AUSTA Stringendo 46-2 October 24

Editor’s Notes

Susan Pierotti

Welcome to the first issue of Stringendo online! Ideas about broadening the reach of Stringendo, adapting to modern technology and making the magazine more attractive and accessible for readers and potential subscribers have been discussed between National Presidents and the National Editor for at least ten years.

The onset of Covid lockdowns meant that all of us learnt to improve (begin?) our online skills. We learnt how to get the information we wanted via the internet. After lockdowns, this seemed the ideal time to move Stringendo from expensive paper printing (which for at least 30 years has eaten up over half of AUSTA’s budget!) to free digital access.

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We now have the capacity to include weblinks in every article. Over the next year, we will be working to improve mobile phone readability. We are planning social media campaigns that will align with Stringendo advertisers and articles. And it will be now issued four (yes, four!) times a year. For those, like me, who love a glossy magazine to use as a show-off item on the music stand, there will still be a printed issue once a year.

Now, here’s the interactive part – we need your feedback! My wonderful Stringendo Board of Nicole Strohfeldt (President), Louise Booth (Graphic Designer) and Mina Grieve (Social Media Manager) have churned out ideas each month for over a year. However, a ‘good idea’ is only a good idea if it works for everyone. We need to know if you like it online, if you like the look of it, if it is easy to access, easy to read … All bright ideas will be considered!

Happy reading!

Theme and deadline

Next year AUSTA turns 50! We want to celebrate this achievement so the theme for the entire year, 2025, will be AUSTA.

If you have a great story about how AUSTA has transformed your teaching, playing, connecting etc. we want to hear about it. If you are turning 50 in the same year, we would like to interview you. If you have some fabulous reminiscences about AUSTA over the last 50 years, please share them with us.

The National Conference will also take place in 2025. Any articles about previous AUSTA conferences will be enthusiastically accepted. Deadline for the next issue is Friday 31 January 2025.

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National Music Camp: “everybody

should do it!”

Paige Gullifer

Adelaide at the beginning of January might draw the height of summer to mind, that muted time of year between New Year and the frantic beginning of the year anew. But while most of Australia’s orchestras are in their summer slumber, the members of the Australian Youth Orchestra are just getting started on what’s often quoted as the highlight of their musical year: National Music Camp

From across the nation, hundreds of Australia’s emerging musicians, artistic administrators, composers and writers will make their way to the University of Adelaide for two whirlwind weeks of all things music.

Now approaching its 77th year, National Music Camp, known affectionately as NMC, is a watershed of the Australian musical year. It’s been the foundation of friendships and even marriages and launched the careers of numerous aspiring musicians. Most importantly, it’s a place where passionate musicians, from all walks of life, come together to celebrate music. While alumni of the program occupy orchestras in Australia and across the world, for some, the program is a great way to

solidify their relationship with music as they move onto other fields.

AYO alumna and MSO violinist Monica Curro has been appointed Creative Director of NMC in 2025. Drawing on both her personal experience of NMC and her international network of artists and mentors, Monica has assembled a highly anticipated program.

“It’s an incredible experience,” Monica says, “You will step into an immersive world of orchestral and chamber music for two of the most intense and inspiring weeks you will ever have, guided by the best conductors and tutors from Australia and around the world. You will gather mentors, colleagues and friends you will have for the rest of your life. I met my best friend in the world at the National Music Camp in Adelaide in the ’80s.”

In 1948, two teachers, John Bishop and Ruth Alexander, held the very first NMC in Point Lonsdale, Victoria on an actual beach in actual tents. After that first camp, as they shook the sand out of their shoes, could they have anticipated that NMC would one day host “giants” of Australian music? From John Curro AM MBE, Richard Gill AO and Lindley Evans to James Judd (ex-chief NZSO), Umberto Clerici (Chief QSO), Ariel Zuckermann (Israeli Chamber Orchestra), Alex Briger (Chief AWO) …

NMC participants are assigned to one of two full symphony orchestras (the Bishop and Alexander orchestras named in honour of the founders) or a string orchestra, and everyone is involved in chamber music opportunities. Here they’ll prepare two full

NMC on stage 2024 (credit Claudio Raschella)

concerts’ worth of repertoire, often rehearsing from the early morning until late at night. This is no ordinary music camp – these are the cream of the crop of Australia’s young musicians, auditioned and handpicked. They are here to learn and grow, make mistakes and bounce back from them, but most of all, they act, rehearse and play as if in a professional ensemble. In between rehearsals, musicians eat together, relax together, embark on the traditional tutors versus students cricket match and take in everything Adelaide has to offer. The effects can be lifechanging, as Sophie Rowell, Artistic Director of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and director of the Brislan Chamber Orchestra at NMC in 2024 reflects.

“It was through AYO that I really found that I couldn’t live without being a violinist, without having music

in my life. [At NMC] I get so inspired being around not only the amazing young musicians, but also the energy of the young musicians and their inquisitive natures, their willingness to learn – you give them a challenge and the way that they’ve surmounting that challenge day by day by day.”

Of course, it’s not just a camp for performers. My first NMC was in 2020, and it was one of the very last large-scale musical programs I was involved in before the onset of the pandemic. I was part of the Words About Music program, which is now known as Media and Communication. For two weeks, I met and worked with world class music critics, presenters, orchestral librarians, radio hosts and of course, musicians. It was an eye-opening foray into a wider musical world, one I’d never encountered before, and the first time I’d had the opportunity to so overtly combine my two passions, music and writing. Although it was almost five years ago now, that camp is so firmly etched into my mind. While I honed my skills in presenting, writing program notes, interviewing musicians and composers, it was just as much about the friends I made.

I remember hearing the finale of Sibelius’ Second Symphony being whistled by audiences as they left. A fellow participant from another orchestra said, ‘Professionals have nothing on that kind of energy.’

