Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Violinist.com: Bringing the Florence Price Violin Concertos to Life...Er-Gene Kahng

Florence Price Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 2
Er-Gene Kahng, Violin
Albany Records




February 25, 2019

Back in 2009, not long after I joined the Philharmonic Society of Arlington, that group celebrated its 75th anniversary season. The winner of that year's Young Artists' Competition was violinist Er-Gene Kahng, who performed the Mendelssohn concerto. I made a rare appearance as a violist in that concert, my last before I went back to the first violins for good.

Almost ten years later and 3000 miles to the west, I remembered and met Er-Gene again at her performance of the Florence Price Violin Concerto No. 2 with the Camellia Symphony in Sacramento. Florence Price's two violin concertos were recently rediscovered amidst other forgotten manuscripts by Price in an abandoned house that was once her summer home. Kahng, a Professor at the University of Arkansas, has edited and recorded these concertos in order to bring the work to a wider audience. (Here is a link to her recording of both of Price's violin concertos.)

I caught up with Er-Gene after the concert and we made arrangements to chat via Skype, as she was leaving the next day--to go to London!

Karen: I wanted to talk with you about Florence Price, but I also wanted to talk about your development as a musician. You mentioned that you are from California. What brought you to Arkansas?

Er-Gene: As I was finishing up my doctoral degree at Northwestern, I started applying for jobs. University of Arkansas listed a vacancy for a violin professor. I applied, interviewed and got the job! Sorry the story is not more interesting! :) Growing up in southern California, I didn't know anything about Arkansas, and had never even visited!

***

Karen: That is really great! I think that is the ideal of how universities are supposed to work. How did you first learn about Florence Price, and how long did it take before you felt ready to perform the Price concertos and record them?

Er-Gene: I first learned about Price at the University of Arkansas' own symposium about her in 2015. With respect to the recordings, I didn't really have the luxury of choosing the timeline. Our contract set a date with the Janacek Philharmonic, who were available in the summer when I had time myself, but who only had a 3-day window to record. There was no choice but to agree to their timeline! Nevertheless, I had about 9 months before that to prepare.

Karen: Where would you place Price in the tradition of violin concertos? Does her music remind you of any other composer?

Er-Gene: This is actually a tricky question, because I believe the paradigm with which we have judged, excluded and included certain composers would not traditionally include Price. We can't properly judge Price's concertos against this tradition.

Karen: That's fair enough. I don't have a lot invested in that paradigm. I haven't studied many violin concertos, myself, other than Bach and Mozart. And at this point I'm primarily a violist.

Er-Gene: It would be easy to say that Price deserves a place . . . up there with the Beethoven Violin Concerto! But even if I felt that way, it's not as simple as persuading people to see the "greatness" of Price against the narrative of greatness they have inherited and been taught since childhood.

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