Playing – Page 22
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Premium ❘ FeatureWorking with Conductors: Natural Balance
When playing a concerto, the string soloist is rarely fully in charge – and working with opinionated conductors means that sometimes disagreements will occur. Charlotte Gardner speaks to three top performers and a conductor to find out how to strike the right balance
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Premium ❘ FeatureTetzlaff Quartet: The Real Beethoven
The members of the Tetzlaff Quartet, who recently released their first Beethoven disc, talk to Tom Stewart about what’s really behind the composer’s late quartets, about why they’ve taken a quarter of a century to record any Beethoven – and the challenge of keeping up appearances
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Premium ❘ Feature130th Anniversary: Taking Stock
As The Strad celebrates its 130th anniversary this month, stringed instrument expert Philip Kass looks at the future of the industry, while music journalist Charlotte Gardner examines what might be on the cards for players
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Premium ❘ FeatureCareer in Bloom: Tabea Zimmermann
For Tabea Zimmermann, 2020 represents a new flowering in her musical life. Amanda Holloway speaks to the German violist about directing her final Beethoven-Woche, her new recording projects, expanding the viola repertoire and imparting her wisdom to the next generation
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Premium ❘ FeatureMusic Therapy: A Different Way to Help
Music therapy can be a fulfilling profession for any musician looking to make a significant impact in the community. Violinist and music therapist Joy Gravestock outlines the routes to this rewarding career and describes a typical day in the field
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Premium ❘ FeatureFrom the Archive: May 1890
In the early days of The Strad, many of the stories were taken from other publications. The very first issue brought readers these two gems from the Daily Telegraph and The American Musician
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Premium ❘ FeatureMasterclass: Liisa Randalu on Smetana’s Quartet no.1, ‘From My Life’
Violist Liisa Randalu of the Schumann Quartet gives her perspective on the first movement of the Czech composer’s passionate and dramatic semi-autobiographical work
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Premium ❘ FocusFree in Spirit
January 2018 marked the 70th birthday of cellist Mischa Maisky, who celebrated by whizzing round the world in solo and chamber performances with his Maisky Trio, featuring daughter Lily and son Sascha.Peter Quantrill caught up with him in London, Istanbul and Verbier
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Premium ❘ FocusPlaying with the Straight and Narrow
Vilde Frang has made a name for herself with her playfully ethereal musical style and unconventional approach to programming. Charlotte Gardnertalks to the Norwegian violinist about her latest recording and her unusual route to success
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Premium ❘ FocusMusical Emissaries
The Shanghai Quartet celebrates its 35th anniversary during the 2018–19 season by performing eight complete Beethoven cycles around the world. The players speak to Charlotte Smithabout forming at a time when Western chamber music was barely understood in their native China, and about promoting the art form to Chinese audiences ...
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Premium ❘ FeatureFrom the Archive: April 1920
Towry Piper (1859–1925) recalls some of the more unusual habits of violinists, observed during his many years of writing for The Strad
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Premium ❘ FeatureMasterclass: Augustin Hadelich on Beethoven’s Violin Concerto first movement - part 2
The German–American violinist considers ensemble, character and line in the first movement of this great Classical work, in the second of two articles
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Premium ❘ FocusWhere there’s a will there’s a way
During two months in Uganda, Pauline Harding learns about the indigenous one-stringed endingidi, and discovers how difficult it can be to learn an instrument in a country whose education system lends little support for arts training
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Premium ❘ FeatureAnne-Sophie Mutter: The Big Picture
For Anne-Sophie Mutter, Beethoven’s 250th anniversary is the perfect time for a season of concerts dedicated to his works. The project follows her recent recording collaboration with film composer John Williams – yet as different as the two ventures sound, there is far more that unites than divides them, as ...
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![Fiona Bonds - Associate Principal Viola [378]](https://dnan0fzjxntrj.cloudfront.net/Pictures/100x67/2/5/3/17253_fionabondsassociateprincipalviola378_263221.jpg)
Premium ❘ FeatureAcademy of St Martin in the Fields at 60: One Big Family
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields celebrates its 60th anniversary this season with a 60-CD box set of its celebrated recordings, and tours to Europe and the US. Toby Deller speaks to some of the orchestra’s long-standing string players about working together democratically and the artistic transition from ...
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Premium ❘ FeatureSession Report: A Voyage of Discovery
French composer Benoît Menut’s new concept album of songs and chamber works takes its listeners on a single, continuous journey across the sea. He and cellist Patrick Langot speak to Tom Stewart about the project
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Premium ❘ FeatureFrom the Archive: March 1940
Paganini researcher S. L. Salzedo gives his effusive first impressions of the violinist’s birthplace Genoa, as well as his initial thoughts on seeing ‘Il Cannone’
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Premium ❘ FeatureMaking a Full Quartet of Instruments: Matches Made in Heaven?
It’s both a privilege and a challenge to build a quartet of instruments that are intended to be played together from the start. Peter Somerford speaks to players and makers to discover both the pitfalls and the opportunities
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Premium ❘ FeaturePablo Casals: Boundless Expression
The legacy of Pablo Casals is alive and well in the cello playing of today – and can be traced primarily to the methods of his colleague Diran Alexanian and favourite student Maurice Eisenberg. Oskar Falta explores the Catalonian cellist’s main vibrato theories, as communicated by his two important associates
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Premium ❘ FeatureSession Report: Freedom of Choice
For Jack Liebeck, recording the Brahms and Schoenberg violin concertos has felt like a homecoming – a chance to reflect on the life of his grandfather, and to appreciate the liberties we enjoy today, as he tells Harry White