Then in 2022, I had the opportunity to return to NMC again, this time in a performance capacity as the sole saxophone player. It’s not often I get the opportunity to perform with orchestra, and this audition opportunity was not one I could pass up. Following the pandemic’s restrictions, NMC temporarily migrated to Melbourne, and two weeks of music making became one. But the spirit and joy of NMC

Louise King and student (credit Claudio Raschella)

Having fun at NMC (credit Claudio Raschella)

certainly wasn’t affected; in fact, the joy of reuniting and the value of music making was only enhanced.

It was at this camp I played with a now AYO regular, violinist Hanuelle Lovell. It was her first of three NMCs, trumped by regulars with seven or more to their name. We performed Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances together, and she describes the significance of this moment.

“My first NMC was in 2022. I missed out on a lot before I finally got the opportunity to go – for various reasons – so when the opportunity finally aligned, it was really exciting. We’re playing Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances at Queensland Con this year and I’m unbelievably excited to play it because it was the first major work I ever did with AYO, at NMC. I just remember it being the most electrifying feeling ever walking off that stage after finishing it. It was just amazing. It’s just such a celebration and every time I get to the end of NMC, I’m like, ‘Oh no, I don’t want it to be over!’ because it feels like you pour, everyone pours so much of themselves into it. I think that’s why everyone gets the NMC blues afterwards because suddenly, where’s all this passionate energy going to go? And I do think people do try and take it back into their daily lives, which is really just a beautiful way to start the year.

“But there’s something special about those two weeks at the start of the year that sets everything off on the right foot. It’s absolutely amazing, honestly. It feels in some ways like school camp, where you go down in the morning and you have breakfast with everybody ... but I think the nice one of the nicest things on camp is just walking back from rehearsals at the end of the day with people in your orchestra and chatting about how the day’s gone, and I think that’s just a really nice atmosphere, and the best way to get to know people. Sometimes you just end up chatting to some random person you never chatted to before in the orchestra and then suddenly

you become friends with them because of this one conversation you had that one time after rehearsing. I think that’s the nice thing about NMC – it has so many little gems that you take away and you’ll remember for a long time.”

And to potential auditionees, Hanuelle offers this advice: “I think everybody should do it! I auditioned so many times before I actually got in, and when I finally did, I got to experience so many different programs and have so many valuable experiences. The audition process also really prepares you for anything, and the exposure to challenging music is really important. This year, I had my first professional audition and one of the excerpts that came up was one that was in my very first AYO audition. I couldn’t play it at all at the time, and so it was a gratifying feeling being able to go, ‘Oh! I can actually play this now!’

“You can imagine how much you change as a person across your time with AYO. They’re like a family, and they see you grow up and that’s so beautiful and really makes you not want to ever leave! I think AYO just feels like a safe space where you feel so cared for, and every person in the orchestra is always valued.”

Paige Gullifer is a saxophonist currently completing her Bachelor of Music (Honours) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She has performed with the Australian Youth Orchestra and participated in several programs in the United States. Paige is a regular program note and copy writer for the Adelaide and Queensland Symphony Orchestras, and has enjoyed writing for AYO, Ensemble Apex and New York Public Radio’s New Sounds.

Sophie Rowell and student (Credit Claudio Raschella)

Monica Curro

From The President

Nicole Strohfeldt AUSTA National President

Welcome to our first digital copy of Stringendo!

We are excited to bring you this new version of our journal and we hope that you will enjoy interacting with the online format. There are many advantages to the digital spread: namely, the ability to link you directly to websites, videos and other online spaces, as well as the obvious benefit that your Stringendo magazine is now available to you whenever you can spare a minute to scroll. We hope that you will enjoy this fresh, online edition of Stringendo, and that the integrated features will allow you to explore topics with ease. We welcome any feedback on our new format.

We will now be able to archive our Stringendo magazines on the AUSTA website, providing a rich source of information (and perhaps even a walk down memory lane) for our members.

At the time of writing, we have just farewelled our magnificent AUSTA Touring Artist for 2024, and AUSTA patron, Barry Green. In a mammoth tour spanning 27 days, he has spread his joy and love of music far and wide to AUSTA audiences. We are grateful for his wisdom, enthusiasm and willingness to try anything (including Bundaberg Rum), and from all accounts, we have left him with a heart full of wonder and delight.

Our national conference committee has been meeting behind the scenes since last December and we are excited to be bringing the 2025 Conference back to Sydney, at the beautiful venue of the Sydney

Conservatorium, 10–13 July 2025. As it’s also AUSTA’s 50th anniversary next year, it promises to be an inspiring conference, full of joy and celebration. Mark your calendar now and stay tuned for more announcements in the coming months.

As always, I thank the state committees and their incredible presidents for their endless enthusiasm. Australia’s string community is in great hands, and I am grateful for the mountain of volunteer hours that are poured into our organisation by these generous people. If you would like to join your local state committee as a metropolitan or regional representative for 2025, I encourage you to contact your president now. The Annual General Meetings will be held towards the end of the year and an extra pair of hands is always welcome.

Wishing you a wonderful end to the year.

Molto AUSTA!

Our latest 2023 edition of the Sydney Directory of Music & Speech Teachers is now available on-line free of charge for all music lovers. You can now keep up to date with all the exciting opportunities for young performers and also gain access to Australia’s most prominent Music and Speech Teachers !

Choosing the right teacher is without doubt the most important decision a parent will ever make when embarking upon a musical education for their child. Students and parents are also invited to stay in tune with the many exciting opportunities available for young musicians by subscribing to our FREE musicteachers.com.au email news broadcasts.

View the Directory today at – simplebooklet.com/2023sydneydirectoryofmusicspeechteachers

For further information contact Catherine & Warrick Dobbie –Email: contactus@musicteachers.com.au or Phone: 0412 642 048

In Tune Queensland

TAmy Phillips President, AUSTA Q

he first half of 2024 was a gratifyingly and rewardingly busy time for the AUSTA Q community. The year commenced with our flagship annual Reading Day and AGM on 4 February. It was a delight to see so many local, regional and interstate attendees. Being part of the collegial and enthusiastic energy, and hearing and playing the new works, was the most inspiring way to commence the year. The quality and number of new compositions presented by our local composers was exceptional! Bundaberg also hosted a Reading Day on 18 February for their local AUSTA members and teachers in their community.

