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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