"Let it flow a little bit more, and let it also grow a little bit more. What is amazing about this opening is how peculiar it is -- how it kind of starts and stops," said world-renowned flutist Eugenia Zukerman to Goucher College student Gregory Peacock in a master class at Shriver Hall last Friday.
Zuckerman's critique of Charles Tomlinson Griffes' "Poem for Flute and Orchestra," which Peacock performed, was reflected in Zukerman's own eloquent rendition of the piece in a solo with the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra (HSO) on Saturday.A widely celebrated flutist, author and television commentator, Eugenia Zukerman came to Shriver Hall during the Spring Fair weekend to give a master class and to perform two solos -- Moise Vainberg's "Concerto for Flute and String Orchestra in D Minor" and Griffes' "Poem for Flute and Orchestra" -- with the HSO.
Zukerman said, "The Griffes poem is really like trying to make a poem with sound. The notes are written down and it's a beautifully constructed piece, but the challenge to the flute in playing it is to create a mood and a texture and to make it very poetic and lyrical -- and to have some emotional truth in it also."
The Vainberg, she explained, is very different from the Griffes: "The Vainberg is very tricky technically. It's written extremely high on the flute and it's relentless. And that's extremely hard to do in a sustained way. And the outer movements are very virtuosic and the slow movement, I feel very emotional playing it because it's a very dark statement."
She added, "Vainberg was a composer who suffered a great deal. His family all burned to death in the Warsaw ghetto, and he tried to flee the Nazis by going to Russia and he ended up being imprisoned in Russia. He had a tough life, and so there's a lot of emotional content in that."
In addition to being an international performer -- appearing with orchestras, in solo, and in chamber music ensembles across North America, Europe and Asia -- Zukerman is also the arts correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning and a published author. Her latest book, In My Mother's Closet, was released in 2003, and she has also been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Esquire and Vogue.
The Shriver master class was organized in a joint venture with Goucher College, the JHU Homewood Arts Programs and the HSO. Three Hopkins flutists: freshman Joelle Sohn, sophomore Whitney Shaffer, and senior John Zuckerman and two Goucher flutists: Gregory Peacock and Alison Dagger, performed pieces for Zukerman's critique.
Joelle Sohn began the class with the first movement of the popular Flute Sonata by Francis Poulenc. Sohn said Zukerman helped give her "a feel for the overall mood of the piece -- the overall picture."
After Peacock's performance of the Griffes poem, Shaffer performed a movement of C.P.E. Bach's G major flute concerto, Dagger played Telemann's "Suite No. 1 in A minor" and Zuckerman ended the class with the beautiful sounds of Schubert's "Theme and Variations No. 1, 3, 4 and 5 Trockne Blumen."
Zukerman said she enjoys working with young people, in part because her own first exposure to the flute was through public school. She said, "Luckily in those days, there was money for scholarship in the public schools and I was taught in the public school. It's one of the reasons that I feel very strongly about music education and I try to go into schools and do master classes and things, because if I can do for one child what was done for me, I will feel really good."
She continued, "I love watching somebody take my idea and be able to do it. It's wonderful to try to help a young musician do what they're trying to do and maybe do it more quickly and do it better. Particularly, with flute playing it's very difficult to get a beautiful sound, so to try to help them with that, and just to encourage their natural musicality -- it's a very gratifying thing."
The students also appreciated her attentions. Sohn said, "She's a professional flutist and an opinion from her is something special."After hearing Zukerman's exquisite performances on Saturday, it is easy to see why. The little-known Vainberg was truly unique, and Zukerman finished the Griffes poem on one last, lingering and unforgettable note.
