Part 2

What passion cannot music raise or quell?” -- John Dryden

    Poet John Keats wrote that “Heard melodies are sweet/but those unheard are sweeter...”  However, upon gazing at the audience during one of host Abe Minzer's Schumann-Brahms music salons, we all might be tempted to take Keats to task. It could be that we just need our poetic licenses renewed, or a refresher course in Keats, or it could be something else.
    Against a wall sits a burly man, arms crossed, head bent and eyes closed as if in prayer or in deeper contemplation than Rodin's “Thinker.” Another tilts his head slightly back, a winsome smile on his lips, as though he were hearing angels. Yet another sways gently to the rhythm of an adagio movement, while another leans forward as if viewing a thriller, wide-eyed and fixated as a violinist, horn-player, or pianist thrusts his or her whole body into creating virtuoso sound.  As with other sublime events, like a religious service or wedding, Minzer's salons seem to be a sort of haven, an extra bit of weekly Eden.

   Truly, the salons are a delight in too many ways to be captured by just one writer in only two articles (for background/introduction see “Encounters of the Heard Kind,” (“The Gazette,” YourHub/Cheyenne Mtn Edition, online for Oct. 18, 2007). Perhaps it is best to let the performers and audience speak for themselves.

   Violinist Herman Susser, who has performed with the Colorado Springs and Pueblo Symphonies, the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs, and leads a Klezmer band (a mix of Eastern European Jewish music), comments that “these salons offer something that once made their way into the courts of Europe, playing for a private audience,” but which are now more public. “The program,” he continues, “offers an opportunity to perform without the frightening glimmer of the 'professional' public stage lights, in a smaller setting, with fewer butterflies,” noting that during a Brahms Horn Trio, which encompasses both warmth and heroics, he felt he had reached a new peak in his abilities. He stresses, too, that all of the performers have “real jobs,” and must make (i.e., steal) the time for practice, which hopefully pays off. It does – and then some.

   Dave Stoller, former principal hornist with the Colorado Springs Symphony, the Air Force Academy Band, Little London Winds, among other groups, has delighted the crowd with mastery of both the natural horn (dating to Mozart's time) and its modern-day incarnation. He effuses that the combination of “an autumn evening, the smell of fallen leaves and the sounds of the music” engender a bittersweetness, a quality endemic to so much of Brahms' works.” He says that the “emotion and pathos” evoked by the music and performers has brought him to tears --- and that he doubts “music ever gets better than this: performing for friends, with friends.”

   Violinist Dorothy Crow-Willard, Oberlin College graduate and private student of many violin masters in New York and Boston, has performed as concert-master of professional and community orchestras, and as soloist with the Connecticut Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of New England, and several philharmonic orchestras. Watching Dorothy perform is an experience like no other. Her range of facial expressions above the chin so lovingly perched on the instrument is virtually catholic, and probably more than any other musician, she engages her whole body into the performance, rather like a Keith Jarrett of strings. Husband Gary is a bassist whose incredibly low tones alternate with impressive falsetto, and as with Dorothy, his body language and range of facial expression could merit him an Oscar, were he in movies. He says that “every time we look at these songs (Brahms, Schumann), “we find new nuances, which is a delight.”

   In contrast to these theatrics (meant in a good sense), David Greene, chamber-music pianist covering the Springs/Denver areas, sits stolid at the ivories as accompanist as well as during his recent two-piano piece with Minzer, the latter of whom also thrusts his whole body into the playing; both pianists evince exquisite passion, force, and eloquence. Greene and Minzer met 36 years ago, and and last year the two prepared three of Mozart's sonatas for four hands.  Regarding practice, David states that “when you consider that Abe lives in Colorado Springs and I, in Lafayette, this seemed a little bit crazy, but as we delved into the music, we soon realized the effort was worth it.” He calls it a “great joy” to perform in an intimate, friendly environment, and commends Abe and wife Carol Schreuder (a psychologist who delivered a talk on bipolar illness in regards to Schumann) for opening their home to the community. He revels in the “zest and enthusiasm” of both performers and audience.

