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April 24, 2007
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A ‘great epic novel’ in sound If music tells a story, then violinist Elliott Markow has quite a tale to relate next weekend. The violinist will perform as soloist in the massive Brahms Violin Concerto with the New Hampshire Philharmonic at a concert on Saturday, May 3, at Manchester’s Palace Theatre. And Markow, an Allenstown resident, is eager to tackle the big Brahms masterwork, which he believes is one of the “two great violin concertos,” the other being the one by Beethoven. “It’s a work which to me is analogous to a great epic novel,” Markow said. “Every time you revisit it, there is more to enjoy and appreciate and experience in it.” The three-movement concerto is the featured piece in the spring concert of the Philharmonic, for which Markow serves as concertmaster, or head musician. But for the May 3 concert, he’ll step out of the ranks and solo in the Brahms concerto, which was composed in 1878 and has been a beloved staple of classical music ever since. Though the piece has solo passages of great difficulty, Brahms conceived it not as a flashy virtuoso vehicle but as a dialog between soloist and orchestra. To that end, the themes grow and blossom in the 40-minute piece to create what Markow likened to “a richly stocked garden of flowers. It’s perhaps Brahms’ most accomplished work of extended design...it’s really a song for violin and a symphonic scale.” To develop his interpretation, he listened to several recordings to get a sense of what he liked and what he didn’t in other renditions. Since then, he’s used that background to shape a performance that will be uniquely his own. Rehearsals for the orchestra began just after Easter weekend, and soloist and orchestra will join together for the first time at this weekend’s rehearsal in Manchester. Two years ago, Markow acquired an instrument made in 1707 by Italian craftsman Giovanni Battista Rogeri, a student of the legendary violin makers Amati and Stradivarius. It’s enabled him to finally do justice to the great works of the violin repertoire. “It’s essential to have an instrument that allows you to feel that you can present the drama and beauty and emotional content of the work,” Markow said. “One of the reasons I never wanted to do the Brahms earlier is that I did not feel I had an instrument that would adequately present my interpretation of the work.” In addition to the Philharmonic, he’s also concertmaster of the Nashua Symphony, the Granite State Symphony, the Granite State Opera Orchestra, and the Great Waters Music Festival Orchestra. He’s also on faculty of the Manchester Community Music School, the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, and Saint Paul’s School in Concord, and maintains an active roster of students from communities throughout southern New Hampshire. The New Hampshire Philharmonic’s spring concert is Saturday, May 3 at 8 p.m. at the Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester. Tickets are $15 to $50 at the Palace box office, 668-5588 or palacetheatre.org. For more info on the Philharmonic, visit nhphil.org. Jeff Rapsis is a working musician and a member of the board of directors of the Manchester Community Music School, and contributes program notes to the Palace Festival Orchestra and other groups.
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4/3/2008 Music that's fun to listen to
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