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Re: Yona Ettlinger & Pergolesi Cto

Author: Paul Globus
Date: 2023-06-27 18:26

Indeed he was inspirational while also very down to earth. Good sense of humour too. He died at the peak of his powers.

I was reading a (funny) letter he had written to me (this was long before the days of email) when I got the news that he was gone. Talk about shock. To look at him, slim and trim and quite vigorous in his movements, you would never think there was anything wrong with him.

As it is with most players, Yona Ettlinger's recordings don't fully capture the essence of his playing. Those of us who were fortunate enough to hear him up close or on the concert can attest to the beauty of what he used to refer to as a "lifted sound," i.e. a sound with carrying power. This had nothing to do with volume but rather with purity and focus. Combined with his understanding of musical structure and phrasing (Yona also played the piano and studied composition in his youth in Paris with Nadia Boulanger), the effect was truly special.

Last month, Yona's great friend and colleague from the Israel Philharmonic, bassoonist Mordechai Rechtman, passed away; he was 97. Mordechai was another person of towering musical intellect who also happened to play an instrument (and far better than anyone else on the planet). Another irreplaceable loss.

Paul Globus

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