{"id":698,"date":"2012-01-13T08:06:35","date_gmt":"2012-01-13T13:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=698"},"modified":"2012-01-13T08:06:35","modified_gmt":"2012-01-13T13:06:35","slug":"lara-st-johns-piano-partner-the-very-model-of-a-perfect-accompanist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2012\/01\/13\/lara-st-johns-piano-partner-the-very-model-of-a-perfect-accompanist\/","title":{"rendered":"Lara St. John’s piano partner the very model of a perfect accompanist"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Anne-Marie McDermott<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It’s been about 40 hours since I heard violinist Lara St. John<\/a> play Beethoven’s G-Major Violin Sonata (Op. 30, No. 3) with American pianist Anne-Marie McDermott<\/a> at the Cartagena International Music Festival<\/a>, and I’m still trying to process everything I heard.<\/p>\n

It was like a colourized old movie with the saturation of the new hues turned up to Andy Warhol levels. It was in-your-face garish. It was a partygoer wearing too much makeup and half a bottle of perfume.<\/p>\n

And it was incredibly compelling, particularly for\u00a0the collaboration between pianist and violinist. They literally played as one, as if they’d spent years honing their unified vision of how to present a recital and interpret this work in particular.<\/p>\n

I bumped into St. John last night and asked her how long she and McDermott had been working together.<\/p>\n

“We’ve just met,” answered the violinist. “Anne-Marie is the consummate professional. I said, why don’t we do it like this and like this, and she said, sure. She even remembered everything I said.”<\/p>\n

They had two rehearsal hours together before the public concert.<\/p>\n

That, caballeros y caballeras, is the picture of a true accompanist.<\/p>\n

I’m hoping to catch McDermott before I leave Cartagena. But, in case I don’t sit down with her, here is a snippet of some pretty special solo piano work — J.S. Bach’s keyboard Partita No. 1 — followed by a short making-of video (dog lovers need to wait for the last 15 seconds):<\/p>\n