Cotik says: ’I recorded this album with a Baroque bow. I enjoy the expressive potential of the Baroque bow, the transparent textures, and the effortlessness with which it changes strings and direction. In this music, the Baroque bow also enhances the ability to differentiate subtle nuances at the beginning and end of each stroke and the numerous subsequent possibilities of connection between those notes. Furthermore, it allows for a lighter sound and quicker, more flowing tempi.
Read: Ask the Experts: purchasing the right Baroque bow
Read: The rhetorical nature of Baroque music: learning to speak with the bow
’I often chose fingerings in lower positions where the strings are longer/more resonant, keeping patterns in the sequences and differentiation in the “hidden” voices that happen simultaneously between the different strings. The consequent string changes can be done effortlessly with a baroque bow. ‘Going around the curves’ feels very natural.
’Even in independent parallel voices that have the same rhythm simultaneously, a differentiation in the sustained length or a variation in dynamic or articulation helps to bring out the distinct identity of the lines. I find the baroque bow particularly suited to bring out these details, feeling the string through the bow with the fingers and hand. Additionally, the baroque bow naturally helps bring out strong-weak metric units.
’Baroque paintings give a clue about the historical practice of holding the bow high up away from the frog. Yet rather than dogmatically doing so, I find it interesting to explore variations in sound and bow response by variating the bow hold.’
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