All Featured Stories articles – Page 56
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Premium ❘ FocusSentimental Work: Kenneth Sillito
Performing Benjamin Britten’s 1931 String Quartet in D major for the composer was an eye-opening experience for the former leader of the Gabrieli Quartet
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Blogs‘I love that I’ve been able to explore my heritage in this way’: Cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson
The multi-faceted cellist and composer shares how her Jamaican heritage influenced her piece Island Suite, commissioned by the Solem Quartet
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Premium ❘ FeatureLost arts of string playing: Unlocking the secrets of the past
Did the great string players of old know something that we didn’t? Some of today’s virtuosos reveal to Charlotte Gardner the various technical and musical tools of the trade that are in danger of being lost in the current pursuit of perfection
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BlogsFive players, five insights on solo Bach
Our July 2021 issue features analysis of Bach’s solo violin sonatas - have a read of what these top five string players have to say about solo Bach
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Premium ❘ FeatureBach Second Cello Suite – Prelude: A small but crucial omission
The final five bars of the Prelude to Bach’s Second Cello Suite are often misinterpreted by performers, argues Mats Lidström, Leo Stern Professor of Cello at London’s Royal Academy of Music. Here he traces the source of the problem back to the ink- and paper-saving abbreviations of Baroque composers
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Premium ❘ FeatureBach Cello Suites: What do we really know about Bach’s Cello Suites?
Bach’s sublime Six Suites for solo cello are possibly the most frequently published works in western music history, yet their source editions are shrouded in mystery. Cellist and writer Jeffrey Solow puts forward an intriguing new theory as to their origins
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Premium ❘ FocusHsin-Yun Huang: Life Lessons
The Taiwanese violist on what she learnt from her early years, and her move to the UK’s Yehudi Menuhin School
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BlogsViolinist Christian Li: ‘I know there are exciting experiences ahead’
Emerging from one of the longest and most restrictive lockdowns in 2020, Melbourne-based violinist Christian Li illustrates his excitement to be travelling across the globe to take part in the Verbier Festival Academy
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Premium ❘ FeatureBrodsky Quartet at 50: Life is an adventure
The Brodsky Quartet is celebrating 50 years of pioneering music making that spans genres from Beethoven to Björk and beyond. Amanda Holloway catches up with the four musicians during their anniversary tour
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Premium ❘ FocusMusic by the sea: Postcard from Cornwall
The annual series of masterclasses held in the spectacular setting of Cornwall’s Prussia Cove celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Rita Fernandes explores its welcoming and nurturing atmosphere
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Premium ❘ FeatureSession Report: Second Viennese journey
Sara Wolstenholme and Christopher Murray, both of the Heath Quartet, talk to Toby Deller about their pre-pandemic recording of intense Second Viennese School quartets – music from another time and place, in more ways than one
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Blogs’Representing nature, a sense of place and identity’: Harriet Mackenzie on three new commissions
Violinist Harriet Mackenzie reflects on a busy summer of commissioned projects influenced by nature, special locations and personal collaborations
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FocusFrom the archive: Joseph Joachim, endurance violinist
In this extract from an article in the May 1894 issue of The Strad, our correspondent Robin H Legge does not try to hide his adulation for the most celebrated violinist of the time
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Premium ❘ FocusOpinion: Playing by numbers
In theory, it is possible for a student to gain their ABRSM Grade 8 having only learnt 24 pieces in their life. Davina Shum argues that such a quantified approach to learning is no way to become a rounded musician
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Premium ❘ Feature‘Dvorak was a brilliant specimen of a bad conductor’: From the archive: July 1932
The great cellist and pedagogue Carl Fuchs (1865–1951) recalls some of the great players and composers seen during his time in Manchester – including the original Brodsky Quartet
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Premium ❘ Article‘I recall lessons with teachers texting on the phone while I was playing’: Letters to the editor July 2022
A selection of letters The Strad receives each month from its readers around the world: July 2022 issue
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BlogsThe Danish Quartet: ’Our string quartet is the pot into which we can each pour our personal dreams and ideas’
Violist of the Danish Quartet Asbjørn Nørgaard shares the ensemble’s need to further explore string quartet repertoire through its Prism project
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Focus10 essential pieces for string orchestra
As Endellion Quartet violinist Andrew Watkinson prepares to lead the Guildhall String Ensemble, he tells us his favourite works for strings – and we put them in a convenient playlist. From 2019
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BlogsViolinist Fedor Rudin on performing and directing post-Classical concertos from the violin
How does one conduct violin concertos by Prokofiev, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Khachaturian - and play the solo part as well? French-Russian violinist Fedor Rudin shares his approach
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Blogs‘Full of golden sounds’: Andrew Bernardi’s top 5 string pieces from Sussex
The violinist and founder of the Bernardi Music Group shares his favourite pieces that have originated or taken inspiration from the English counties of Sussex


