It was my pleasure to attend the AMEB Qld 2024 Performance and Awards Ceremony on 8 March to see AUSTA Strings Award (Qld) 2023 Nathan Niessl receive his award. Congratulations, Nathan!

We were honoured to have Ed Le Brocq as the keynote presenter for the AUSTA Q Mini-conference, held 13–14 April. Ed’s presentations focusing on ease, joy and glory (comfort, happiness and success) in string playing and teaching, and presentations by Dr Bernardo Alviz (intermediate Double Bass), Raquel Bastos and Loreta Fin AM (AMEB Viola Series 2), David Deacon (Scales – are they ‘weighing’ you down?), Gyorgy Deri (The Popper-Code), Jonny Ng (Juggling a Portfolio Music Career), Natalie Sharp (Fundamentals of Left-Hand Technique) and Dr Anthony Young (Musicianship in the Instrumental Setting) provided excellent professional development and inspiration leading into Term 2. The first day of the Mini-conference concluded with an informative and fascinating interactive forum session with the panel of Dr Bernardo Alviz (double bass), Gyorgy Deri (cello) and Natalie Sharp (violin and viola) facilitated by Theo Kotzas. The second and final day concluded with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the delegates orchestra to rehearse Triptyque for String Orchestra by Yasushi Akatagawa conducted by Michael Patterson.

At the time of writing this, the AUSTA Q committee is making final preparations for AUSTA International Touring Artist 2024 Barry Green’s time in Brisbane (10–14 July) and Bundaberg (15–18 July) and for the Concerto Championship and Strings Festival (27–28 July). Preparation is also well underway for Brisbane and regional events later in the year; keep a look out for details via the AUSTA website and newsflashes.

Wishing everyone all the very best as the year continues and we look forward to seeing you at the upcoming AUSTA Q events!

South Australia

Bethany Nottage President, AUSTA SA

On2 June, 10am–12 pm, we held our Student String Ensemble Workshop in the Performing Arts Centre at Seymour College. Georgina Price and I facilitated and conducted the groups and the students enjoyed performing their pieces to their families in a concert to conclude.

On the afternoon of Sunday 2 June, string players and teachers gathered at Seymour College to play through some new string ensemble music written by Australian composers. Martin Butler conducted this Repertoire Reading Day and we enjoyed playing through many new pieces and were accompanied by Stuart Robison.

We had our term 2 Beginner Adult String Players Workshop on 16 June, kindly hosted by Kathy Wozniczka. Of the three pieces we played, two were original compositions. ‘Swoon Tune’ was written by Robyn Handreck who also conducted, and ‘Gentle Giant’ was written by Samantha Zwolak who helped by playing violin.

On Friday 26 July in Hartley Concert Room, AUSTA Patron Barry Green worked with the Adelaide University Elder Conservatorium undergraduate classical, jazz, vocal, instrumental and education students. They experienceed Barry’s unique insights in the Inner Game of Music Workshop and Coaching Masterclass, and heard Barry play some works on double bass and learn principles in Mastery of Music.

On Saturday 27 July, Barry ran a Music Mastery workshop covering his books, Bringing Music To Life and The Mastery of Music. Prince Alfred College kindly allowed the use of their chapel from 1:30 to 5pm, with this workshop designed for all musicians, music and instrumental teachers, as well as Year 12 and tertiary students interested in improving their own sound and performances.

Martin Butler conducting the Repertoire Reading Day AUSTA SA

Victoria

IAndrew Schellhorn President, AUSTA Vic

t is again a pleasure to reflect on the recent achievements of AUSTA VIC and celebrate the positive impact that this body has had on teaching and learning.

In committee member news, Helen Holt resigned earlier in the year. After serving on the AUSTA Q committee from 1982, Helen moved to Melbourne in 1990 and served as AUSTA VIC Treasurer and State President. Helen fondly remembers starting the String Orchestra festival with Julie Hewison and being prominent in the instigation of the cello spectaculars. We thank her for her wonderful work.

Eight Victorians and an ex-Victorian (now based in Perth) attended the 2024 ESTA Conference in Porto in March. Committee members Diana Wuli and Marcel Trussell-Cullen both presented at the conference and were outstanding. Yes, we did all eat too much and enjoy ourselves!

In May, Warwick Stengards, the Australian/Swedish freelance conductor based in Vienna, led a group of mainly string teachers in a full two-day workshop on the principles of conducting.

The String Performers Festival held in June was another success, with a healthy group of committee members and many performers. Special thanks to James de Rozario who once again ensured the event’s smooth operation and StephanieJane Lewendon-Lowe for again being the official accompanist. The performers were delighted to receive their newly designed sashes and reports. This July, we are full engaged and excited for the arrival of Barry Green, the American bassist and author. Our own Andrew Moon studied with Barry at the University of Cincinnati in the 1980s. Andrew is to be Barry’s personal driver while he is in Melbourne.

This year’s Paul McDermott Violin Scholarship was also held in July and was adjudicated by Kirstin Kenny. We sincerely thank Kirsten for taking so much time to make each performer have a positive experience and play to their best. The 2024 Paul McDermott Violin Scholarship winner was Audrey Chen. We look forward to seeing and hearing Audrey play at an AUSTA VIC event in the future.

Living Treasure: Chris Kimber

Reviews Editor Mary Nemet interviews Australian violinist Chris Kimber.

MN: Chris, our history goes back a long way. What are your earliest memories of playing violin and who were your inspirations?

CK: It all began at 316, Sandy Bay Road, Hobart, when I was 10 years old. The celebrated violinist, Ginette Neveu, performed the Sibelius concerto in the Hobart Town Hall on 10 August 1948. That was a memorable experience. Afterwards, Neveu came to our home and I played to her with my brother William on piano. Later, when my family moved to Melbourne, I went to the first National Music Camp directed by Professor John Bishop. It was there I joined you, Mary, in performing Sibelius’ Symphony no. 2. Professor Bishop invited three of us to perform as soloists in the Bruch Concerto: I performed the first movement, Gillian Rosefield the second and Graham Wood the third.

