Stockton Symphony Association

Peter Takacs and Peter Jaffe team for Stockton symphony performance

Apr 15

Peter Takacs and Peter Jaffe are collaborating on a Concerto in Mutual Admiration.

The Stockton Symphony's performances of Robert Schumann's music should benefit resoundingly.

"He always was a kind of remarkable student," said Takacs, a young piano professor at Ohio's Oberlin College when Jaffe was studying violin there. "We've always been on the same musical wavelength. I'm really looking forward to working with Peter again."

So working together on Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor comes naturally. It's being performed tonight and Saturday at San Joaquin Delta College's Atherton Auditorium in the 200th anniversary year of the German composer's birth.

"We collaborated as colleagues, so it's made it pretty natural working together," said Takacs, 63, who gave what Jaffe called a "fabulous performance" of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in Stockton in October 2003. "I'm sort of an amateur conductor. I'm passionate about the interaction between the piano and strings.

"Actually, it's sort of tricky," he said of Schumann's concerto. "The last part is nonstop arpeggios. You have to pay attention or you'll end up in the wrong harmony."

That's rare for Takacs and Jaffe.

"It's kind of a wonderful feeling," said Jaffe, 53, in his 15th year as symphony conductor. "We have a lot of great musical history - a real sympatico level of comfort. That's why I really enjoy and love working with him. We're on the same musical wavelength, and he's really thought about what every single note in a piece of music means. He's a complete musician."

Jaffe and the symphony conclude their season's "classic" series with Camille Saint-Saëns' "Bacchanale From Samson et Dalila" and Ottorino Respighi's "Feste Romane (Roman Festivals)."

"The Schumann is really kind of an elegant piece, and then we finish with reckless abandon," Jaffe said of "Feste Romane," which requires "more than 80" musicians.

Born in Bucharest, Romania, during the communist era, Takacs began playing piano when he was not quite 4, copying what he heard his older sister (Veronica, now an artist and painter) practicing. His mother, a professional photographer, was his musical catalyst.

"She played by ear," said Takacs, whose dad was an office worker. "She was in Rome before the Second War and fell in love with opera."

Romania became isolated.

"I remember seeing a little black-and-white TV in 1958," he said. "Music was pretty much paramount. Everybody had a piano. I had a good ear and perfect pitch. I can't say I was the most assiduous practicer."

He retains fond memories.

"Our time was spent around the piano and conversation," said Takacs, who began his formal training at 6. "It was very inspiring. Very stimulating. We would go to concerts every Sunday at the Athenaeum. We'd get dressed in our best clothes and walk down the avenue to the concert. It was exciting and quite unbelievable."

With music "definitely the center of my life," he studied at George Ionescu Music High School until his family finally was able to emigrate to Paris when he was 14.

"It was extremely strict," he said of the Paris Conservatory. "I actually had to work a lot harder. It was a big sort of a shock and a good wake-up call."

In 1962, the Takacs family was granted residence in the U.S. and moved to Milwaukee.

"We worked hard and bought a house," he said. "It was the American dream."

Takacs, who grew up with Romanian, German and Hungarian being spoken at home, learned English fast: "In June, I went to high school. I won a prize in English class by December."

Such academic success propelled him to Northwestern University's college prep program in Evanston, Ill., and the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, where "I lucked out and studied with Leon Fleischer, one of the greatest teachers in the U.S.," Takacs said. "That ... made me want to be a professional. I was a little late, but late is better than never."

After spending time at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., he was offered a position at Oberlin. He's been there 32 years.

Takacs has spent 10 years recording all of Beethoven's piano sonatas. They're scheduled for release this year.

Talk about "sympatico," The Peters even have wives named Jane. The Jaffes met at Oberlin.

"Peter has studied conducting," Jaffe said. "He goes deep into the entire score and orchestration. I just treasure all the times I've worked together with him. They're all really special occasions to me."

Contact Tony Sauro at (209) 546-8267 or tsauro@recordnet.com.