Submitted by Frank Dodge, Dec 13, 2006 01:49

Antoine Tamestit's playing may have been somewhat insipid, even a bit boring and even a bit mannered. It is however a shame that Mr. Kirshnit was unable to make his way to Zankel Hall just a few days earlier to hear Mr. Tamestit in an entirely different world. That world was the chamber performances on both the 3rd and 5th of November led by Dutch violinist Janine Jansen, one of Mr. Kirshnit's favorite, young up and coming violin masters. In the sextets by Schönberg and Schulhoff, Tamestit participated as partner with other "European" string players and also in Robert Helps's Nocturne for string quartet. In this setting Tamestit was brilliant, played with vibrato, looked well in his suit and matched his colleagues with warmth and beautiful viola playing. I feel that this recent review of his playing lacks the necessary basis for writing so unkindly about an obviously young and gifted artist. More attention could have been brought to his abilities. The absence of warmth and sense for beauty in Tamestit's playing are all matters that can be addressed constructively. Why undress and torture him? The answer to that question just may be every bit as unmusical as the playing may have been.

I am myself a cellist and founded and direct the series Spectrum Concerts Berlin in both Berlin and New York City. I can't stand a great deal of the music world we live in but criticizing it constructively is its and our only hope. Frank Dodge

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