MN: Who were your teachers and what are your recollections of them? Did any stand out in particular?

CK: In 1954, Max Rostal, the eminent violinist and distinguished teacher, toured Australia for the ABC. Rostal awarded a scholarship to enable the most

gifted young violinist in Australia to study with him in England. You and I were jointly awarded that scholarship! The irony is that neither of us found study with Rostal ideal. Not all teachers, no matter how celebrated, fit the needs of every student. You moved on to a distinguished career under the auspices of Arthur Grumiaux and Isaac Stern, and I moved on to study in America. At the Julliard School, New York, I studied with Ivan Galamian and later Oscar Shumsky. Shumsky was not only a great violinist but also a wonderful teacher who made everything easier to play, including works as difficult as the Bartok Solo Sonata.

MN: Do you think it essential for young musicians to seek further tuition overseas, or are there now enough fine teachers in Australia?

CK: Australia is still isolated geographically and musically. The excitement of studying overseas surrounded by great violinists like Zukerman, Perlman and Kyung Wha Chung raises your standards and inspires you to achieve more. For example, I was greatly inspired when hearing Milstein, Stern, Francescatti and Morini all performing together in a Carnegie Hall concert. Another memorable experience was hearing the Cleveland Orchestra performing a Schubert symphony conducted by George Szell. I later had the privilege of playing to George Szell who offered me a position in the New York Philharmonic. A thrilling experience was playing in a scintillating performance of Schumann Symphony no. 2 with the exciting Scherzo conducted by Leonard Bernstein at the Casals Festival, Puerto Rico.

MN: In your long and distinguished career, there must be many highlights, but what are some of the most memorable?

CK: Being appointed Assistant Concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony and performing as soloist with the orchestra. Touring Europe and Israel with “Soloists from Marlboro” along with Rudolf Serkin, Jaime Laredo, Leslie Parnas, and

Chris KImber and Dr William KImber

Chris KImber and Mary Nemet

Peter Serkin. Recording Beethoven’s 8th and Bach Brandenburg Concerti with Pablo Casals at Marlboro. Performing as soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra conducted by Arthur Fiedler and Joseph Silverstein. A concert with Jack Benny in Symphony Hall, Boston. (Dressed as a stagehand, I brought a music stand to the front of the Boston Symphony. Jack Benny handed me his Strad, and I played the soloist opening of the Brahms Concerto, with Jack Benny glaring menacingly at me!) Being appointed Associate Professor at Oberlin College. Accepting the offer of Artistic Directorship of the Australian Chamber Orchestra along with Chairman of the String Department and Senior Lectureship at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. (I subsequently resigned from the ACO but following a rapprochement, I performed as Artistic Director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra and soloist on tours for Musica Viva.) Joining the Primrose Quartet with Oscar Shumsky, Harvey Shapiro and William Primrose for concerts in Japan. (A magical experience! Oscar Shumsky had complete command of his instrument and was able to create intense musical and emotional impacts in the masterpieces we performed.) Performances as soloist with the Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Queensland Symphony Orchestras with celebrated conductors including Walter Susskind. Touring with distinguished pianist Gerard Willems in Asia and Australia – the most rewarding concerts for me.

MN: Looking back, what would you tell your 12-yearold self?

CK: While becoming an accomplished violinist is a worthy goal, the importance of a thorough education at a good school with the opportunities for making friendships with fellow students is invaluable in youthful years. Most distinguished musicians are also gifted in other areas. However, a musical career can provide a remarkable life. I have been extremely fortunate to make music with many great artists, ensuring that my life has been uniquely fulfilling.

Mercury Negative 4175 1-2, 2nd August 1948, Ginette Neveu with Chris and Bill Kimber

Jascha Gopinko (1891-1980)

Jascha

Mary Nemet

Gopinko is a name that deserves much greater recognition among string players.

Born in 1891 near Mogilev, Ukraine, little Jascha was tutored at home before winning a competition to study in Moscow where he became a pupil of Auer, later entering Pawel Kochanski’s virtuoso classes at the Warsaw Conservatory.

However at age 22, to avoid being drafted into the Russian army, Gopinko set sail in the Orvieto, reaching Melbourne in 1914, a year of continuing civic turmoil and conflict in his homeland. Partly to avoid conscription, one can surmise that he also left because of the savage pogroms against Jews. In cities like Odesa and Kyiv, thousands of Jews were killed while the police stood by, under the Tsarist regime of the Romanovs. The families of Heifetz, Milstein and Elman must have been similarly affected by this recurring social terror.

Who knows what heights Gopinko may have achieved if he had stayed? A wonderful player by all accounts, he may have reached those of the other Jascha – Heifetz. His musical circle included luminaries like Artur Rubinstein, Igor Stravinsky and Prokofiev. World War I robbed Gopinko and his colleagues of any hope of a performing career or teaching at the Conservatorium. They all emigrated. Fluent in Russian, German and French, Gopinko fled to Australia but spoke no English. With no opportunity to perform, he moved to Sydney where he washed bottles in a factory, and then to Kurri Kurri, a mining district near Newcastle. His application for Australian citizenship was for some time denied, since his presence in the area was regarded as suspicious. Gopinko became a citizen, after several years of attempts, in 1930.

In the surrounding coal mining towns of Bellbird, Cessnock and Maitland, there was no shortage of music. Irish and Welsh émigré miners had brought their traditional choirs, brass bands and instruments with them, forging bonds in the community.

with mistrust as a Russian immigrant, possibly even a spy, Gopinko’s violin playing soon prompted fellow miners to ask him to teach their children. Among the first of these were Ernest Llewellyn and Nelson Cooke. Cooke remembered him as ‘an extraordinary man, with tireless energy, enthusiasm and dedication’.

Because the instruments were readily available, he formed a mandolin orchestra composed of miners and began to teach on violin, viola and cello. He founded the Cessnock Symphony Orchestra, touring the region as its conductor. Local audiences cheered them on. Visiting professional soloists like oboist Joseph Post were engaged.

