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Masterclass: Ray Chen on Mozart Violin Concerto no.3

2023-03-01T09:01:00

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Ray Chen gives bowings, fingerings and ideas for interpretation in the first movement of the popular G major Concerto K216

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Mozart wrote his violin concertos around 1775, when he was 19 years old. I think this is a good age to start learning them, because you are more likely to have a similar outlook on life at that point. As we grow more mature we think about things in a different, more complex way, and we can’t go back from that.

I learnt the G major Concerto for the Menuhin Competition in 2008, when I was 19. Musically it’s easier to understand than the others, so I think it’s the one that students should approach first even though, in the Suzuki books, the fourth and fifth concertos appear beforehand.

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