Joseph Joachim / Steel Pier
On this day in classical music: Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim was born in 1831. At age 12, Joachim performed Beethoven’s “Violin Concerto” in London with Felix Mendelssohn conducting. In the 1850s, Joachim befriended Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms. The latter dedicated his “Double Concerto in A Minor” for violin and cello to Joachim and Robert Hausmann. Listen to violinist Julia Fischer and cellist Daniel Muller-Schott perform the Andante movement of the Brahms “Double Concerto.” Christoph Poppen conducts the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrucken. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oB_w6jRgfU
On this day in the musical theatre: John Kander and Fred Ebb’s “Steel Pier” closed after a 76-performance run in 1997. Based on the dance marathons of the 1930s, “Steel Pier” was set in Atlantic City and focused on several couples vying for the cash prize. It marked the Broadway debut of Kristin Chenoweth who played a character known as Precious. “Steel Pier” was nominated for 11 Tony Awards but failed to take home a single trophy. Most of the awards that year went to “Titanic.” Watch the cast of “Steel Pier” perform “Everybody Dance” on the 1997 Tony Awards broadcast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3B5Zl-GZ8w
Musical musings: Dance marathons reached their frantic height, or perhaps depth, in the early 1930s. In the Depression’s atmosphere of desperation, couples danced for days trying to win prize money. Frequently, they would grovel for coins thrown by spectators in interludes that were called floor showers. Popular dances of the time thread through “Steel Pier” as if they themselves are characters. With the boxy fox trot, the quickstep, the sexy grind snake and many more, the show dances virtually from beginning to end. – Hilary Ostlere
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