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Local Surgeon Writes of Strings
PRESS RELEASE, NOVEMBER 12, 2003
Chamber Music Corvallis, one of the Northwest’s leading sponsors of classical music concerts, has just published A Write of Strings, a fascinating series of articles on the composers of chamber music and their finest works. For the past three decades, Dr. Craig B. Leman, a Corvallis surgeon and pianist, has written the notes that the audience receives at each performance. He has now selected and edited his favorites into a volume that is offered to the public for purchase.
A Write of Strings has been praised by Oregon State musicians Angela Carlson (Senior Instructor) and Marlan Carlson (Chair of the Department of Music); by Robin McCabe (Professor and Director of the University of Washington School of Music); and by Melinda Bargreen (Music Critic of the Seattle Times), who calls the book “both charming and informative. . . . Dr. Leman’s deep love and appreciation of music shines through in everything he writes.”
The articles are short and cover virtually every important composer of chamber music. The book provides an added dimension for listeners, whether they have known these pieces all their lives or are coming to them for the first time. Indeed, readers of Dr. Leman’s program notes, including the performers themselves, have often found medical insights as well as musical ones.
Since the time of Franz Joseph Haydn, many composers have written their finest works for small instrumental combinations to be played in an intimate setting, i.e., a “chamber.” String quartets are the most basic unit (two violins, one viola, one cello), and these can combine with other strings, or with other instruments such as piano, flute or clarinet. The web site for Chamber Music Corvallis is appropriately named “www.violins.org,” as most of the performers through the years have been string players. The book’s title, A Write of Strings, alludes to Igor Stravinsky’s tradition-shattering 1913 ballet, “The Rite of Spring,” one of Leman’s favorite non-chamber works.
Since its humble beginnings in 1959, Chamber Music Corvallis has presented concerts by nationally recognized chamber music groups, including the Tokyo, Emerson, Guarneri and Juilliard Quartets. It now offers six quality concerts each year at LaSells Stewart Auditorium on the OSU campus. Admission to the concerts is by series subscription or by individual ticket. OSU students are admitted free, in recognition of the university’s contributions. Chamber Music Corvallis provides opportunities for young musicians to meet with world-class professionals in master classes, and it sponsors pre-concert lectures by OSU music faculty.
Dr. Leman wishes to acknowledge the many people who helped produce the book, among them Robin L. Jeffers (designer of the cover art), Chris Coffin (production design and editing), John Morris (electronic scanning of the old programs), Carol Mason (reformatting of the text), Carole Orloff (article selection), and Nancy Leman (editing).
How to order
A Write of Strings is available at Chamber Music Corvallis concerts for $15 (a less-than-cost price), and by mail for an additional $3 shipping cost if ordered directly from Dr. Leman. To order a copy, contact Nancy or Craig Leman at 541-753-5254, lemann@onid.orst.edu, or 2702 Garfield Ave. NW, Corvallis 97330.
PURCHASE ONLINE
Order your copy online today. The cost is only $19 ($15 plus $4 to cover fees and mailing costs). Click on the VISA/MC logo below, and on the page that appears type "Write of Strings" in the "Payment for" box. In the "Amount" box for US Dollars, type 19. That's all there is to it. If you do not have a free PayPal account, follow the simple steps indicated on the order page to sign up.
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Copyright ©2004 Chamber Music Corvallis. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part strictly prohibited.
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