All Focus articles – Page 64
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FocusTrade Secrets: Christian Bayon’s method for making a bass-bar
The French luthier shares his design for a new type of bass bar which is both a strong support and allows the top plate to vibrate more freely
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FocusTechnique: Developing a 'cello vocabulary' for more effective practice with Amit Peled
A system of emoticons and words you can use to help you remember important technical ideas, by Amit Peled, cello faculty at the Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University
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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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FocusVenezuelan violinist Rubén Rengel wins $50,000 Sphinx Competition
The Detroit-based competition, which includes senior and junior divisions, is open to Black and Latino US string players
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FocusFrom the archive: an 1823 violin by Nicolas Lupot
These photos and below text were featured in the January 1993 issue of The Strad, along with a biography of Lupot and his part in instigating a French school of violin making
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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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FocusCello journey: the best recordings of Ernest Bloch's Schelomo
Intended to be played as a seamless integrated whole, with an equality between the cellist and the orchestra, rather than as a concertante piece, Bloch’s Hebraic rhapsody Schelomo has been recorded by many cellists in numerous ways – and it seems that there is something special about almost all ...
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FocusAsk the Experts: buying a student's first full-size violin
What should parents think about when it comes to buying their child a full-sized instrument? As three seasoned tutors attest, there are many things to consider
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FocusFrom the archive: Gustav Rivinius on his 1712 Grancino cello
Published in the August 1992 issue of The Strad, this is an extract from an interview with Gustav Rivinius, who two years previously became the first and – to this day – only German to win the International Tchaikovsky Competition
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FocusFrom the archive: Kreisler’s pseudo-classics
In February 1935 Fritz Kreisler revealed that several of the pieces in his repertoire, formerly ascribed to such composers as Vivaldi and Tartini, were in fact written by him. The admission sent shockwaves throughout the music world – here M. Montagu-Nathan reacts in the March 1935 issue of The Strad
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FocusThe Arod Quartet on competition success and the pressures of life on the road
The young French players of the Arod Quartet have enjoyed rapid career success, helped in no small part by their mentor, former Ébène Quartet violist Mathieu Herzog. But being an effective 21st-century chamber musician is about much more than first-rate playing, as Charlotte Gardner discovers
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FocusFrom the archive: a 1792 viola by Venetian maker Anselmo Bellosio
In this extract from an article in the June 1992 issue of The Strad, John Dilworth takes a look at a small viola by the last of the great Venetian makers
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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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FocusRay Chen plays the Sarabande from Bach's Partita no.2 in D minor
‘I’ve always been inspired by Bach’s musical connection to the divine. One might not be religious or devout but one cannot deny the presence of a higher force within his music,’ writes Ray Chen in the description of his latest video, filmed on 12 January 2018
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FocusAnshel Brusilow, violinist and conductor, 1928-2018 – an interview
A brief but illustrious career as a concertmaster in the 1950s and 60s at the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy gave way to his true calling as a conductor and later educator. In this interview from 2012 he talks to Julian Haylock about ...
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FocusCT scanning for luthiers: an essential guide
Increasingly, researchers are using technical CT scanners to examine instruments for construction secrets to woodworm and previous repairs. Rudolf Hopfner presents a guide to the technology and the microscopic details it can reveal
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FocusIn the studio with the Signum Quartet – what is the recipe for a successful recording process?
As the Signum Quartet gears up for a focus on the quartets of Jörg Widmann at the first edition of the String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam, its first violinist Florian Donderer and violist Xandi van Dijk report back from their recent recording sessions featuring the contemporary composer’s work
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FocusYsaÿe’s Knokke: the Belgian coastal town honouring its famed violinist son
Edward Bhesania reports from a chamber music festival in the Belgian town of Knokke themed around its illustrious one-time resident, Eugène Ysaÿe
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FocusSession report: Sol Gabetta on 'Dolce Duello', her recording collaboration with Cecilia Bartoli
The Argentinian cellist recalls the genesis of her latest album, a partnership of equals with mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli – and how their disparate talents played off each other
