Of all the difficulties facing musicians
who live in New York, losing rehearsal time to the search for
a parking space is among the toughest to swallow – at least for
cellist Edward Arron.
"I usually schedule my rehearsals around alternate-side
parking," Arron, who plays Bargemusic at Fulton Landing
this weekend, said with a laugh as – you guessed it – he sat
in his vehicle on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, waiting for a
spot to open up after a recent rehearsal.
The 27-year-old seems to be in this situation more often these
days, since he has a busy musicmaking career. On May 8 and May
9, Arron will perform with pianist Bernard Rose. The program
of music that spans more than 200 years was chosen by Arron himself.
"It’s music from the cello repertoire that I find special
to hear and play," Arron explains. "My favorite cello
piece is the Schubert ’Arpeggione’ Sonata, and I built the recital
around that. It’s so lyrical, beautiful and soulful, I grew up
loving that piece."
Understandably, Arron wanted to perform music that highlights
the range of the cello rather than the piano.
"This program is a cello-difficult and a piano-lite program
in a way," he says. "It’s usually the opposite, because
if you take things like the Beethoven and Brahms sonatas, they
have many more notes for the piano than for the cello. So we’re
turning the tables, since the piano is such a backbone in this
repertoire."
When Arron says "cello-difficult," he means it. In
addition to Schubert’s sonata, which closes the program, the
first half consists of two masterful works by 18th-century composer
Luigi Boccherini and late-20th-century master Gyorgy Ligeti;
a folk-inflected work by Robert Schumann precedes the Schubert
finale.
"I decided to start with this really interesting Boccherini
sonata," Arron says. "He was a great virtuoso, and
his music reflects that – it’s difficult but joyful, with beautiful
textures and a special energy.
"I thought I would continue this virtuoso theme and program
the Ligeti solo sonata, which is as difficult as anything else
technically. It has a lot of Hungarian folk elements in it, which
is also why I put the Schumann piece (’Five Pieces in Folk Style’)
on the program, because he picks up on folk elements similar
to Ligeti over a hundred years earlier."
Ligeti’s solo sonata is an imposing edifice for any serious cellist,
even if it clocks in at only 10 minutes.
"It’s my first time performing this piece, which will make
it a nerve-wracking experience," says Arron. "I fell
in love with it the first time I heard it, but I never had the
guts to play it before now.
"You have to discipline yourself when you do a solo piece,
since you don’t have any rehearsals scheduled with someone else,"
he says. "You know you should be practicing it whenever
you have a moment at home. I do clinical work on it, go really
slowly and make mental connections of where my fingers and bow
should be. And I also like to whip through it sometimes just
to get a feel for it. When I perform it, I hope these two extremes
come together, along with the adrenaline, the nerves, the excitement
and atmosphere."
The Ligeti sonata is the only solo work on the program.
"He’s one of my best friends," Arron says about Rose,
his piano-playing partner. "We’ve known each other about
10 years, and we live three blocks from each other, so we get
together on an almost daily basis to make music or talk about
music. It’s nice to have someone that close onstage with me while
playing such difficult music."
Arron, who grew up in Cincinnati and attended Juilliard, comes
from a musical family: his father is a violist in the Metropolitan
Opera Orchestra, and his late mother, Judith, was credited with
turning around Carnegie Hall’s fortunes during the 1990s when
she served as its executive director.
"Growing up I was exposed to extraordinary musicmaking,
at home and at Carnegie Hall," the cellist explains.
Although his busy career includes performing on classical radio
station WQXR’s "On Air" program and an upcoming U.S.
tour, Arron insists that there’s no place like Bargemusic.
"It’s such an incredible place to play and listen to music,"
he says. "It’s completely unique, just floating on the water,
listing with the waves. It’s amazing that for 25 years [Bargemusic
Founder and President] Olga Bloom has poured blood, sweat and
tears to give us an opportunity to play music the way we want
to make it.
"There’s something so simple about it – just a stage and
chairs – then you add in the beauty of the great Manhattan skyline
and the music that we get to play. It’s so special."
Cellist Edward Arron and pianist Bernard
Rose will perform works by Boccherini, Ligeti, Schumann and Schubert
on May 8, at 7:30 pm, and May 9, at 2 pm, at Bargemusic (Fulton
Ferry Landing at the end of Old Fulton Street on the East River).
Tickets are $35, $20 for full-time students. For more information,
call (718) 624-2083 or visit www.bargemusic.org.
