Joan and I have collaborated with many composers and commissioned numerous works during our forty-plus years of duo concertizing, but this level of collaboration with a composer was truly special, so special, in fact, that we have continued working together.

Musical partnerships are different from business partnerships and certainly different from marriages, although they certainly have elements of both. My own musical collaborations tend to be quite longlasting, and the one I’m going to share today has not only survived, but grown and prospered and is now in its 40th year.

Chamber music requires a player to make music according to a different set of priorities. It’s not just about practicing your part and playing it well.