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Trade Secrets: Gluing the linings with counterforms and springs
An efficient method for a complex process, which allows freedom of movement
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Making Matters: A cautionary tale for our times
When a cello suffered a calamitous hand sanitiser accident, it looked irreparable at first sight. John Simmers explains how he restored it to the way it was pre-Covid
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Masterclass: Alisa Weilerstein on Chopin’s Cello Sonata in G minor op.65
The American cellist explores how to bring out all the romantic charm of the first movement using fingerings and bowings, without over-reliance on vibrato, rubato or a sticky, sickly sound
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Technique: Early music articulation for modern instrumentalists
How to use Baroque bow techniques to build variety, lightness and flow into every phrase
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From the Archive: May 1901
A reader takes issue with luthier and prolific contributor Arthur Broadley, and his views on the work of northern maker Walter H. Mayson which he made known in the previous edition
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Julian Lloyd Webber: A glittering career
In celebration of his 70th birthday last month, British cellist Julian Lloyd Webber shares with Julian Haylock memories of a long and fulfilling professional life – and also looks forward to returning to the stage as a conductor
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Azzo Rovescalli: The cream of Crema
The city of Crema has a unique violin making tradition, and Azzo Rovescalli was its most prominent maker in the 20th century – even though it never made him rich. Lorenzo Frignani and Vittorio Formaggia examine his life and work, along with the instruments of his sons
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Encores: Time to shine
Throughout much of the last century, technically showy encores by Paganini and Kreisler were standard fare for violinists, but in recent years players have moved away from the established virtuoso works to embrace everything from solo Bach to folk tunes and contemporary commissions. Charlotte Gardner talks to top players about ...
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Session Report: Playing the hero
Violinist Boris Begelman’s new recording represents a small fraction of the hundreds of violin concertos Vivaldi wrote during his lifetime – but people miss the point when they assume the composer’s prolific output equates to works of lesser quality, he tells Tom Stewart
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Ysaÿe: On the trail of a trio
The discovery of part of an autograph manuscript for Ysaÿe’s little-known Second String Trio op.34 hidden in a folder on his computer led violinist Nandor Szederkényi eventually to produce a performing edition. Here he shares details of the painstaking process
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Tracing the truth: Stradivari’s early cellos
What cello moulds were used in the Stradivari workshop? The question has long gone unanswered, despite the number of artefacts – and even intact moulds – that survive. Philip Ihle examines 17 of the cellos made before 1700 to find out how many moulds may have been used before the ...
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Song of the gut string makers
In 1877, Markneukirchen in Germany was at the heart of the world’s string making industry. The townsfolk were so proud, they even composed a drinking song all about it. Kai Köpp explains what the lyrics (translated into English for the first time) reveal about this convoluted process
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Masterclass: violist Emilie Hörnlund on Beethoven String Quartet op.59 no.1
Swedish violist Emilie Hörnlund, of the Chiaroscuro Quartet, discusses how to achieve optimal articulation, balance and flow in the first movement of the first ‘Rasumovsky’ Quartet
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From the Archive: April 1991
In 1989, the Soviet Union removed a cap on the number of people allowed to emigrate from its borders. With many musicians among them, hundreds of thousands headed for Israel, as writer Yossi Schiffmann reports
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Strings and Piano: a sound balance
Producing a nuanced, well-balanced and blended combination of piano and strings can be a difficult performance feat to achieve. Pauline Harding talks to chamber musicians, soloists and teachers to discover some of their secrets
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Technique: Cello warm-ups - the left-hand
Exercises and advice to help string players develop a left hand that is strong, balanced and agile
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April 2021: Welcome
The Strad’s editor Charlotte Smith introduces the April 2021 issue
