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.

Ravel’s Menuet sur le nom d’Haydn: An Homage in Code

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In 1909, the Revue musicale mensuelle de la Société Internationale de Musique commissioned six French composers to write pieces in commemoration of the centenary of the death of Franz Joseph Haydn. Ravel’s 54-bar-long minuet is built on a five-note motif outlining Haydn’s name. The French system for musical cryptograms involves the entire alphabet, with H-N, O-U, and V-Z in lines under the original diatonic notes A-G. In Ravel’s score, H is represented by B natural, A and …

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Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony: Alain Altinoglu and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony

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Composed during the war-torn summer of 1943, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8 in C minor attempts to take a journey from tragedy to triumph. It is the same C minor to C major trajectory we encounter in Beethoven’s Fifth, Brahms’ First, Bruckner’s Eighth, and Mahler’s Second. Yet for many listeners, the victory feels hollow. Perhaps there is even a hint of sarcasm. Shostakovich described his Seventh and Eighth Symphonies as “requiems,” written amid …

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Ravel’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin”: Jaime Martín and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony

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Composed in 1917, initially as a suite for solo piano, Le Tombeau de Couperin was Maurice Ravel’s musical response to the devastation of the First World War. The 17th century word, tombeau, refers to “a piece written as a memorial.” Ravel dedicated each of the suite’s movements to the memory of a friend who was lost in the war. The title references the French Baroque composer, François Couperin (1668-1733), yet according to Ravel, …

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Ives’ “Hallowe’en”: Mischief Around a Polytonal Bonfire

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Composed in 1906, Charles Ives’ Hallowe’en evokes childhood memories of a growing bonfire and playful mischief. Ives wrote, It is a take-off of a Halloween party and bonfire – the elfishness of the little boys throwing wood on the fire, etc, etc… it is a joke even Herbert Hoover could get. Scored for “string quartet, piano and optional drum,” the work begins as a whisper, with only two voices, the second violin and …

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Wagner’s “Das Rheingold” Finale: “Entry of the Gods into Valhalla”

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Listen to the cosmic, elemental opening of Wagner’s Das Rheingold, and you may be reminded of contemporary music, from the atmospheric soundscapes of John Luther Adams, to the minimalist arpeggios of Philip Glass. Beginning as a low rumble in the depths of the orchestra, the Prelude to Das Rheingold features a pure E-flat major chord which continues for over four minutes. It is an epic celebration of the eternal flow of the Rhine …

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Handel’s “Berenice” Overture: “Happy and Pleasing to an Uncommon Degree”

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Set in Egypt around 80 BC, Handel’s Berenice tells the story of the Egyptian Queen’s involvement in a convoluted romantic web which is happily resolved in the end. The three-act opera premiered at London’s Covent Garden Theater on May 18, 1737, but proved to be unsuccessful, and closed after only four performances. In the Baroque period, the French overture provided a familiar formal template. It begins with a stately slow introduction propelled and enlivened …

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Michael Torke’s “Last Month”: New Music for Solo Violin and String Orchestra

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Last Month, the newest installment of American composer Michael Torke’s Last was released earlier this week. Scored for solo violin and string orchestra, the collection of twelve meditative pieces can be performed separately, or as a whole. The titles evoke memories and the passage of time. (Last Fall, Last Year, Last Month, Last Sunday, etc.) Torke comments that they “are almost like second movements of violin concertos.” His program notes for Last are as follows: The Stoics recommend …

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