For the Dicterow Family, the Harmonious Tie That Binds Is a Violin String

Under the circumstances, it wasn’t surprising that Adam Dicterow’s patience was running a bit thin.

After all, when you are less than a year old and have just flown from New York to Los Angeles on someone’s knee--and your hotel room is filled with enough aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents to resemble an audience at the Hollywood Bowl--anyone would have a hard time keeping a stiff upper lip.

Luckily, though, Adam’s father had the insight to pull out a priceless Stradivarius violin. As the first notes of “All around the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel” began, the child’s face brightened instantly. By the time his father’s hand lifted the bow from the strings and played “ Pluck! Goes the weasel,” Adam had broken into a grin.

His affinity for music isn’t hard to understand.

The player of the childish melody was New York Philharmonic concertmaster Glenn Dicterow, in town for the Malibu Strawberry Creek Festival, at which he will perform on Thursday and Saturday. Adam’s grandfather, Harold Dicterow, is a Woodland Hills violinist who has played with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the last 43 years. His uncle, and Glenn’s older brother, is Maurice Dicterow, a Sherman Oaks physician who moonlights as a violinist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and doubles as the orchestra’s doctor when it goes on tour.

Holding her son in her arms, Adam’s mother, New York violist Karen Dicterow, jerked her head toward Harold. “There’s nothing he’d love more than for Adam to become a violinist too,” she said, as Harold nodded in agreement while gazing at his grandson. “We’ll just have to see, though,” she added. “We don’t want to push him into anything.”

The irony of the statement wasn’t lost on Harold, who concedes that, while he might encourage Adam later on, it never would have occurred to him to push his own two sons into playing the violin. To the contrary, he said, the last thing he ever wanted was for Glenn and Maurice to follow in his musical footsteps.

“I didn’t want them to end up in the unemployment line,” Harold explained matter-of-factly. “Forty years ago, things were a lot different than they are now. Symphonies had such short seasons that, even if you were talented, it was hard to make a living. I wanted them to have a better life than that.”

Such practical considerations, however, were lost on Glenn and Maurice, who begged their father to allow them to play. And once they got their hands on the instruments, neither child apparently ever intended to let go.

By the time Glenn was 9 and Maurice was 12, the two brothers were so accomplished that they were asked to perform J.S. Bach’s Double Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. From his seat of principal second violin with the orchestra, Harold looked on. His expression, his wife recalled later, indicated that he had had a change of heart.

“He was just so proud then,” said Harold’s Russian-born wife, Irina Dicterow, an accomplished pianist who frequently accompanied her sons when they were younger. “You could just see it on his face.”

In the following years, Maurice’s interests began to include medicine, and his pursuit of music became less single-minded. Glenn, however, practiced every day “as if it were necessary for his existence,” his mother said. By age 15, he had performed Brahms’ Violin Concerto with the San Francisco Symphony and the Seattle Symphony. At 18, he made his debut with the New York Philharmonic under the famed conductor, Andre Kostelanetz.

“He wrote me a letter,” Irina said of Kostelanetz, “and said that miracles only happen a few times in a generation. He said, ‘Glenn is one of the miracles of this generation.’ ”

In 1980, after winning a bronze medal at the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition and serving as concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic until 1979, Glenn was named concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic--a job that many artists would be content to devote themselves to full time. Glenn, however, saw the position as a jumping-off point, of sorts.

In addition to his orchestral commitments, he has what he calls a “highly unusual” contract that allows him to perform 10 to 12 solo concerts with other orchestras throughout the year. He also has recorded several compact discs, is on the teaching staff of the Juilliard and Manhattan schools of music, is a member of the Lyric Piano Quartet (which may perform in Los Angeles next year) and gives master classes whenever he attends summer festivals, such as the Malibu Strawberry Creek festival next week.

Even non-concert-goers might have heard him as the violin soloist in the film scores of “Altered States” and “The Turning Point.”

Despite his numerous obligations and interests in other areas--plus glowing reviews whenever he gives solo performances--orchestral playing isn’t something he wants to give up. “I do want to perform elsewhere, but I don’t like being in hotels where you don’t know where you are waking up,” Glenn said, in response to what he says is a frequently asked question about why he doesn’t pursue a full-time solo career.

“I like the stability of the job, plus the freedom. I don’t want to be one of those solo artists who never sees his family.”

In addition to his son, Adam, Glenn also has three daughters from a previous marriage.

Family ties, it appears, are strong among all of the Dicterows. And from outward signs, the tie that binds them is most likely a violin string. Today, when Maurice, Glenn and their children are reunited in Harold and Irina’s Woodland Hills living room, it’s not uncommon to have an impromptu duet, trio or quartet.

Often, Irina said, Glenn and Harold will discuss the best bowing for a particular piece, with each one deferring to the other.

“The last few times Harold and Glenn have played together, Glenn asked him if he thought the bowing was good, and then Harold asked him what he thought too,” she said. “They are on par with each other, exchanging ideas. It is so sweet to watch.”

But, Irina said, while music playing at the Dicterow household may be for sheer pleasure, it also can be a serious business.

A few months ago, the last time that Glenn was home for a visit, Irina recalled getting called away from her rosebushes to come inside to play with Harold, Glenn and Maurice. The piano music was difficult, she said, and she was concentrating fully on keeping count. Someone, however, was marching to a different drummer.

The music stopped and accusing eyes turned to Irina.

“They screamed at me because they said I didn’t count one bar. But I said no, I had been counting religiously,” she said, suddenly letting out a long sigh, as if this were something she had long ago resigned herself to. “Then they said I had to get another piano.”

But in the Santa Monica hotel room, that momentary lapse into familial “dischord” was long forgotten. Glenn, Maurice, Irina and Harold all watched as baby Adam’s jet lag was soothed by the rich tone of his father’s violin playing.

Even when Adam’s tiny fingers grabbed the end of his bow, Glenn did not seem to mind.

After all, Glenn must have reasoned, he’d been there once himself.

Glenn Dicterow will perform Kodaly’s Duo for Violin and Cello at 8 p.m. Thursday, and Concerto in C for violin and cello by Brahms at 8 p.m. Saturday, at the Strawberry Creek Festival, at Pepperdine University’s Smothers Theatre, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu. For tickets, $20 apiece, call (213) 456-4522. Information: (213) 939-7139.