A Musical Conversation

March 26th, 2025

There are few things I love more than traveling and live music—food comes to mind along with quality conversation with family and friends. And thankfully food, family, and conversation usually accompany traveling to see live music, so I feel pretty happy.

At the end of January I traveled to Kansas City with my husband and a friend to see a recital featuring pianist Emanuel Ax and clarinetist Anthony McGill. I would be happy to hear Ax and McGill perform just about anything, but I was excited about this particular program because it included a broad range of music with everything from Robert Schumann, Franz Schubert and Beethoven to Florence Price and Leonard Bernstein to two of my favorite living composers, Jessie Montgomery and James Lee III. 

Imagine my delight when upon arrival at the Folly Theater, I learned there would also be a Q&A with Ax and McGill following the performance.

The Schubert piece was a Sonata in A minor written originally for the arpeggione, a six-stringed instrument tuned like a guitar but bowed like a cello popular for the briefest of moments when Schubert was composing. It was incredible to hear a clarinetist play what was intended for a string instrument—all that circular breathing. 

Of course Ax’s rendition of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata was thrilling, and Bernstein’s Sonata for Clarinet and Piano was so jazzy and fun, and the way the clarinet and piano harmonized together was enchanting. James Lee III’s Ad anah? was absolutely stunning and deeply moving. 

McGill first heard Jessie Montgomery’s Peace during the pandemic and emailed her to see if she could make an arrangement for clarinet. Must be nice to have a friend like Jessie Montgomery! I asked McGill during the Q&A if he had lots of composer friends he could just call and ask to arrange pieces for him. The classical music world is small and connected, so the answer was yes.

And how about this juicy tidbit from the Q&A: Emanuel Ax still gets nervous every time he performs. He has no solution. He just keeps going out there and performing. I never would have guessed it. He seemed as calm and composed as ever both times I’ve been lucky enough to see him perform.

McGill and Ax also discussed what happens when two musicians play together. They said music is natural, so ideally, it’s just like a conversation. If the conversation is going well, and you like each other, you want to listen to what the other person has to say.

As McGill and Ax played their encore of Goin’ Home from Dvořák’s 9th Symphony, I thought about all the musical conversations I’ve been a part of and sure felt grateful to be sitting in on this one. Looking forward to the next.