David Kim has a lot on his mind these days, what with being concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, heading up the popular Kingston Chamber Music Festival at URI, and having to dust off the great Beethoven Violin Concerto for a weekend of performances with the Rhode Island Philharmonic.
But that's nothing compared with having to rush back to Philadelphia after his last performance for the C-section birth of his second daughter. The procedure is scheduled for Monday morning -- unless nature rushes the whole event.
In that case, Beethoven comes first, said Kim from his home in Bryn Mawr, about a half-hour outside the Philadelphia.
One reason is that the Philharmonic is offering him a rare three-performance gig. Tonight at 6:30, Kim will play the Beethoven as part of the Philharmonic's new Rush Hour series. He returns to Veterans Auditorium Saturday for an encore presentation on a subscription program, then travels with the orchestra to URI for the final rendition of the concerto at the Fine Arts Center on Sunday afternoon.
The Kingston performance should draw a big crowd, seeing that Kim is something of a cultural fixture in that part of the state. For 14 seasons, he has run a summer chamber series on the campus, and returned to the area in off-season to perform in South Country schools.
Lately, he's been too busy to visit with students and has had to send surrogates. His job as concertmaster -- lead violinist -- in Philadelphia leaves little time for those kinds of activities.
"It's the most exciting thing I've ever been involved with," said Kim of his job, "but it's also the most intense and pressured."
Kim said it's not just heading up the string section of one of the world's great ensembles that takes its toll, but the many public appearances he's called upon to make, plus duties like meeting with sponsors after concerts and during intermission.
"I welcome it," said Kim, "but I must say it's tiring."
Julliard at 8
Kim, 38, was something of a wunderkind growing up in South Carolina and Pennsylvania. Public television included him in a documentary about prodigies, along with Itzhak Perlman. At the age of 8 Kim began flying to New York to take weekend lessons at Juilliard.
Over the course of his career, which included a sixth place in the 1988 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Kim has tackled killer concertos like the Brahms and Tchaikovsky perhaps 30 times each. About six years ago, he played the Sibelius here with the Philharmonic -- no insignificant ditty.
But he has shied away from the Beethoven, which is one of those special pieces musicians tend to hold in reverence. Of all Beethoven's concertos, it seems to stand alone in its majestic aloofness, its serenity and un-Beethoven-like lack of struggle.
Kim didn't even pick up the concerto until about 10 years ago. This weekend will probably be his fourth encounter with the score. After some experimenting with tempos and the like, Kim says he hopes he has found the right balance.
Last fall he played the piece at the University of South Carolina, and woke up to read a review calling the performance perhaps the slowest on record.
Kim does not disagree. "I might have been a little gun-shy, I don't know. I just got slower and slower."
Tempest in a tempo
Beethoven, of course, is notorious for composing music that does not lie well on the instruments for which it is written. The violin concerto is no exception.
"Technically," said Kim, "it's so creepy-crawly. There are millions of little notes squished together that are hard to play in tune if you go too fast.
"But if you're too slow, it doesn't hold together structurally. Then there's the bassoon solos in the slow movement. You don't want those guys turning purple from running out of breath."
Kim is also looking forward to playing with an improved Philharmonic and working with conductor Larry Rachleff, whom he has not met but has heard good things about. Two of his colleagues at the Philadelphia Orchestra -- principal violist Roberto Diaz and bassist Harold Hall Robinson have soloed with Rachleff and the Philharmonic in recent seasons.
"This is a huge date for me," Kim said of the weekend in Providence. "I'm very excited about it."
David Kim joins the Rhode Island Philharmonic tonight at 6:30 for the orchestra's third Rush Hour program. That's at Veterans Memorial Auditorium and tickets are $24 for adults, $12 for students and seniors.
He returns to Vets Auditorium Saturday night at 8 for a full-length program featuring music by Hindemith and William Balcom. Tickets are $25, $40 and $48, with discounts. Call 831-3123 for both concerts.
Sunday's concert at URI takes place at 3 p.m. in the Fine Arts complex. Call 874-2431.
Tickets are $15, or $5 for students with ID. Call 874-2431.
Kim will also be giving a free master
class tomorrow afternoon at 4 at Rhode Island College's Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts. Call 831-3123.
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