In time his students began to win prizes at eisteddfodau and gained leading positions in orchestras and chamber ensembles at home and abroad. Here is an irony. Since Gopinko was barred from joining the Sydney Symphony Orchestra because he was a foreigner, the orchestra was soon replete with his students.

Although at first viewed

His undoubted earliest success was his student, Ernie Llewellyn, who went on to become concertmaster of the Sydney Symphony. Llewellyn later reflected that Gopinko had played a role in Australian string playing comparable to that of Leopold Auer in Hungary and Russia; indeed, the entire musical world. “He had miners with their big, gnarled hands playing Mendelssohn concertos on the banjo and mandolin – he was quite amazing.”

Born in Kurri Kurri in 1915, Llewellyn, the son of a Welsh miner, began lessons with Gopinko in 1934

Jascha Gopinko 1919

Gopinko alumni quartet

and joined the Sydney String Quartet as a violist. Other students who joined the SSO’s ranks were Ron Ryder, Ron Cragg, Donald Blair, Errol Russell, Maxwell Cooke on viola and Nelson Cooke on cello. By then Gopinko and his wife Rebecca (to whom he had taught the cello) had moved to Sydney where he rented a teaching studio at Paling’s music store, teaching very long hours. However, he still taught at Maitland twice a week.

Rebecca cooked meals for students and frequently boarded them free of charge. Gopinko explained, “You don’t play well unless you feel good.”

Other students included Beryl Kimber, Chris Kimber, Ronald Woodcock, Errol Collins, Marjorie Hystek, Leslie Chester and Brian Blake. The three Sumner girls, Dorothy (cello), Roma (viola) and Heather (violin), all in the SSO, were among his pupils.

Chris Kimber reminisces:

“Many years have passed since my childhood, but I clearly remember those few months I spent in Sydney studying with Jascha Gopinko. I went along Hunter Street with my sister Beryl to Palings Studios where Gopinko taught and sat in on Beryl’s lessons. He taught me little folk melodies; one such piece was a beautiful little Russian air. Gopinko got me to play it with all my soul, and he would accept nothing

less. After those few months in Sydney – I must have only been aged around ten – I flew back to Hobart by myself, played the Russian air to my father and he was bowled over by the new expressive feeling in my playing!

2025 Riverina Summer School for Strings

Adult strings

Chamber music

Classical Guitar

Folk Mandolin

Beryl Kimber

Also, I remember many trips in the tram to Gopinko’s home in Double Bay, where all his protégés played chamber music together and enjoyed a stimulating time. Mrs Gopinko acted as hostess. I have great memories of those chamber music evenings and Gopinko’s great influence.”

Leslie Chester, aged 22 in 1936 and Concertmaster of the TSO, had this to say in the Hobart Mercury. “Under Professor Gopinko I learned not only the concerto repertory but also chamber music, conducting and how to teach.”

When Paling’s Building was demolished, Gopinko moved his teaching to his home, continuing chamber music evenings every second Thursday, according to another student, Phillip Silver. The coalminers still wanted to learn, so they hitched a ride on the coal train once a week for lessons. Phillip studied with Gopinko for seven years from the age of 18 and considers him his greatest mentor. Lessons consisted of scales, Kreutzer studies, concertos, sonatas and salon pieces. His students were brought up in the solid Russian school of violin playing, as he had been. Phillip recalls, “If you had done the work, the lesson had no time limit, but if you hadn’t, the lesson was over immediately. As his last student of the day, he drove me down the hill to the nearest bus stop in his big old 1940 American Packard car, turning the motor off and just coasting down – quite dangerous!”

Students like Gillian Bailey-Graham attest to his fine teaching. “I studied with Jascha Gopinko for five years, travelling from Newcastle every Saturday during my last two years of school before moving to Sydney to study with him full-time. He was an amazing teacher and beautiful person. I was never afraid of him. He was always encouraging and kind while still demanding. Mr Gopinko has been an inspiration for my teaching to this day.” Teaching in Gillian’s grandparents’ building in Cessnock, miners’ children flocked to the door. Gopinko kept long

hours, as did the miners. Gillian remembers him as a handsome man with dark hair, dark eyes and fine expressive hands that sought to bring out the essence of the music, but he also had a mischievous sense of humour.

A picture emerges of a remarkable man, dedicated to music, devoted to his students and determined to make the world a better place.

[I am indebted firstly to Patrick Brislan (former AYO Alumni Coordinator) for initially piquing my interest in this amazing string teacher. Several former students of Gopinko enthusiastically shared their reminiscences; among them, Gillian Bailey-Graham, Chris Kimber and Phillip Silver. Anna Cooke shared recollections and photos of her husband, eminent cellist Nelson Cooke’s time with Gopinko. The Coalfields Historical Association also shared data. My gratitude to all who contributed to this project.]

Mary Nemet’s extensive performing career has taken her across Europe, Asia and Australia. Her studies with luminaries such as Arthur Grumiaux and Isaac Stern have enlightened her teaching practice. A long-time AUSTA member, she was Stringendo’s National Editor for five years and is currently its Reviews Editor.

Kurri Kurri Orch. 1919

Nelson Cooke

Chamber Music Summer School Mt Buller

Out of the mouths of students…

Edwina Kayser

From Deborah Greenblatt, USA: I was discussing the art of practising with one of my little students, and I asked her what she could do to make her piece better. She confidently replied, ‘Put in repeat signs’.

Apology

The author of the article, ‘South Australian State Music Camp’, in the last issue of Stringendo (Vol. 40/1), was not Agnes Weinstein but Jennifer Watkins, a MPhil student at the Elder Conservatorium of Music. Her thesis topic is ‘The History of the South Australian May Music Camp: 1962-1987’. She is Administrative Assistant to the Music Staff at Concordia College and is Secretary of the SA State Music Camp Association committee. Stringendo apologises for the error and for any grief caused.

