PREVIEW
What: Gary Karr with the Civic Orchestra of Victoria
When: Saturday, 7 p.m.
Where: Oak Bay High School, Dave Dunnet Community Theatre
Tickets: $10, $18, $22 via civicorchestraofvictoria.org
The man Time magazine once dubbed “the world’s leading solo bassist” will retire from the concert stage this weekend.
And this time, Victoria’s Gary Karr said he means it.
On Saturday, joined by the Civic Orchestra of Victoria, Karr is slated to deliver his last formal concert in public. He will perform Kol Nidrei by Max Bruch and Paganini’s Moses-Fantasia. He’ll also tackle the world première of Intermezzi by Canadian composer Anne Lauber.
Lauber, who is a friend, has concocted a fiendishly tricky piece, he said. This week, Karr, a professed perfectionist, fretted over Intermezzi’s challenges. During his daily 60-to-90-minute practice sessions, he has focused on fast passages, gradually increasing his metronome speed to achieve the required tempo.
“She’s put some technical stuff in there. Honestly, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to meet all her demands. It’s really tough,” Karr said.
Now 75, with a thick thatch of white hair, the double-bassist first came to widespread public acclaim in 1962, when he made his television debut with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic. Los Angeles-born Karr was just 19, playing The Swan from Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals.
Karr was the first classical musician to forge a successful career as a solo double-bassist, guesting with orchestras all over the world. It’s a remarkable achievement. Previously, the double-bass was — at least in classical circles — relegated to a secondary role.
He has performed as a soloist on six continents. The BBC made two feature films about him. He’s the founder of the International Society of Bassists. In recognition of his ongoing efforts, the society presented Karr with a singular artwork — a real double-bass covered with mosaic tiles — which stands in his hallway.
Karr did publicly announce his retirement once before, in 2001. He explains he then retired only from touring — he continued to play locally and record. After Saturday’s concert, Karr will continue recording. And he’ll still play for friends, mostly recitals in the Cordova Bay home he shares with his music and life partner Harmon Lewis, a keyboardist.
So why step down from the stage? Karr said in part it’s because concerts require lots of preparation. And such performances are stressful. The entire day before any concert is subservient to the impending performance, right down to how much Karr eats and sleeps.
“When I wake up in the morning I’m nervous all day long,” he said. “I’m basically really shy. I’m shy by nature.”
Much of the stress is self-induced, Karr admits. He sets a high bar for himself. Indeed, despite a lifetime of accolades, he appears to be his harshest critic.
“There’s a bass player in my mind, on my shoulder, that’s so much better than I am, all the time. It’s very humbling,” Karr said.
“I don’t think I’ll ever achieve my goals. I’ll never be the great bass player I really want to be.”
Another reason for stepping away from concertizing: Karr wants to concentrate on bolstering his recorded legacy. With this in mind, he’s preparing Bach suites to be released on his own music label.
While there are numerous YouTube videos of him playing taken by others, Karr wants to record more of his own YouTube clips. For this, he has set up a camera at home (which already has a recording studio) and proper lighting.
Some musicians retire from the stage because, with age, their technical skills diminish. That’s not the case with Karr, who believes he’s still in top form. He credits his fitness partly to his daily exercise regime, which includes morning swims, situps and working out with weights.
Ironically, after he announced his first “retirement” in 2001, Karr found he started to play better. The stress of travelling the globe playing 100 concerts a year took a toll. When he stopped, the stress — and its physical side-effects — disappeared.
Karr believes these days he’s better able to find the poetry within the music.
“I think my approach to the message [within the music] and my approach to the instrument is deeper than it ever was,” he said.
His house is decorated with musical motifs ranging from bass-fiddle bottles and windows featuring images of the bass. However, music is not Karr’s entire life. He’s a member of several hobby clubs, including clock restorers and the Greater Vancouver Island Garden Railway Club (Karr has a model railway running through his astro-turfed backyard).
As for his swan-song Saturday night, he probably won’t make a big deal about it.
“I’ll probably say something. Tell a story,” he said.
Will he miss it?
“No,” Karr said. “Not really.”
