All Focus articles – Page 18
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FocusRay Chen: 'Failure was so much more meaningful towards my overall development'
In this extract from a candid and wide-ranging interview, the violinist remembers leaving his home town of Brisbane, Australia, at the age of 16 to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia – and immediately feeling out of his depth
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BlogsThomas Bowes: a Bach Pilgrimage
On Tuesday 1 May I will set out again on a Bach Pilgrimage, taking round the solo violin music of J.S. Bach to communities up and down the country. My odyssey this year is a little more modest than the marathon of 2013 when I covered some four thousand miles ...
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FocusBuilding bridges: a photo essay
Have you ever wondered who makes the world’s stringed instrument bridges, and how? In this gallery, we follow the process from tree trunk to blank bridge
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FocusSentimental work: Lynn Harrell on Bloch's Schelomo
For the US cellist, the singing qualities and narrative drive of Bloch’s Schelomo bring evocative memories and spiritual uplift. From the January 2017 issue
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Premium ❘ FocusDid the Cremonese have access to wood with unique special qualities?
Were the old Cremonese luthiers really using better woods than those available to other makers in Europe? In this article from 2013, Terry Borman and Berend Stoel presented a study of density that suggested otherwise
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FocusFrom the archive: a 1709 violin by Carlo Tononi
In the January 2009 issue, Simon Morris took a closer look at a violin from Tononi’s Bologna period, before the death of his father Giovanni
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NewsChloe Chua and Christian Li share Menuhin Competition 2018 Junior Division first prize
This year’s Junior Final, featuring violinists aged between 10 and 13, took place in Victoria Hall, Geneva
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FocusThe Strad Quiz: Gut, mutes and tunings
Ten tough questions on bowed string instruments, their makers, players and music
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FocusSentimental work: David Geringas on Bach's Cello Suite no.1
In this article from 2016, the Lithuanian cellist reflects on how Bach’s Cello Suite no.1 has influenced some of the key moments of his life
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FocusAsk the Experts: how effective are instrument case humidity gauges?
Four violin makers respond to a New Zealand musician’s query regarding the effectiveness (or otherwise) of humidity gauges built into instrument cases
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FocusFrom the archive: a c.1845 violin by Pressenda
Recent research shows that Giovanni Francesco Pressenda worked as a farmer before turning his hand to instrument making. In this article from the April 2005 issue, Alberto Giordano examines a late c.1845 violin
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FocusThe Strad Quiz: test your knowledge of all things strings
This week our questions take in The Carnival of the Animals, horse hair, a couple of very famous violins and more
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FocusSession report: Gabriel Schwabe on recording the Schumann Cello Concerto
Until recently, Schumann’s works failed to connect with German cellist Gabriel Schwabe. But the opportunity to record them opened up a whole avenue of possibilities
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FocusWhy is the thickness of the front and back of Stradivari's instruments so unpredictable?
Although there is no record of how the Cremonese makers finished their instruments, Dirk Jacob Hamoen argues that the final scraping was done after they had been strung up and played in the white
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FocusFrom the archive: kitchen stove-top experiments in Cremonese varnish
In the April 1938 issue, a hapless amateur maker relates his unfortunate experiences while attempting to find the ‘secret’ of Stradivari
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BlogsLife on the front desk: the BBC National Orchestra of Wales' concertmaster
On the day of the BBCNOW’s 90th anniversary, Lesley Hatfield offers some thoughts on leading and life in the orchestra
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FocusChristian Tetzlaff on the personal resonances of Beethoven's seventh violin sonata
For the German violinist, op.30 no.2 evokes a cascade of memories as disparate as freshly baked cookies, Wild West writer Karl May, and a sense of security
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FocusDid Beethoven write idiomatically for the string quartet?
The Casals Quartet has embarked on a large-scale Beethoven cycle, both in the studio and on tour to celebrate its 20th anniversary. The players speak to Richard Wigmore about the demands of the repertoire, which in so many ways was ahead of its time
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FocusWin the Casals Quartet’s first Beethoven album
©Josep Molina The Casals Quartet will release the complete Beethoven string quartets on three albums for Harmonia Mundi in June 2018, spring 2019, and 2020. The first album, ‘Inventions’, features Quartets nos.1, 3, 4, 7, 12 and 16, and op.14 no.1. ‘The works are absolutely idiomatic,’ says ...
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FocusFrom the archive: a 1759 viola by Antonio Bagatella
In this article from the February 2015 issue of The Strad, Jens Stenz takes a close look at a short but broad 18th-century viola made in Padua
