Review Text
Currently Artist Affiliate in Cello and Chamber Music at the University of California, Davis, Susan Lamb Cook performs frequently in northern California and her performances have been heard on Capital Public Radio. She holds a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Iowa where she studied with Charles Wendt, and a degree with honors in performance from the Academy of Music in Vienna. While in Europe, Ms. Lamb Cook studied with Angelica May and participated in and observed master classes by Andre Navarra, Paul Tortelier and Ralph Kirshbaum. As soloist, Susan Lamb Cook has appeared with orchestras in Europe, the United States and the Middle East, performing with the Cairo Symphony in Egypt, the Vienna Bach Soloists, the International Bartok Chamber Orchestra, the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony, the Camellia Symphony, the Paradise Symphony and the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra. As a member of the Gold Coast Trio, Susan Lamb Cook's performances with violinist Rachel Vetter Huang and pianist Hao Huang have thrilled audiences both in the USA and abroad. Their 2006 performance at the Liszt Concert Hall in Raiding, Austria was featured on Austrian National Television and their 2008 performance in the Hong Tai Concert Hall in Xiamen, China received critical acclaim. The Gold Coast Trio has also appeared at the Haydnfestspiele, Eisenstadt, the Bessie Bartlett Frankel Festival of Chamber Music at Scripps College, and the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at the University of California, Davis. Their concerts have been broadcast on Capital Public Radio and the trio has released a CD of works by Beethoven, Beach, Bernstein and Piazzolla. Ellen Schinnerer Deffner began specializing in piano accompaniment in London, where she was a student at the Guildhall School of Music. She won the School Accompanying Prize during her second year at the Guildhall and subsequently became a professor there. While in Europe she was an accompanist and coach for master classes given by Pierre Bernac and Gerard Souzay at the Academie Internationale de Musique de Maurice Ravel in France. She now gives workshops in the United States on French Art Song. Since returning to the USA, she has been on the faculties of UC Santa Barbara, Reed College, and the University of Portland in Oregon. Broadcast performances have included appearances on British and French television, as well as Minnesota Public Radio. Sergei Rachmaninoff Cello Sonata - Vocalise - Lied - Preludes In 1901, after two years of showing no interest in composition, Rachmaninoff experienced a period of renewal in which ideas flowed in abundance. The material created during this time, originally intended for his Second Piano Concerto, resulted in a number of works including the Sonata in G minor, op. 19 and Ten Preludes for Pianoforte, op. 23. One can notice a certain likeness between these works, which is apparent not only in the treatment of the musical ideas, but also in the similarity of the themes. The Cello Sonata was first performed in the Moscow "Nobility Hall" on December 2, 1901. The Prelude, op. 2 was written in 1892 when the young Rachmaninoff was just beginning his career as composer. For advice on how to get his works published, he decided to consult the well-established composer Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky. This led to a meeting with the publisher Gutheil who offered for opus 2, the opera "Aleko" and six songs (op. 4) a total of 500 roubles. This was an enormous sum; at that time, Rachmaninoff was still earning no more than fifteen roubles per month for one weekly piano lesson. The Vocalise, written in 1912 and revised in 1915, was dedicated to the famous Moscow coloratura singer, Mme. Neshdenova, and is one of a set of fourteen songs that make up the opus 34. The rather unassuming title chosen for this piece certainly understates the emotional quality apparent throughout. Rachmaninoff's compositional strength is reflected in the be
