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Wednesday, April 7th, 1999
Ori Kam and Ilan Rechtman: A Viola Soloist, and a Bernsteinian Pianist.
Not many violists have been able to sustain a solo career. The instrument has never been able to shake its perception as a bridge between the bright-toned, assured violin and the deeper, plaintive cello, both of which, unlike the viola, have extensive solo repertories.
Photo by Toby Wales
Ori Kam, a 23-year-old California-born violist who grew up in Israel, is staking out a solo career, and he may be one of the few violists to achieve it.
Mr. Kam presented an impressive recital on Sunday afternoon at Weill Recital Hall, the of his winning the 1999 Young Musicians Excellence Award from the Daniel Foundation. His solo career has been building steadily since his debut at 18 with the Philharmonic under the baton of Zubin Mehta.
Like most violists Mr. Kam luxuriates in the viola's dusky, warm tone, less radiant than the violin's but more mellow. But he never lets his sound become smothering. In Schubert's "Arpeggione" Sonata he brought shapely phrasing to the wistful first movement, unmannered tenderness to the songful Adagio and a supple rhythmic play to the undulant finale. Mr. Kam is resourceful but not flawless technician. Here and there his bow slipped on a string. But the lack of flashiness was refreshing, and his musical integrity was consistently rewarding.
These qualities were abetted by the Israeli pianist Ilan Rechtman. In the next work, Hindemith's Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 11, No. 4 (from 1919), Mr. Rechtman's accomplished playing was pivotal to the performance's success, for this piano part is one of the most awkward in the duo sonata repertory.
The sonata is the work of a 23-year-old composer with a toehold on the late Romantic style of Brahms but a vision directed piercingly into the experimental future. The first movement, an elusive fantasy, is followed by two sets of variations, which rang in style from a simple setting of a folkloric melody, to a bitingly sarcastic dance and a heavy-footed fugue. Bringing unity to this episodic work is a challenge, and this organic performance met it fully.
Mr. Rechtman's own work, "Three Movements Dedicated to the Memory of Leonard Bernstein," came next. Through the music's shifting meters, jazzy rhythms and nostalgic spans of sweet tonality, Mr. Rechtman may have been trying to evoke Bernstein's stylistic eclecticism. The music seemed highly derivative, though the performance had impetuosity.
The program concluded with Brahms's Sonata, Op. 120, No. 1. Mr. Kam's playing at once mature and youthfully exuberant. He is an attractive, engaging presence onstage, which should only help his quest for a solo career.
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Thursday, October 15th, 1999
He's a violist and he's proud of it
Like every good Jewish boy, Ori Kam started to play the violin, then gradually shifting to the viola.
"I always had a beautiful sound on the low strings and I was rather scorching on the high ones," says the New York based star violist, here for a pair of concerts this week. At 16, he was asked to play viola in a quartet at the Jerusalem Music Center, and the viola has become his instrument ever since.
"It is an age where one always searches for violists. And although I occasionally miss the violin repertoire, I do not miss the violin itself." He says.
To be able to play some of this repertoire, Kam makes his own arrangements for the viola. "I play the Pagannini capricci or the violin solo sonatas of Ysaye. I don't rewrite them I simply arrange them so that I can play them on my viola," he explains.
He also says he has no problems with the multitude of viola and violists jokes that every musician in general, and every violist in particular, tell. "Most of them are actually true," he admits.
Kam, now 24, recently completed his studies at the Manhattan School of Music under Pinchas Zukerman. Now he still makes his home in New York and manages to play quite a lot of concerts, recitals and chamber music. He seems to enjoy life. He never complain, he says the only difficult part is living away from his family.
"My sister [virtuoso clarinetist Sharon Kam] now has young children and if I don't see them for half a year they become different people. So we speak a lot on the phone instead. His mother [Israel Philharmonic Orchestra violist Rachel Kam] also is far away from the Big Apple.