On a Sunday in January, chamber music enthusiasts travel from all over Australia to the picturesque alpine village at Mt Buller in Victoria. The Chamber Music Summer School begins with lunch, the first meal in a week of gourmet dining, catered for by chef Ben Davies from High Country Food Co. The afternoon is spent settling into comfortable ski lodge accommodation, and then it is into the music. Dusting off those holiday cobwebs, string chamber music ensembles ranging from trios to sextets begin their intensive week of rehearsals. In the evening, participants are treated to an informal concert presented by tutors in the intimate surroundings of the Benalla Ski Club lounge.

The timetable from Monday to Friday has been developed with assistance from participant feedback over many years and contains the essential ingredients for the development of chamber music skills. The days can begin with an early morning walk along a beautiful alpine track or an informal yoga session; however, the first scheduled activity is a warm-up/technical class with your instrument group. It’s an ideal place to discuss specific technical issues, gain insight into a warm-up routine, stretch in preparation for a long day or play a massed viola version of Puccini’s ‘Nessun Dorma’ not to be outdone by a gorgeous celli rendition of ‘Danny Boy’.

The next two sessions (1.5 hours each) are dedicated to rehearsing with your ensemble. In one of these sessions, participants are coached by a member of the excellent tutorial team. To gain the most out of this experience, participants are encouraged to apply in pre-formed groups and to have chosen their repertoire. The lengthy tutorial time provides an opportunity to study a movement in depth.

Following a well-earned lunch break and a reacquaintance with the coffee machine, participants enjoy a one-hour ‘ad hoc’ session. The purpose is to play chamber music with others you may not have met before. Apart from adding to the camaraderie of the summer school, this session is a wonderful opportunity to play in larger ensembles and explore new repertoire or revisit old favourites.

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Another 1.5-hour rehearsal with your group precedes the daily cocktail concert. Frequent performance opportunities for participants are one of the most successful aspects of the week. The cocktail concerts expose everyone to a wealth of repertoire and provide performers a chance to put into practice advice they have received from tutors in a very supportive and relaxed environment.

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Dinner is a gourmet affair. Chef Ben has been preparing delicious cuisine for participants since 2014. His dedication and ability to cater for every dietary requirement combined with an easygoing

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Participant with Jim Vizard

disposition ensure the kitchen is always a happy place to be, particularly if rehearsals become intense! The summer school has always been very fortunate to receive support from the local Mansfield community. For more than 15 years, chef and vocalist extraordinaire Maria Lurighi delighted our tastebuds with dishes that were as creative as the musical offerings. In more recent times, Ann Jaggard, a remarkable supporter of the Mt Buller and Mansfield communities, has contributed enormously to the success of the week, not only through her connections but also her unselfish and tireless hard work.

After dinner, the tutors present a concert or forum. Since its inception, the summer school has attracted some of Australia’s finest chamber musicians as tutors. Their extraordinary generosity of spirit, sharing of musical ideas and dedication to the week has been a key factor in the success of the summer school. The evening forums have varied from a resident contemporary composer discussing their work to a candlelit performance of solo Bach cello suites in the beautiful alpine chapel. There have been discussions about Alexander technique, an opportunity to sing Bach chorales and play a massed ensemble version of the Mendelssohn Octet.

An evening at Mt Buller is never complete without taking the time to enjoy a sunset from the balcony. Once the scheduled activities have concluded, it’s time to join friends over a Brahms sextet or two, perhaps saving the Schubert quintet for Tuesday night.

Other highlights for the week include time on Wednesday afternoon to explore the incredibly beautiful alpine region. A range of activities is organised by our hardworking manager, David Dore, including nature walks or a swim in the Delatite River.

Musical activities of the Summer School culminate with the presentation of two public concerts in the resonant acoustic of the Alpine Chapel. The first concert on Friday evening is presented by the tutors and the second concert on Saturday afternoon provides participants with an opportunity to play one movement of a piece they have been studying throughout the week.

The summer school concludes with another delicious meal and time to reflect on all the wonderful happenings of a week filled with music, friendship and fun. Many repeat attendees leave the mountain counting the weeks until the next Chamber Music Summer School at Mt Buller.

A brief history

The summer school began in 1985 under the artistic directorship of Janis Laurs. A person of extraordinary vision, energy and artistry, later joined

Merlin Ensemble

by the Australian String Quartet, Janis created and supported an institution that has lasted for nearly 40 years. Original committee members Roy Bull, Fiona Rixon, Jenny Johnson and Jim Vizard found the perfect location and developed the format of a seven-day residential string summer school for participants consisting of amateur, tertiary student and professional string players. AUSTA generously supported the summer school by helping to spread the word through advertisements and an article written by then National President, Philip Carrington. Forty years later, Jim Vizard continues to help ensure the summer school’s longevity. A key component of the school’s success is that it is run by a voluntary committee who attend as participants, nurturing

the joy of music making in a totally supportive environment. As a registered charity with tax deductible status, the summer school maintains a scholarship gift fund which regularly supports tertiary music students with career aspirations in chamber music.

The summer school has a rich history of offering outstanding tuition and chamber music performances through the services of some of Australia’s finest musicians and teachers. The Australian String Quartet (William Hennessy, Douglas Weiland/Elinor Lea, Keith Crellin and Janis Laurs) played a significant role in establishing and supporting the school. As a participant, I will never forget an extraordinary week when the ASQ delighted us with a performance of a Haydn Op. 20 quartet every lunchtime followed by a late Beethoven quartet after dinner! Spiros Rantos with Ensemble I colleagues (Brachi Tilles, Tor Fromyhr, Gwyn Roberts and Simon Oswell) have been great supporters. Bringing an international flair, Simon also delighted us by inviting his group, The Capitol Ensemble, from Los Angeles. Tutors from Queensland have made a significant contribution to the summer school with artistic director Michele Walsh and her wonderful colleagues from the Merlin Ensemble (Margaret Connolly, Patricia Pollett and Sydney cellist Rosemary Quinn) attending ten times. The summer school has been supported by many other outstanding musicians such as Caroline Henbest, David Berlin, Christopher Martin, Peter Tanfield, Miki Tsunoda and the Flinders Quartet (who initially attended as students), and composers including Ross Edwards, Graeme Koehne, Lisa Lim, Richard Mills, Ian Munroe and Larry Sitsky.

