Jack Glatzer -- International Violin Concerts

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Jack Glatzer's Programs

Jack Glatzer has been recognized as a pedagogue both in master classes and in lecture-recitals. His background and interest in the history of culture have led to his highly successful concerts - "son et lumiere" - in which musical performance is elucidated by a lecture and illuminated by visual images. In addition to lecture-recitals illuminated with slides, Glatzer present programs of solo violin music in a traditional concert format. The core of this repertoire consists of the Bach Solo Sonatas, the 24 Caprices of Paganini and the Bartok Sonata.

Glatzer also presents relatively lesser known works for solo violin by Baltzar, Biber, Telemann, Tartini, Ysaye, Blach, Stravinsky and Honneger. Contemporary works are also in his repertoire: Australian, Peter Sculthorpe; Portuguese, Lopes Graca and Felipe de Sousa, Canadian, Murray Adaskin and Paul Gerard; American, George Rochberg and Alan Hovhaness.

CONCERTS and RECITALS:

Jack Glatzer's repertoire includes the major concerti, sonatas and concert pieces expected of any violin soloist. However, in addition to this repertoire his encounters with composers, his travels and his special interest in the solo violin have led him to master a unique repertoire

Several composers have written works especially for Glatzer. The Portuguese composer, Filipe de Sousa, dedicated his Monologo and Kaleidoscopic to Glatzer who premiered and recorded both works. He recently gave the world premiere of Alpha-Beta by de Sousa. Fernando Lopes Graca is considered the most important Portuguese composer of the 20th century. Glatzer had the privilege of working with him on his Prelude and Fugue for Solo Violin. Glatzer recorded the complete works for violin and piano by Claudio Carneyro, another leading Portuguese composer

In Australia, Glatzer recorded Peter Sculthorpe's Irkanda for solo violin and prepared the recording with the composer. He has performed this significant Australian work throughout the world. Also in Australia, Glatzer performed the Three Humours for Solo Violin by Gracie Holland with the composer in the audience. He received accolades on his performance from this famous woman composer.

There was a mutual admiration and esteem between the recently deceased Canadian composer Murray Adaskin and Jack Glatzer. He recorded the Sonatina Baroque in the presence of the composer. Adaskin dedicated to him the Tefilot Shalom, a Prayer for Peace. Another Canadian composer, now living and working in Holland, is Dennis Farnon. Glatzer formed a deep friendship with Farnon when Farnon was living in Portugal and two Solo Sonatas were written for him by Farnon.

The renowned American composer, Samuel Adler dedicated the 3rd Sonata to Glatzer. Also Glatzer gave the world premiere of Adler's Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra with the Dallas Symphony and the European premier with the Orquestra Sinfonica do Porto. Glatzer had the pleasure of meeting Camargo Guarnieri, the splendid Brazilian composer. He studied the 5th Sonata for Violin and Piano with the composer and performed it with Guarnieri in Portugal. He gave the US premier of that work at the National Gallery in Washington.

Glatzer's particular interest in the solo violin repertoire has led him to explore some practically unknown works. Among these are the Airs for Solo Violin by Thomas Baltzar, probably the first significant work for solo violin. He performs several of the Unaccompanied Sonatas by Tartini, works unknown not only to the general public, but to most violinists. He has recorded all the Caprices for Solo Violin by Pietro Locatelli and performs these frequently in his recitals. He performs the forgotten Caprices of Edward Elgar and gave the modern premiere of this "lost" work in the Purcell Room in London several years ago.

Finally, Glatzer's passion for travel has led him to an interest in "World Music". He has had the pleasure of performing with local musicians in Morocco, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Malaysia. He has arranged a suite for violin, of music from Inner Mongolia as well as a group of folk melodies from Turkey. In celebration of his many visits to the sub-continent he performs Alan Bush's Raga Melodies. His performances of Sephardic Melodies have been enthusiastically received on every continent. His proximity to Spain has led him to perform many of the works of Pablo de Sarasate. On a recent tour in Spain the works were interrupted by shouts of 'Ole' and 'Precioso' by an enthusiastic audience. Glatzer will give the world premiere in melbourne of Face to Face with Seygun by the turkish composer Ozkan Manav.

SOLO PROGRAMS FOR ADULTS:

There is a vast choice of programs for adults and young people including children. These programs can be given with or without pictures, certainly the combination of music and pictures has received accolades from audiences of all ages for its stimulating and entertaining combination of various arts. These programs are varied in pacing, vocabulary and style according to the audience.
The combination of pictures and music has been received enthusiastically in major venues such as Foundation Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Sidney Opera House, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Saint Martin's in the Fields, London, etc.

There are serveral new programs as well.
1. Paganini and Romanticism.
This program shows parallels between Paganini's and Romantic painting, particularly Delecroix, Gericault, Goya, Friedrich, etc. The accompanying lecture is drawn almost exclusively from quotations of artists, critics and musicians who heard Paganini's performances.

2. Baroque: North and South.
This program explores the different character of solo music for violin of Italy and Germany. Repertoire from Italy by Geminiani, Tartini, Locatelli and from Germany by Baltzar, Biber and Bach.

