All Premium ❘ Feature articles – Page 4
-
Premium ❘ FeatureFrom the Archive: January 1900
An unsolved mystery from 1869: T.L. Phipson relates how a c.1709 Stradivari violin vanished without trace – and as far as we know, remains missing to this day
-
Premium ❘ Feature
Expanding the limits
Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili has recently taken on new challenges, among them artistic directorship of the Audi Summer Concerts festival and performing on the soundtrack to The White Crow . But, she tells Toby Deller , she finds equal joy in creating wonderful interpretations from long-term partnerships
-
Premium ❘ Feature
Seeing red
Madder root has been used since ancient times to provide a deep red pigment – but the process of making it remains mysterious. For the past three years Hugh Withycombe and Guy Harrison have tested different methods to get the recipe just right – and can now reveal their findings ...
-
Premium ❘ Feature
Growing pains
Violinist and Ohio State University professor of music education Bob Gillespie has taught countless teenage string players. Here he explores adolescent character traits, and shares with teachers his valuable guide to dealing with adolescent moods and logic
-
Premium ❘ Feature
On the borders of greatness
Giuseppe Sgarbi’s instruments have a unique vibrancy and individuality, while still respecting the traditional Cremonese forms. Lorenzo Frignani examines his career, as well as that of his son Antonio, to suggest why his work deserves more recognition than it has in the past
-
Premium ❘ Feature
The Score: Friend or Foe?
The multiple editions of a piece can confuse a musician. Should we always work from an urtext edition in an attempt to access the composer’s most authentic voice? Or can edited versions with interpretative markings be helpful? Cellist Pedro de Alcantara guides us through this minefield
-
Premium ❘ Feature
Itzhak Perlman: If you teach others, somehow you teach yourself
He is the reigning king of the violin, whose contribution to his art has been recognised by US presidents and British royalty. Now entering his eighth decade, what can there possibly be left for Itzhak Perlman to learn? Plenty, he tells Charlotte Smith
-
Premium ❘ Feature
Invitation to the Dance: Bach’s Cello Suites
A knowledge of French Baroque dance can open up new ways of approaching and performing Bach’s Cello Suites, argues cellist Ulrich Heinen. In this practical guide, he highlights the many steps and gestures evoked in the works.
-
Premium ❘ Feature
Masterclass - Bach Cello Suite no.5, Prélude, by Jean-Guihen Queyras
Practical tips to help you master the challenges of this most fundamental of repertoire
-
Premium ❘ Feature
From the Archive: December 1909
The pseudonymous ‘L.H.W.’ gives his thoughts on teaching, in an article he might himself call ‘profuse and extravagant in expression’
-
Premium ❘ Feature
Technique: Teaching rhythm and bowing to beginners
How to inspire very young musicians to learn new cello playing skills
-
Premium ❘ Feature
Leila Josefowicz on Berg Violin Concerto Second Movement - part 1
ln the first of two articles, Leila Josefowicz explores ideas of feverishness, hallucination, death and resurrection in the second movement of a great 20th-century concerto
-
Premium ❘ Feature
Making Matters: a phoenix from the ashes
Luthier Shlomo Moyal explains how he restored a 1685 viola da gamba that had been almost destroyed, in a project that took a whole year of patient reconstruction
-
-
Premium ❘ Feature
Trade Secrets: Flattening planes
A sadly necessary task for all luthiers, which should have been taken care of by the manufacturer in the first place
-
Premium ❘ Feature
In focus: an 1819 violin by David Stirrat
David Rattray examines an instrument by the Edinburgh maker
-
Premium ❘ Feature
Lights, Camera, Action
As the founder of Music in Vision, Kathleen Ross has built a business from supplying professional musicians for on-camera roles. Introducing instrumentalists to the world of film and TV can be challenging, but, she writes, ensuring that musicians in background parts are convincingly portrayed is well worth the effort
-
Premium ❘ Feature
How to play with a flexible bowing arm by cellist Gary Hoffman
The American musician explains how he developed a supple and varied bow arm motion, guided by his ear and musical instinct
-
Premium ❘ Feature
A Massive Achievement
Made in 1677, the ‘Romanov’ Nicolò Amati viola is one of the maker’s late masterpieces. Alberto Giordano and Rudolf Hopfner investigate its turbulent history and examine how it fits into the Amati family’s oeuvre
-
Premium ❘ Feature
A Treasury of Sound
The Royal Danish Orchestra has been adding to its collection of fine stringed instruments for centuries – but there is revolution as well as evolution behind its distinctive string sound, which is unmistakable whatever the repertoire and whoever the conductor, finds Andrew Mellor