That's why when the family does meet, they do not embark on chamber music sessions. "If at long last we do meet, there is no real reason to start playing music together, there are other things to do," he says.
Kam is currently here replacing another violist at the opening concert of the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon leZion tonight and tomorrow at the new Rishon leZion Hichal Hatarbut, where he plays the Bartok viola concerto.
"Everything I play is difficult. Including what might look easy," he claims. "The Bartok concerto is one of the greatest masterpieces for viola and it is more difficult because the composer never edited the piece with a violist, so there are many things in it which are simply not comfortable."
He does not consider Bartok a contemporary modern composer quite the contrary. "From my experience," he says, "modern music speaks much better to the audience than they are willing to admit. Good music is much more communicative no matter when it was written."
He also does not believe that classical music is in danger of becoming extinct. "There are always younger people in concerts all over the world and you must realize that there will always be a need for classical music. The need might be less at a certain time or place, but the need will always be there."
Kam himself spends his free time "dancing Latin dances, playing with computers and going to the opera. I like New Yokr and I should get as much as I can from the city, it has a lot to offer." Now, however, it is Kam who is about to offer his rendition of Bartok to Israeli music lovers.
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October 26, 1999
The night belongs to Ori Kam
Bela Bartok left only outlines for his viola concerto, but the piece, which was constructed from these outlines is very beautiful and allows the sloloist to display both virtuosity and expression. Ori Kam, 24 years old, replaced Nabuko Imai, but stole the show. If we have such a violist in Israel, why look elsewhere? From the first contact of his bow on the string a broad, penetrating and pleasant sound eminated. I expected, naively, that the audience would demand to hear the final movement again, but alas I was disappointed.
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October 26, 1999
The Light at the end of the tunnel
Season opening concert of the Israel Symphony Orchestra. Heichal Hatarbut Rishon Lezion, conducted by Mendi Rodan
Ori Kam is standing on stage, a young 24 year-old Israeli, and is performing Bartok's wonderful viola concerto with astonishing maturity. I sit in disbelief: his Bartok transcends into a hymn for poetics, refinment, and personal expression. Fantastic.
Talent simply eminates from his every pore. It's not just his virtuosity, but the warmth of his playing. If only for this young discovery, the entire concert was worth it. And indeed, last night Ori was the light at the end of the tunnel.
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Tuesday, November 21st, 1995
Amazing Duo with Brilliant Violist
Ori Kam and Liran Avni (piano) playing in Ruedesheim
As a tribute to the composer Paul Hindemith and his special relationship to the Jung household, the young violist Ori Kam performed in the Sturm Villa in Ruedesheim. The 20 year-old Kam played the Sonata for viola and piano Op. 25 No.4 in celebration of the composer's 100th birthday. Together with his wonderful accompanist, he executed this composition from Hindemith's "rebellious" period with an elastic profile, alternating between boisterous expressivity, and hammering ostinato rhythm - a remarkable performance.
The two artists opened with Robart Schumann's "Maerchenbilder", Op.113. Ori Kam played with a soft velvety sound, astonishing control, and elegant bow technique. One could enjoy the sound-soaked Musicianship, which navigated between the virtuosic and most intimate of moments, all with flawless intonation even in the hardest of passages. "Yizkor" ("In Memoriam") by the Hungarian violist Oedoen Partos (1907-1977), was composed in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. This lament, the execution of which calls for the use of broad tense sounds, was given a meaningful performance by the use of pathetic accentuation.
After the break the sonata Op.120 No.1 in f minor by Johannes Brahms was played. On display again were the duo's remarkable secure ensemble playing, the listening to each other, and the agility and brilliance of the pianist (student of Yocheved Kaplinsky). Inspired by the voluminous tone, the passionate playing of the viola captivated the listener as in the second movement, which was played with a fine, lush sound and beautiful legato bowing.
The final movement brought a carefree, jovial musicianship, which captivated with it's freshness. The talented artists concluded the concert with a composition of George Gershwin, showing maturity.