Riding the wave, again

In March of last year, Lansing Symphonymaestro Timothy Muffitt and 29-year-old violinist Giora Schmidt ladledout the purest, hottest alloy of symphony and soloist heard around herein years --and that’s saying a lot in a drop forge town like Lansing.

In March 2010, Lansing Symphony maestro Timothy Muffittand 29-year-old violinist Giora Schmidt ladled out the purest, hottestalloy of symphony and soloist heard around here in years. And that’ssaying a lot in a drop forge town like Lansing.

Now it can be told: Schmidt, who returnsto help the symphony kick of its 2011-2012 season Friday, was playingwhile seriously jet-lagged, having just flown in from Tel Aviv.

“I was kind of upside down,” Schmidt said.

“That’s amazing,” Muffitt said, when told of this last week.

Several years ago, no less an authority than ItzhakPerlman told Muffitt that Schmidt would fill Perlman’s shoes someday.Since then, the Israeli-American virtuoso has torn a swath through theclassical world by mixing creamy old-school tone with crunchy21st-century social media. He avidly uses Facebook to air his endlessenthusiasms as violinist, teacher, and “classical geek.”

Even with jet lag, Schmidt found Lansing simpatico. “Iwas thrilled with the quality of the orchestra,” Schmidt said. “TimMuffitt and I really hit it off.”

Their tight musical clinch was pretty much sub-verbal. 

“We did it without a lot of discussion, which is how youknow things are going well,” Schmidt said. “It’s a kinetic musicalenergy, and everybody rides the wave.”

“I felt like we were on the same artistic wavelength from ‘Hello,’” Muffitt returned.

This Friday, Muffitt and Schmidt will kick back and pourthemselves another ingot, much bigger than the last year’s SamuelBarber concerto.

The Beethoven violin concerto, centerpiece of the LansingSymphony’s season opener, is the summit of the violin-and-orchestraliterature.

“It’s certainly one of the two greatest ever written — and I don’t know what the other one is,” Muffitt cracked.

Then again, there’s nothing light on the menu Friday. Theunorthodox evening opener is “Blue Cathedral,” a sweeping tone poem bypopular Brooklyn composer Jennifer Higdon. The evening will close withthe monster “Organ Symphony” by French master Camille Saint-Saens.

The primal, cut-the-bull beauty of the Beethoven concerto isn’t fodder for extroverts, but mincing around isn’t Schmidt’s thing.

“I have to watch myself that I don’t get swept away bythe simplicity and beauty of what Beethoven wrote,” Schmidt said. “Youlisten to it and say, ‘How in the hell?’ And he wrote in the simplestkeys, G major and D major.” Schmidt called them “the nightmare keys”because the violinist has “nowhere to hide.”

Muffitt said the Beethoven’s concerto, like last year’s Barber, plays to Schmidt’s strengths.

“The lyricism – so much of it requires exquisitelybeautiful playing,” Muffitt said. “Every single note was luscious. Ican’t wait to do this with him.”

But Schmidt said he finds Beethoven’s simple harmonies and Eden-naked melodies harder to play than “hard” music.

“It’s like walking on glass,” Schmidt said. “You have torestrict yourself while trying to execute a phrase that sounds likeit’s written by the hand of God.”

Schmidt is thankful for any music, Beethoven or not, that rescues the violin from dog-and-pony theatrics.

“There’s a lot of virtuosic, knuckle-busting repertoirewhere you can stand there and show off,” he said. “After a while, it’slike too much peanut butter. You get a stomach ache.”

When the Beethoven is over, he wants the “oohs” and“aahs” aimed at the music, not him. “The nicest thing to hear after aperformance is ‘We almost didn’t notice you there.’”

Muffitt finds that Schmidt and his famous teacher, Perlman, share a “focused, expressive emotional intensity.”

“(Perlman) is not one for wild rubato or extremes ofanything, just pure, focused, exquisite beauty, and the same can besaid for Giora,” Muffitt said.

In classical music these days, if you don’t come downfrom the pedestal, you’re dead in the water. Schmidt deftly juggles theold-school rigor of his teachers, including Perlman and legendaryJuilliard violin guru Dorothy DeLay, with the loosey-goosey chatterchamber of social media. His Facebook page includes retro, formalblack-and-white portraits a la Jascha Heifetz (see the master scowlwith intensity!) and shirt-sleeved, impromptu YouTube lessons, withgenerous “LOLs” sprinkled all over.

 “You don’tbuild audiences by standing behind a glass wall and saying ‘I’mgreat,’” Schmidt said. “Everybody’s great now. There are a lot offabulous performers. Where people differ is how they connect withpeople on a personal level.”

On Friday, Muffitt will balance the purity of Beethovenwith a ripe, massive extravaganza by French composer CamilleSaint-Saëns, the “Organ” symphony.

The organ part is memorable — it’s hard to forget anysensory input that makes your chest cavity throb — but Muffitt isalways looking for the multi-layered experience.

When it comes to blending sounds, Muffitt findsSaint-Saëns a refined artist, a precursor to impressionists like Faureand Debussy.

“It’s not all the trumpets, tympani and pipe organblaring at the end, it’s everything in the middle,” Muffitt said.“There are so many moments where I would challenge the audience toidentify what instruments are playing. You get a composite color that’salmost unidentifiable, a unique musical color.”

The evening’s opener is Jennifer Higdon’s “BlueCathedral,” one of the few newer works that have made it into regularrotation in orchestras across the nation. 

“Jennifer is one of our most important composers living today,” Muffitt said. “Her music is everywhere.”

Higdon, like Saint-Saëns, is a whiz at mixing colors.“Cathedral” starts with mysterious chimes that expand and accelerateinto grand, epic-movie-style gestures, passing through phases ofspirituality and awe.

“It’s not your usual shock-and-awe curtain raiser,” Muffitt said. “But audiences love it. It reaches you on many levels.”

Lansing Symphony Orchestra

Giora Schmidt, violin. Wharton Center. 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16. $15-45 (517) 481-5007 www.lansingsymphony.org

Save 50% on Symphony tickets

Want to save 50% on tickets for theLansing Symphony Orchestra this Friday or this season? Go toSaveLansing.com and buy $50 worth of tickets for just $25. (Sorry, notgood for the pop concerts.) Hear the masters at a savings!