Tea at Trianon: Inbal Segev, Cellist

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Inbal Segev, Cellist

From InsideChic:

The Bach Cello Suites are the cellist’s Bible. They are six pieces which amount to a little bit more than two hours of music. They are the pinnacle; the most important work for cello solo. Everybody knows them. Everybody plays them. Everybody has a very strong opinion about them. Recording them puts you on the line. Your recording shows, “This is who I am as a cellist. This is how smart… or not so smart… I am.” It’s a little bit like being naked. They are full of complex ideas. Bach tried to put three voices into one instrument. You have to think of how to bring out those voices. How to make them clear. How to make the music feel free, but also how to keep it structured. What’s fascinating about them is that everybody plays them differently and they can be musically convincing within different interpretations. (Read more.)