3.Bach: Forerunners and Contemporaries.
The sublime solo works of Bach are seen in the context of other composers of his Germanic tradition: Westhoff, Baltzar, Telemann, Biber

4. Twentieth Century Solo Violin.
Works by Hindemith, Bloch, Honegger, Sculthorpe, Bartok.

STUDENT PROGRAMS:

Paganini The pursuit of excellence and its price. The overcoming of obstacles through tenacity and heroic will. Performance of approximately ten of the 24 Caprices. Famous cartoons and caricatures of Paganini as well as paintings by Ingres and Delacroix.

Bach
Dances from the Partitas for violin solo are illustrated by paintings by Breughel, Raphael, and Medieval illuminated manuscripts. Several stories of Bach's life are related. The Chaconne is compared to a Gothic cathedral.

A Musical Voyage from Spain to India
An imaginary voyage, chiefly through the Mediterranean, showing the interaction of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam in music, painting, and architecture. Music by Albeniz, Hovhaness, Locatelli, and Tartini, etc. Pictures by Delacroix, Monet, Sargent, and Orientalists. Buildings: Dome of the Rock, Cathedral of St. Mark, Taj Mahal, etc.

Heritage
This program celebrates diverse ethnic backgrounds and their contributions to world culture. Afro-American: the Negro spiritual, and paintings by Henry Ossowa Tanner. East Indian: Raga Melodies by Alan Bush and Indian miniature paintings. Jewish: Music of Ernest Bloch and paintings of Marc Chagall. Hispanic: Songs of the middle ages from Spain and Spanish poetry. Australia: Irkanda by Peter Sculthorpe and photographs of Australia by David Cumming. China: Songs from Outer Mongolia and Chinese objets d'art.

Music and Poetry (for junior and senior high school)
Form, content, style, and rhythm in both arts. Music by Bach, Bartok, Virgil Thompson, Telemann, and Ladino songs. Poetry by Coleridge, William Carlos Williams, Gertrude Stein, e.e. cummings, and Heather Stewart.

Bartok (for junior and senior high schools)
The magnificent Sonata for Solo Violin is seen in relation to Bartok's tragic final years in New York and to his research into folk music of Eastern Europe and Asia. Also, the Sonata is noted as a war protest and is thus related to paintings by Goya and Picasso.

Music and Art This concert originated in a performance celebrating the 50th anniversary of the McNay Museum - a splendid private collection in San Antonio, Texas. Some of the connections which are discussed and exemplified are: the fascination of the Russian dance: Music/Prokofieff. Paintings - Gontcharova and Bakst. Congruence of music and literary style Music - Virgil Tomson. Paintings - Robert Indiana and Picasso. Landscape in Music and painting: Music - Hindemith and Tartini. Paintings - Sisley and Corot and Manet.

Dimensions of Musical Communication: Music as personal, historical, cultural, emotional and physical communication - how we can experience the soul of another human being: Bach - Adagio from g minor sonata. Music allows us to experience a historical period: courtly baroque music Telemann. "How we travel through music" - Exoticism - A trip to Turkey, music by Ozkan Manav. Music relates emotion, tragedy: Bach - Saraband in b minor Euphoria - Bach - Bouree in E Major. Physical communication of rhythm, we feel the beats like our own heart: Bach - Fugue in g minor. Communication of daring and adventure - Virtuosity - Paganini Caprice.

MASTER CLASSES and CHAMBER ORCHESTRAS:

Glatzer's Master Classes have been enthusiastically received in Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and in other parts of the world: China, Malaysia, Thailand, India, South Africa and Morocco. He often trains chamber orchestras and conducts them, usually performing concerti with them. He tends to concentrate in the master classes on basic issues of violin playing: intonation, vibrato, colour and flexibility in bowing. These points are of use to beginners and advanced students as well as to professionals.

Please contact Jack Glatzer for more details about his Master Classes and work with Chamber Orchestras.

THE BACH PROJECT

The Bach Sonatas and Partitas are considered by most violinists to be the outstanding works for the solo violin. They accompany a violinist on the life-time journey of this art. Almost always, this study is based on only one of the three manuscripts we have of these works, although the other copies have fascinating differences of articulations and rhythm as well as occasional significant differences of notes and even passages. It is most stimulating to study all three manuscripts and to be influenced by the various alterntives, in practicing, if not even in performance. The three manuscripts show us how Bach develops a masterpiece- we are enabled to experience a 'work-in-progress'. How usefull this is to the performer as well as the student rather than the simple slavish followig of one text.

On a recent visit to Darwin, Australia where Jack Glatzer performed the Bethoven Concerto with the Darwin Symphony orchestra under Martin Jarvis, Glatzer became fascinated through conversations with Professor Jarvis to re-study the Bach Sonatas and Partitas (after a life-time of performing them). Professor Jarvis has stimulated Glatzer to study the Sonatas and Partitas using all three manuscripts. In addition, Martin Jarvis has developed a challenging hypothesis that Anna Magdalena Bach was a talented composer and may have contributed to the Cello Suites as well as the violin Sonatas and Partitas.

For more information on Jarvis' exciting work click here. Or contact him, here

Glatzer will return to Darwin in April '06 to perform all six Sonatas and Partitas as well as to lecture on the results of his study of the manuscripts. This programme will be available on all of Glatzer's tours during the next few years.