Last year, the summer school was delighted to welcome back Elinor Lea as director and provided the opportunity for a family reunion with her brothers from the Vienna Philharmonic, Benedict and Tobias Lea. They were joined by William Newbery, David Berlin and Anna Pokorny, resulting in a very happy school and culminating in a magical performance of Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night.

Next year CMSS is delighted to welcome back long-time friend and supporter of the summer school, Wilma Smith, as artistic director. The dates are 19–26 January 2025; applications open in late August. Tertiary musicians who have an established string chamber music ensemble are invited to apply for funding to attend at cmssbuller@gmail.com

If you would like more information on next year’s Chamber Music Summer School, go to https://cmss.org.au/2025/

Edwina Kayser is a freelance professional violinist and teacher who enjoys performing frequently with Orchestra Victoria and Aequales Ensemble. She feels privileged to teach and have the opportunity to share a love of music with a wide community.

Australian String Quartet

Perth Summer Orchestra Camp

Grace Ah-quee

“I loved every bit of it! … We all work together to create something fabulous at the end.”

“I love Perth Summer camp! It’s the highlight of the year for me”.

Young music lovers from early level to advanced youth instrumentalists have a place at Perth Summer Orchestra Camp, 13–24 January 2025. PSOC has created a pathway in their holiday program for all levels that’s fun and engaging. The Junior, Summer and Brilliant Strings orchestras will run 13–16 January, followed by the Advanced Baroque Orchestra, 20–24 January.

The program started in 2011 and has become so popular that there are now five orchestras for string players as well as places for winds in our top level Baroque skills orchestra. Social and foundational friendship skills are an important part of our group philosophy.

Our musical home has always been at Moerlina School in Mt Claremont, expanding to Quintilian school next door. The PSOC Baroque Summer School is held at Aquinas College in Salters Point.

Perth Summer Orchestra Camp’s 25 extremely experienced staff are professional musicians with a strong background in education. Conductors, specialist tutors, assistants and operations staff with orchestral skills cater to all the needs of the different level players.

Junior string players who’ve been playing for two years or more work with inspiring and caring conductors in the Junior Ensemble. Middle level players of Grade 2–3 standard join the joyous Summer Strings with our founding conductor,

Daemon Clark. More experienced players of grade 4–5 standard focus on style at our Brilliant Strings level or go up to the advanced level Baroque Summer School orchestra, aimed at Grade 6 to AMusA standard for a uniquely in-depth week with Music Director Grace Ah-quee and Australian Baroque’s Artistic Director, Helen Kruger. Masterclass and solo opportunities are also available.

All PSOC places are available without audition except solo and masterclass placements at Baroque Summer school. Auditions for advanced solo and masterclass places close in November with general enrolment (no audition) closing early December.

PSOC is very interested in providing places to regional players and we are grateful for AUSTA’s sponsorship in helping to provide this.

All applications and information can be found at www.psorchcamp.com/

Grace Ah-quee studied violin in Sydney. She currently works as a violist in the Perth Symphony Orchestra, WA Philharmonic ballet orchestra and as a principal for Fremantle Chamber Orchestra. She is Conductor and Music Director for Allegri Chamber Orchestra and has worked as a conductor for the Western Australia Youth Orchestra for 20 years. Grace has created and performed in many interactive concerts for children and informative pleasure concerts for adults. Grace is Music Director of Perth Summer Orchestra Camps, including its Baroque specialisation camp.

Melbourne Youth Orchestra Summer School

Sophie Rowell

As the lights in Hamer Hall dimmed, we lifted our instruments and all 45 pairs of eyes looked directly at me, eagerly anticipating the first familiar chords of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. They rang out with precision and unity. We had become a finely tuned ensemble; however, we hadn’t started like that …

Morning – beginning

It was during the staff briefing the afternoon before the MYO Summer School began when all 15 ensemble leaders and conductors were introduced. The sheer number of young musicians, who were forgoing a week in the sunshine, became apparent –820 in total and from across all of Victoria! This was some mighty thing the MYO had going.

We came to the first morning, anticipating some of what was to come but not really knowing. Excited instrumentalists lined up en masse to receive their lanyards and raced inside to discover their ensemble positions. Music stands (with a wide variety of stabilities!) were unfolded and, with instrument in hand, each member of the Rowell Chamber Orchestra sat down. Some chatted wildly with their neighbours (and continued to do so for the rest of the week), others sightread all the music in their folder at the loudest possible volume, while the rest sat quietly, not quite sure of what was to come. In all honesty, I also fell into the last category. I could see string players who came up to my shoulders and others who towered over me. Turning this gaggle of young musicians into a unified ensemble was going to be no mean feat.

We began by tuning. At this stage of the summer holidays, the instruments had a less than ideal range of pitches, and the resultant noise was absolute cacophony. Not for the last time that week, I spoke as loudly as I could and waved my arms in the air like one of the inflatable tube people at a used car saleyard. Silence reigned, followed by my first directive of the week – “Please tune softly so that together we can all tune carefully and accurately.” It was not the last time I would say/shout/ exasperatedly sigh this directive during our time together, but it was our first foray into becoming a united team – each of us gaining awareness beyond our own bow on the string.

Afternoon – middle

It is very hard for the person at the back of the violins to hear their counterpart in the cello section. That is the case in any orchestra, let alone a string orchestra of nearly 50 young players. As the week progressed, so did this awareness. With an array of playing levels and ensemble experience, one of the things I hoped all would benefit from was an increased cognisance of their own playing in relation to those around them. Utilising a warm-up of scales gave us the opportunity to focus on intonation and blend of sound. Often, we explored dynamics through each scale, these variations not only being led by me but by individuals and by sections throughout the orchestra. My favourite was the laser-like attention paid to our lone double bass player as her ‘section’ led the orchestra through her dynamic variations.

