All Focus articles – Page 25
-
FocusOpinion: Dare to be different
When selecting repertoire for that crucial audition it’s an advantage to avoid predictable choices, writes Julian Lloyd Webber, who suggests alternatives for cellists
-
Focus‘The bride entered the room, her eyes flashing daggers at the groom’ - The Strad’s top wedding disaster stories
The Strad’s editorial staff and writers share their memorable stories of wedding gigs that didn’t quite go to plan
-
FocusThe Strad Podcast Episode #20: Steven Isserlis on consulting musical editions and manuscripts
The cellist speaks about consulting the various surviving manuscripts of the Bach Cello Suites, as well as making bowing and fingering suggestions for the Dvořák Cello Concerto
-
FocusSentimental Work: Jeffrey Solow
Brahms’s First Symphony was the piece that inspired the American cellist to dedicate his career to music, and prompts a reminiscence of his teacher Piatigorsky
-
FocusThe Strad Calendar 2022: Giuseppe Antonio Rocca violin 1844
The Rocca is clearly modelled after the most famous Stradivari violin, the ‘Messiah’
-
Focus‘The objective was Bach, not Biondi’
The Italian violinist explains why the focus in playing Bach’s Solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas should be shifted from adhering to rules of historically informed performance to exploring the composer’s language and taking risks
-
FocusPierre Aloysius Josephs: the first bow maker of the San Francisco Bay Area
In this extract from the November 2021 issue, Raphael Gold profiles the bow making work of Pierre Aloysius Josephs and his family
-
FocusPlaying along with Bach: composing descants for Bach’s cello preludes
Brian Forst writes about former White House violinist Peter Wilson’s journey to compose descant parts to Bach’s cello preludes - not only as a pandemic project, but as a gift for a special someone
-
FocusThe Strad Podcast Episode #19: Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason on sibling collaboration
The cello-piano sibling duo speak about working together ahead of their new album ‘Muse’, out on 5 November
-
FocusThe Strad Calendar 2022: Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi double bass c.1770
Landolfi’s choice of wood ranges from plain maple scrolls to highly flamed backs
-
FocusDealing with Dystonia
Violinist Bernard Zinck shares his experiences of his devastating diagnosis of focal dystonia in his forties and his rehabilitation process to resume playing
-
Focus‘There’s nothing like a good bass-line!’- the role of a continuo player in Baroque music
Cellist of the CBSO Baroque Ensemble Jackie Tyler MBE shares her insights on the role of a continuo player, as well as how working with wind players and her Baroque cello set-up inform her playing
-
FocusBow holds of the great violinists
How does the positioning of fingers on the bow affect sound and flexibility? Rok Klopčič examines the bow holds of leading violinists and pedagogues in this extract from October 2007
-
FocusHow to improve your sound by practising on open strings
Cello professor at the Geneva–Neuchâtel University of Music, Bern University of the Arts, and Zakhar Bron School of Music in Zurich, Denis Severin shares exercises on open strings to enhance tone and fluidity of sound
-
Focus‘A moment of audience feedback I’ll treasure forever’ - recalling musical memories with dementia
London Sinfonietta cellist Adrian Bradbury writes about the joy of witnessing a dementia patient recall melodies from her past while working on a new chamber opera ’Tomorrow’s Wonder… A Window into Our Lives’
-
FocusFrom Tulips to Sneez-wort: the works of James Oswald
The Baroque-era composer created many melodies infused with the Scottish folk characteristics of his upbringing
-
FocusThe Strad Podcast Episode #18: Rakhi Singh on creativity
’Putting myself in a space where I had no expectations of myself… it was liberating, it freed me up to use my ears and my heart more’
-
FocusThe Strad Calendar 2022: Pietro Guarneri of Venice violin 1725
Known as the ‘Reine Elisabeth’, this is the most expensive instrument bought by the Dutch Musical Instruments Foundation
-
FocusHappy Birthday to Niccolò Paganini!
The great violinist was born on this day in 1782. Happy 239th birthday!
-
FocusMemories of cellist John Gwilt
Students and colleagues of Gwilt share their memories of the celebrated cellist, who died last month aged 91, in this compilation from his wife Dawn