Few musical entertainments on a Sunday afternoon relax a mind and body as thoroughly as the strummed strings of a classical guitar. Paradoxically, few experiences are as invigorating to the soul as the deft plucking of trained fingers on the strings of that same guitar.
Russian-born musician Yuri Liberzon will do both for audiences this Sunday at An die Musik LIVE! when he performs contemporary music arranged for classical guitar and introduces a piece from a very ambitious project of his.
» When: Sunday, 3 p.m.
» Where: An die Musik LIVE!, 409 North Charles St., Baltimore
» Tickets: $15; $10 students
» Info: 1-888-221-6170, 1-410-385-2638; www.andiemusiklive.com
Liberzon is intent on arranging all of J.S. Bach’s violin sonatas and partitas (a collection of musical pieces, as in a suite) for classical guitar.
In a strange twist of musical fate, his early teachers in the Russian city of Novosibirsk were almost insistent that he play violin. At age 5, he was insistent back, determined to play the guitar.
“My father had one, and I watched him play,” he said in a dialect that reflects both his Russian and Israeli upbringing. “I love the sound of a guitar.”
By the time he was 6 in 1988, he was seriously playing the guitar. At the age of 18, he came to Baltimore to study at the Peabody Conservatory on a full scholarship. There he studied under world-renowned guitarist Manuel Barrueco. He received his master’s degree from the Yale School of Music.
The afternoon’s program will include an interesting mix of the classical and the contemporary genres. Bach’s “Sonata in G minor for Violin” will open the program, followed by two 20th-century compositions, “La Comparsa” by Ernesto Lecuona and “Allegro Moderato from ‘Sonata'” by Antonio Jose.
Two works of the young composer Konstantin Vassiliev will open the second half of the performance.
“[Vassiliev] came from the same city as I,” said the multi-award-winning Liberzon. “I really admire his work.”
Vassiliev’s composition “Three Forest Paintings” is a highly Impressionist piece and offers a smooth transition into two arrangements of the Beatles, “Michelle” and “Yesterday.”
In addition to his solo performances and extensive chamber music appearances, Liberzon teaches in New York City.
“It is a pleasure to have a guitarist of Yuri’s caliber for our opening concert of 2009,” said An die Musik LIVE! owner Henry Wong.
