By Annette Hinkle
There’s something about Sag Harbor that keeps Lutz Rath coming back. Rath, a cellist by training, is music director for the Washington Square Music Festival in Manhattan. He lives just across the river now, in Weehawken, New Jersey. But for a number of years, Rath called Sag Harbor home, and he comes back often — particularly to Bay Street Theatre where he offers musical programs that are beautiful, and in many cases, challenging as well.
“I love the theatre, I love the village,” says Rath. “It has quite an open minded audience, which I would like to groom a little. Since I’m always pushing the envelope, I’d like to keep doing that. It’s also my conviction that music and how it’s presented is important.”
This Saturday at Bay Street Theatre, Rath will present a program entitled “A Night With the Devil” featuring the music of Ludwig Van Beethoven, Johnny Reinhard, Peter Aldins and Igor Stravinsky, whose suite from L’Histoire du Soldat (“A Soldier’s Tale”) has inspired the title for the evening.
Stravinsky wrote the piece, explains Rath, in French as a ballet. For this performance, the devil in question, whose spoken (English) vocalizations pepper the piece, will be played by Rath himself. The story tells of a soldier who makes a devil’s bargain in the midst of war. Of course, like all such cautionary tales, it’s easy to imagine who comes out on the losing end of this deal.
“The version I’m doing is much shorter than the original and rarely done in the trio version — piano, violin and clarinet,” says Rath. “And I have never seen it anywhere with text. In this case I have to interrupt the music with it. We’re staying away from putting text over music.”
“The music is phenomenal,” adds Rath who offered a performance of the full instrumental version of the piece last summer in Manhattan. “I always like a combination of speaking and music. That’s one of my specialties. I do voice overs for films and it is part of my signature.”
Though chamber music is Rath’s passion, his shows are hardly the predictable stuffy variety that many people expect from the genre.
And that’s the way he likes it.
“Most of my programs have an edge,” he says. “I like to mix classical music with avant garde. I’m also someone who promotes improvisational elements on the stage. It’s unusual in classical context.”
Much of his ability to pull it off can be attributed to the talents of the players he assembles for his concert, including bass trombone player David Taylor, who travels the world as a sought after musician. Another world-renowned musician joining the line up this Saturday will be clarinetist Stanley Drucker who retired in 2009 after an astounding 60 year career with the New York Philharmonic (he holds the Guinness World Record for “Longest Career as a Clarinetist”). With retirement, Rath thought Drucker would be more available for concerts, but he was wrong. Even at the age of 81, Drucker continues to be in demand around the world.
“I was lucky to get Stanley Drucker,” says Rath. “We toured together four summers in a row in the Greek islands. It was my string quartet, and Stanley and his wife. We recorded together, and of all the recordings he’s done, he said it’s his favorite.”
In addition to Drucker, Taylor and Rath, also appearing in “A Night With the Devil” will be violinist Eriko Sato, pianist David Oei and vocalist Laila Maria Salins. The concert begins at 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 17 at Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor. Tickets are $25 available in advance at Romany Kramoris Gallery, 41 Main Street. Sag Harbor. They will also be available at the Bay Street box office on the night of the performance.
Top: (L to R) - Lutz Rath, Erika Sato and David Oei
