Timothy Judd

A native of Upstate New York, Timothy Judd has been a member of the Richmond Symphony violin section since 2001. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where he earned the degrees Bachelor of Music and Master of Music, studying with world renowned Ukrainian-American violinist Oleh Krysa. The son of public school music educators, Timothy Judd began violin lessons at the age of four through Eastman’s Community Education Division. He was a student of Anastasia Jempelis, one of the earliest champions of the Suzuki method in the United States. A passionate teacher, Mr. Judd has maintained a private violin studio in the Richmond area since 2002 and has been active coaching chamber music and numerous youth orchestra sectionals. In his free time, Timothy Judd enjoys working out with Richmond’s popular SEAL Team Physical Training program.

Schubert’s “Schwanengesang,” “Kriegers Ahnung”: Warrior’s Foreboding

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Franz Schubert composed Schwanengesang (“Swan Song”), D. 957, a cycle of 14 posthumously published songs, in October of 1828, a month before his death. The haunting second song, Kriegers Ahnung (“Warriors Foreboding”), foreshadows Mahler’s Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. The text by Ludwig Rellstab is the ghostly soliloquy of a soldier who fears imminent death on the battlefield, and who longs to return to his beloved. The piano’s desolate …

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Mahler’s “Des Knaben Wunderhorn,” “Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen”: A Ghostly Nocturnal Vision

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Songs gave rise to symphonies during Gustav Mahler’s “Wunderhorn years.” This was the period from 1887 to 1904 when Mahler composed his first four symphonies, all of which are rooted in nature and song. In some cases, songs provided the seeds for symphonic movements. The texts for Mahler’s twelve-song cycle, Des Knaben Wunderhorn (“The Boy’s Magic Horn”) were based on a collection of anonymous German folk poems of the same title, compiled and …

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Shostakovich’s Second Violin Concerto: Mournful, Introverted, and Singing

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“Very slowly, with difficulty, squeezing it out note by note, I am writing a Violin Concerto,” Dmitri Shostakovich confided to a friend in the spring of 1967, adding, “Otherwise everything is going splendidly.” The Violin Concerto No. 2 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 129 is a shadowy, introverted work. It is mournful and endlessly singing. “Gone are the instantly memorable images, the brightly etched colors and coruscating ferocity,” writes commentator Gerard McBurney. “Instead we …

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Scriabin’s Etude in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 42, No. 5: Daniil Trifonov

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“Scriabin wished to combine all aesthetic experience in a single, mystical musical vision,” writes pianist Daniil Trifonov. Described as a “poet, philosopher, musician, mystic, visionary and egotist,” Russian composer Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) pushed Romanticism to the breaking point. Experiencing a blending of senses known as synesthesia, he associated musical keys with colors. Scriabin composed the solo piano Etudes, Op. 42 in 1903. The tempestuous Etude No. 5 in C-sharp minor has been …

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Dvořák’s “Othello” Overture: Love and Tragedy

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Before the epic film score, there was the tone poem of 19th century Romanticism. This music often abandons traditional formal structures. As with cinematic scores to come, it unfolds in a way that is governed by the dramatic sweep of the story. With sudden mood swings, it offers a rollercoaster ride of emotion, and evokes cinematic imagery. Antonín Dvořák’s 1892 concert overture, Othello, Op. 93, falls into this category. It was conceived as …

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Eric Whitacre’s “I Thank You God For Most This Amazing Day”: A Joyous Setting of E. E. Cummings

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“i thank You God for most this amazing day is such a beautiful and joyous poem that the music was at times almost effortless,” writes American composer Eric Whitacre (b. 1970). The shimmering a cappella choral setting of e.e. cummings’ poetic prayer concludes Whitacre’s Three Songs of Faith, composed in 1999. In this work, the vibrant sound of the human voice becomes an expression of ecstasy. Celestial aspiring lines and bright, sensuous …

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Remembering Leon Bates

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American pianist Leon Bates has passed away at the age of 76. Born in Philadelphia, Bates became drawn to the piano at the age of 6 after his kindergarten teacher played for the class. Initially excelling at both violin and piano, he studied at the Settlement Music School, and later at Temple University. Bates went on to appear on the world’s most prestigious stages. Bates was a bodybuilder, a discipline which he …

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