All Featured Stories articles – Page 132
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FocusTechnique: Minna Rose Chung on double stopping and Tartini tones
Using ‘difference tones’ to perfect your intonation when tackling double stopping passagework
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FocusTwo ♭ or not two ♭ – on the Adagio from Bach's Violin Sonata no.1
Excessive reverence for Bach’s manuscript is leading violinists to make a mistake early in the first sonata, writes Hagai Shaham
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DebateWith vibrato the question isn't just about more or less, but also about variety of sound
It is a wonderfully expressive tool when used sensitively, but soloists especially should take greater advantage of the various vibrato possibilities, writes violist Hartmut Rohde
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DebateIs playing the viola a different art from playing the violin?
Not so, according to Philip Dukes, who argues that the technical requirements of the instruments overlap considerably and players benefit from studying both
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BlogsIf you want the industry to change, you have to be willing to enact a change yourself
The violinist and co-founder of the Manchester Collective on her musical philosophy and forging new ground in an increasingly conservative music world
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Premium ❘ FeatureMasterclass: Julian Rachlin on Brahms’s Viola Sonata in F minor
The Lithuanian-born violinist and violist discusses technical preparation, character and colour in the first and second movements of op.120 no.1
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FocusLisa Batiashvili: My Most Memorable Musical Experience
The Georgian violinist recalls memories of a pop superstar and clicking with a superstar conductor and orchestra
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FocusYou can only diversify the audience by having a diverse group of people on stage
Half a century since the New York Phil hired its first black musician, the percentage of black and Latino players in US orchestras remains woefully low. But some organisations are taking action towards inclusivity
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Blogs9 ways for musicians to think like top athletes
Carole Talbot-Honeck earned her Masters degree from The University of Ottawa studying the psychological prerequisites for optimal musical performance. Here, she outlines a number of sporting attitudes, which are of equal value to musicians
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FocusTechnique: Two-octave scales and arpeggios
An essential way to improve tone and intonation by Michael Frischenschlager, professor emeritus of violin at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna
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FocusMasterclass: Christian Tetzlaff on Beethoven’s Violin Concerto – first movement
How to bring out the mystery and joy of one of classical music’s longest opening movements
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Blogs‘Just think of love’: Vadim Gluzman on Leonard Bernstein's Serenade after Plato's 'Symposium'
As the violinist heads to London to perform the work with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, he tells The Strad what is special about this violin concerto in all but name – and of his surprise that it is not programmed more often
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FocusBuilding a string sound from scratch at the Estonian Festival Orchestra
In the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Claudio Abbado established an ensemble with its own sound character in just a few years. How can an orchestra, and its signature string section, form a distinctive sound in such little time? Paavo Järvi’s orchestra project at the Pärnu Music Festival in Estonia offers some ...
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FocusMinimalism for strings: An overview with performance advice from the Kronos Quartet and others
Following the emergence of minimalist music in 1960s America, some of the style’s most enduring works have been written for strings, among them Steve Reich’s Different Trains. Pwyll ap Siôn finds out how performers overcome the technical and psychological challenges of playing this music
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BlogsLearning how to lose control is Paganini's gift to violin music
With his new album of music by and inspired by Paganini out today, Michael Barenboim writes that the great violinist’s legacy as a composer is the invention of a specific kind of headlong virtuosity
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FocusJan Vogler on performing Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations
For the German cellist, imagining how Tchaikovsky might have viewed the rococo period was key to reinterpreting his Rococo Variations
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FocusTechnique: Viola vibrato, and how flexible joints and a keen ear can enhance your expressive range
Roger Tapping, violist of the Juilliard Quartet, on the faculty of the Juilliard School, and formerly New England Conservatory, gives a lesson on improving vibrato, particularly for violists
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FocusKlezmer violin technique masterclass with Sophie Solomon
The violin is a vital ingredient of the klezmer sound. In this Masterclass from January 2007, Sophie Solomon, founding member of klezmer fusion band Oi Va Voi and artistic director of London’s Jewish Music Institute, explains that embodying a vocal quality in the instrument is the key to performing this ...
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FocusConquering performance nerves: starting well and keeping tempo on track
Brian Hodges answers student questions on coping with stage fright
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Premium ❘ FeatureMasterclass: Maxim Vengerov on the Caprice D’après L’étude En Forme De Valse
Being a good musician is like being a great cook, according to Maxim Vengerov. In this Masterclass first published in the November 2005 issue of The Strad, he gives his recipe for playing a fiendish Saint-Saëns waltz arrangement by Ysaÿe
