Chamber Music at Great Gorge

World-class violinist David Kim joined pianist and Gail Niwa in a series of stellar violin-piano duets to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their first musical collaboration at the 1986 Tchaikovsky Music Competition in Moscow. The concert, the first in the series eighth season, took place on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 8, at the R.C. Church of St. Francis de Sales in Vernon. Niwa, a prize-winning pianist, was born in Chicago but is a long-time Vernon resident. She founded the twice-yearly concert series, Chamber Music at Great Gorge seven years ago. Kim, born in Carbondale, Ill. became concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1999, and is founder and artistic director of the Kingston Chamber Music Festival at the University of Rhode Island. A concertmaster is the leader of the first violins in an orchestra and by custom the subleader of the orchestra. “We knew each other at the Juilliard School, “ said Niwa. “But I was a hippie and David was a jock, so we said hello in the halls, but that was it.” The friendship didn’t flourish until Kim needed a pianist to accompany him in Moscow and called at the last minute for Niwa to join him at the competition known as the “Olympics of Music,” and they “clicked.” Since then, the two have been fast friends, and count theirs as one of the most enduring musical collaborations in the world of classical music. “We’ve had lots of great experiences,” Niwa observed. “Playing tennis and pool, playing in concert halls, eating in good and not so good restaurants. “Musically, we’re like one mind thinking, and playing together is like putting on a comfortable pair of old jeans. Everything fits just right,” Kim added. As usual, the musical program contained the perfect balance of selections to enthrall the audience. The introductory piece, Igor Stravinsky’s Suite Italians, with its riveting tarantella demonstrated the exquisite harmony between the two musicians. Camille de Saint-Saens’ Sonata in D Minor, Opus 75, for Violin and Piano allowed the interplay between Niwa and Kim to shine with especial brilliance. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Dumka Russian Rustic Scene Opus 59; and Serenade Melancolique Opus 26 charmed the audience with its blend of tragedy and humor, and Pablo de Sarsate’s Carmen Fantasy provided a fiery conclusion. The audience, which nearly filled the nave of the R.C. Church of St. Francis de Sales in Vernon responded to the harmony between Kim and Niwa, and exclamations of “astonishing,” and “wonderful” could be heard throughout the church. When the concert was over, the people rose to give the two musicians a standing ovation, and then walked out silently into the autumn dusk, seemingly reluctant to break the spell. A harvest moon was just beginning to rise behind the hilltops.