all-around basic daily practice reference.
  • 16 Fantasy Etudes – Lilian Fuchs. Brilliantly designed etudes for the 20th-21st century violist, most of which actually sound like pieces of music.
  • Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello/Viola – J.S. Bach. Not much needs to be said about these.
  • Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin/Viola – J.S. Bach. Not all of these work well on the viola, but they do scratch an itch that the cello suites don’t quite manage sometimes.
  • Requiem – Giuseppe Verdi. Monumental and operatic religious work that is always a pleasure to perform. For the Oregon Bach Festival.
  • Piano Quintet – John Harbison. A lovely work from 1981 that I’m hearing and working on for the first time, for the Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival.
  • Piano Quartet in E-flat major – Robert Schumann. One of my favorite chamber pieces, also for Methow.
  • Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat major – Antonin Dvorak. A piece I’ve never worked on, but heard quite a few times. Looking forward to it as well. Also for Methow.

I’m awaiting music for the Sunriver Festival, which is all orchestral, and serves as a nice introduction back to the Oregon Symphony’s season, which this year will once again open with the free Waterfront Concert at Tom McCall Waterfront Park on August 28th.