   Soprano Gail Carpenter, who with husband/tenor John Carpenter performs throughout the state as the “high end” of “The Swinging Sweethearts,” has also sung with Duke Ellington; together the Carpenters have performed with the Omaha Symphony, The Miami Beach Symphony, teach piano and voice, and Gail finds the “bonding between audience and musicians impressive, and the audience's questions/performers' responses intriguing. John, who attended Julliard on full scholarship, won a contract to perform at the New York Metropolitan Opera and has sung all over the globe. His booming tenor voice is a beautiful complement to Gail's sweet but thrillingly potent vibrato.

   Cellist/lawyer Carla Albers is section leader of the Pikes Peak Philharmonic (and feels that “music is so different from everything else” she does, adding that “it is an amazing feeling to let the music wash over and around you..... “ and that though some musicians may appear “stoic” while playing (hello again, David), in reality, “there are a million things going on....[performing] is a very intense intellectual, physical and emotional experience.” She loves the “immediacy and intimacy” of the salon setting, adding that the cello is one of the most endearing instruments to listeners, if subconsciously, because it is the instrument closest to the range of the human voice.

   Soprano Cindy Saunders worries that, without “folks like Abe,” the salon experience could become a lost art. Regarding the Mahler and Strauss which she performed Sunday, Nov. 4, she states that “in the chaos of the world....what especially resonates is the serenity and bittersweet settings of the poetry by Von Glimm,” and considers it an honor to share these moving evocative and emotive moments with others.

   Cellist Don Perkins, member of, among others, The Chamber Orchestra Recital Series and The Boulder Chamber Orchestra, has also performed at the Lincoln center in New York and the World's Fair in Knoxville, TN, is in very high demand, and very confident as a player. He and Dorothy seem to be another match made in heaven.

   Jan and Carl Eklund, violinist and pianist, respectively, give recitals in their home and include other fine musicians as well. Jan, also a certified midwife, plays with the Pikes Peak Philharmonic and was concert-mistress for seven years. Both of them divine performers, they have been a husband/wife musical duo for 37 years.

   Lest this all sound like one big mutual admiration society, consider audience member Janice Stahl's reveling in Abe and David's inspiration to rename each of the Brahms variations, playing snippets and involving the audience (who were exhorted to connect the new names to their personal lives) prior to the performance, resulting in a lot of fun, and rousing applause. She has also enjoyed the variety Minzer is now incorporating: literary and visual-art contributions. Kathy Verlo comments that besides the “food for the soul” (i.e., the music), a delicious repast is served (buffet-style) – and enjoys the informal discussions and history of the musical selections. Susan Kotval adds simply (but emphatically) that “I did not realize the extreme talent we have in this community!”

   Minzer's vision of the salon's evolution includes continuing the non-musical art, such as the poetry by Poetry West member Yousuf Zaigham, who found it “exhilarating to see how closely shared the territories and motifs are between music and poetry.” Also a Poetry West member, I was profoundly flattered to be involved, performing two piano compositions and reading two poems at one salon, then two more poems on Nov. 4. Kazuko Stern and I, whose paintings are as alike as a Rembrandt and a Picasso, have been thrilled to decorate the Abe's walls. At the Oct. 28^th salon, the adorable 7 ½ yr old Ahyo Falick played two piano pieces, titillating the audience and, hopefully, is ringing in the future!

   Minzer's plans include another salon series for May of 2008, to includefour salons devoted to Spanish or Latin music, including a performance by the “Dos Americas” guitar duo, and Italian music as well. He is hoping to tour Colorado with a few of the salon members, and then hopes to take on some of the larger cities on the east coast. Minzer is a very tall man with dreams to match, but it would be false to say he stands by at each salon like a proud father, because no pride actually shows. The salon series may be his most recent “baby,” the labor involved in it intense, exhausting, and all-consuming, but the delivery is, as with any newborn, worth every sacrifice, to which any attendee will attest.

   November 10 closes this salon's span. So think “music.” Think “David, Carla, Gail, Herman,” etc.  And whatever you do, don't forget Dorothy, because when it comes to music, (to tweak the tale a tad), there's no place like Abe's home.

For information on the music salons contact Abe Minzer at aminzer.comcast.net.