Playing – Page 19
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Premium ❘ FeatureFrom the Archive: March 1941
After literary siblings Edith, Osbert, and Sacheverell Sitwell win £350 each in a libel case, The Strad muses on what the verdict might mean for arts critics in the future
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Premium ❘ FeatureMasterclass: Simon Standage on Bach’s Violin Sonata in E major part 2
British violinist Simon Standage looks at the Adagio ma non tanto and ‘firework’ finale, in the second of two articles exploring this 18th-century work for violin and harpsichord
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Premium ❘ FeatureOrchestral Tricks: in plain sight
Gerald Elias has spent many years as a professional orchestral violinist – in the Boston SO and Utah Symphony – and has been music director of Salt Lake City’s Vivaldi by Candlelight chamber orchestra since 2004. Here he explores some of the universal challenges faced by orchestral string players which ...
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Premium ❘ FeatureSession Report: in good time
The Engegård Quartet’s third album of Mozart string quartets was all about timing – from allowing enough space between learning and recording the works, to faithfully honouring the composer’s tempo markings – as Andrew Mellor discovers
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Premium ❘ FeatureFrancesca Dego: chance of a lifetime
For Italian violinist Francesca Dego, the opportunity to perform and record on Paganini’s ‘Il Cannone’ Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ of 1743 was a dream come true. She shares with Tom Stewart her experiences with the rarely accessed instrument – which came complete with security guards and its own dressing room
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Premium ❘ FeatureModigliani Quartet: the more the merrier
For the Modigliani Quartet, working with other artists has always been a priority – one that continues this year as the group turns its attention to Schubert. Charlotte Gardner speaks to the French foursome about their early development, working through Covid times and acting as artistic directors
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Premium ❘ FeatureNikolaj Szeps-Znaider: parallel careers
Autumn 2020 was scheduled to be a big one for violinist and conductor Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, with the start of his first music directorship in France and his conducting debut at the Royal Danish Opera. Did it go to plan? Very nearly, he tells Andrew Mellor
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Premium ❘ ArticleSoundpost: Letters to the Editor February 2021
A selection of letters The Strad receives each month from its readers around the world: February 2021 issue
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Premium ❘ FeatureSession Report: clowning around
For violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja a bout of tendonitis was the perfect opportunity to widen her musical perspective by taking on the title role in Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire, as she tells Toby Deller
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Premium ❘ FeatureChevalier de Saint-Georges: the remarkable revolutionary
Too long overlooked, the extraordinary life of 18th-century violinist and composer the Chevalier de Saint-Georges has once more been celebrated over the past 25 years. Yet his compositions remain unfairly neglected, writes Kevin MacDonald
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Premium ❘ FeatureFrom the Archive: February 1901
Queen Victoria’s demise on 22 January prompts a reflection on the number of female violinists in the era she presided over
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Premium ❘ FeatureJean Guihen-Queyras: A journey through time
Recording Beethoven’s ‘Triple’ Concerto last June allowed French cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras to step back into near normality, among colleagues and friends. He tells Pauline Harding about recording at a social distance, the importance of musical ‘family’, and why working with living composers has helped him to find contemporary relevance in ...
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Premium ❘ NewsAnalysis January 2021: Lost at sea?
More musicians than ever are speaking out about struggles with their mental health, but what support services are available in this time of crisis? By Peter Somerford
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Premium ❘ FeatureBasic Maintenance: Avoiding instrument carnage
Luthiers often see the same basic problems when repairing instruments – and most of them could be solved by some simple care and attention from the players themselves. Korinthia Klein presents a simple guide to violin maintenance, without encroaching on the experts’ territory
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Premium ❘ FeatureTwo-fingered Tchaikovsky: Beating the odds
Despite losing the function of the third and fourth fingers of his left hand through focal dystonia and a shoulder injury, violinist Clayton Haslop was determined to continue playing. Here he shares his story
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Premium ❘ FeatureSession Report: Right place, right time
For Renaud Capuçon, recording Elgar’s Violin Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra and Simon Rattle was a dream come true – and one that he couldn’t allow to be derailed by Covid-19’s lockdown restrictions, as he tells Charlotte Gardner
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Premium ❘ FeatureMasterclass: Alban Gerhardt on Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto no.1, part 2
Alban Gerhardt explains why it takes courage to fight tradition and forge your own interpretation – based not on what others play but on what the composer wrote – in the work’s third movement
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Premium ❘ FeatureVieuxtemps cadenzas: Following the clues
The recent discovery of another cadenza to the first movement of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, likely by Vieuxtemps, sheds an interesting light on the early performance history of the work, writes Martin Wulfhorst
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Premium ❘ FeatureSession Report: No holds barred
For Amandine Beyer and her Gli Incogniti period ensemble, the string symphonies of C.P.E. Bach represented an opportunity to record difficult but exhilarating repertoire. Charlotte Gardner recalls attending the 2019 sessions, as the album nears its release following Covid-19 delays
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Premium ❘ FeatureEvolving interpretations: The long and winding road
The development of the great violinists from fresh young artists to profound musical thinkers can be charted through their recorded interpretations. Nathaniel Vallois uses his time in lockdown to examine changes in the playing style of some of the best-known names