iCello? Uccello!

Matt Haimovitz is a world class cellist - who is in San Antonio, today, Tuesday March 15th to play at San Antone Cafe (formerly Casbeers) with his group, Uccello.

They stopped by the TPR Studios to talk with host John Clare about their SXSW tour: New Orleans, San Antonio and Austin. Listen to John and Matt here. [mp3 file]

Here is video of the cellists playing at TPR:

New Releases - One Cellist

Matt Haimovitz is one the brilliant musicians of our time. A child prodigy, Matt played with the Wichita Symphony while I was high school. Later our paths would cross in Las Vegas a couple of times, he played at one of my favorite clubs, The Ice House; and performed as a guest of ASCAP at a radio conference as well. Now a good friend of mine is studying at McGill University with Matt. His dedication to music of our time is almost without peer, and now I am not surprised to find not one, but two new releases from his label, Oxingale Records.

Odd Couple is a collaboration with pianist Geoffrey Burleson in music by Barber, Carter, David Sanford and Augusta Read Thomas. You can listen to an interview with Matt and Geoff on All Things Considered here.
The music is sublime, well recorded and worth every minute of your time. Balance is fabulous and the approach is as if the musician's life depended on every note.



The Goldberg Variations in string trio form is one of the great transcriptions of Bach's music by Dmitri Sitkovetsky. Here violinist Jonathan Crow and violist Douglas McNabney join Haimovitz in a thoughtful and tasteful reading of the music. I've enjoyed this piece in the original harpsichord, piano, string orchestra and trio forms, and this is one of the finest interpretations on disc.


As with his past releases, Haimovitz continues to dazzle and amaze me. Thanks for your musicianship!
John Clare, Classical Spotlight and afternoon host on KPAC/KTXI