We tackled a wide array of repertoire through which we could touch on many aspects of playing. There were technical challenges, rhythmic complexities and ensemble conundrums. These challenges are further compounded when the ensemble is directed by someone who is also playing, as I was. It means that my ability to hear exactly what was happening always is somewhat hampered. I was most grateful to the wonderful tutors who helped

In concert with Sophie Rowell

guide the musicians through the week. Their tutorials were invaluable not only to aid in the development of the parts, but also to create a team bond within the sections, noticeably stronger after each session. This was something I tried to actively foster further through various exercises during our rehearsals. This was a string orchestra of rather large proportions, but my aim was to ensure that each musician would feel like they were a valuable part of the team. Finding unity and identity within their sections was important in fostering that.

Another aspect I was particularly keen to hone in on was playing in the same part of the bow. With so much focus on the music in front of us and the technical demands of our left hands, I find (in orchestras of all sizes and ages) that this skill can be overlooked. To maintain that focus without constant reminders, I was rather insistent that bow distribution instructions be written in their parts, although, without fail, that did lead to a sound so synonymous with pencils and wire stands – a chorus of pencils dropping to the ground.

As a string orchestra, one of the distinct advantages in a long week such as this, when minds (of all ages!) are starting to wander, is that we can stand up, our cello colleagues notwithstanding. When tired minds were flagging, the heat was soaring, wills were waning and all in the room were dreaming of things outside our four walls, there’s nothing like the iron will of an orchestra conductor that makes everyone move their chairs out of the way and come to attention for the practice performance they didn’t know they had in them! Each day we were becoming more harmonious, more homogenous and more like a team.

Evening – end

And so, it was finally our chance to showcase our efforts for the week. The warm-up room was by turns giddy with excitement and hushed with expectation. By now, this group were no longer strangers to each other, and I noticed the more experienced helping others with their instruments, checking that everything was in order. As we walked onto the stage, my heart was in my mouth, and it would remain there for the rest of the performance. I knew we all knew what to do – in theory! As it turned out, I needn’t have worried … except for one bit for which I gained at least four new additions to my increasing numbers of grey hairs, but that’s a story for another day … The care and the responsibility each musician took with everything they played was overwhelming. More than anything, the unity of spirit and the willingness to be a valuable and accountable part of a group shone through.

Mine was just one of 15 ensembles and this magic had happened with each one of them during this week. Music isn’t just good for the community – it creates a community, and it creates people who are willing participate in it, no matter what path they take to get there.

Thank you to MYO and all those who create opportunities for this to happen for our young musicians.

[Ed. The 2025 MYO Summer School will take place at the University of Melbourne Southbank Campus, 6–11 January, with seven string orchestras (Preliminary to Grade 8) and two symphony orchestras (Grade 7 and above).]

For more information see https://myo.org.au/programs/ summer-school/2025-summer-school-residential-camp/ Sophie Rowell studied with Beryl Kimber Alice Waten and the Alban Berg Quartet. After winning the ABC Young Performer’s Award in 2000, Sophie founded the Tankstream Quartet, later named the Australian String Quartet. Previously Concertmaster of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, in 2023 she was appointed Artistic Director of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra. She is the Head of Chamber Music (Strings) at the Australian National Academy of Music.

MYO bass

MYO violins

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James Ehnes - International Soloist Violin: “Marsick” Stradivarius of 1715. Image © Benjamin Ealovega

Out of obscurity: Tasmania’s Residential Summer String Camp

Margaret Hoban

“The most amazing thing to me about RSSC is the musical camaraderie that is evident from the very beginning of camp. The age or ability of each camper does not matter. In this beautiful setting, everyone is having a great time playing music with their friends. The week at camp is simply magical.” (Mary Sorlie, conductor, Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies, Minneapolis, USA)

Where did it all start? In 1989, Lynne Price, an adult violin student based in the north-west of Tasmania enlisted the help of three Launceston string teachers, Rosemary Evenhuis, Jenny Kershaw and myself, to set up a string camp to give local young players a “tribe” to belong to plus an opportunity for professional development for string teachers. Originally intended to run for five years, it was to be a fun and challenging time for both students and teachers alike. The five years ran out 30 years ago but an organic, intuitive, living creature which continues to evolve remains. The foundation principle was to continue to make learning music the joy and wonder it should be. I needed to create something that people were excited to be part of – including me.

Originally, funding for the camp came from the first venue, Marist College in Burnie, along with local and national arts groups and private sponsors. It quickly became self-supporting to provide the flexibility we felt was essential to fit with our vision of what we wanted it to be. This has proven to work over the years and has developed an abiding culture of independence and resilience. Participant growth coincided with a move of venue to Camp Clayton, a much larger facility which offered the opportunity to include adult students and development of a more serious and focused ethos.

James Anderson, the new camp Director in 2023 and camp participant from nine years old writes: “This was the great tribal gathering. These were

my people, all in one place at one time. Through beach walks, campfires, swimming, games, wildlife spotting, eating, I have learned life lessons, gained role models and met some of the most interesting people in the world. These people became my second family, and my best and longest friends. Funnily enough, the camp was also about music, which enriched and enhanced all of the above. Music is firstly about connection and community. At string camp, you are always doing with others; there are no solos and not even a hint of competition. So often competitions, auditions, exams and assessment turn people away from playing and loving music. The risks are too high. At string camp, there’s nothing to lose. Music isn’t just about getting the right notes. The character, feeling and expression are primary objectives of the camp orchestral experience where the technical attention becomes merely a device to achieve these things in this atmosphere.”

The string camp is the result of my efforts to discover a way of teaching and presenting an instrument as an adventure, a giant puzzle, transfixing and utterly absorbing. Music is a wonderful teacher – it teaches honesty and integrity, shows you how your brain works and demonstrates how we all learn in our own ways. True creativity comes from authenticity and fearlessness; so many want to learn this –students, tutors and conductors. Sight reading is a critical part of camp experience. Music is not sent out prior and everyone comes to a level playing

Mealtime at RSSC

field. Camp conductors and tutors are high level professionals with very wide orchestral backgrounds who also have a passion for supporting community music. Many have significant overseas and national experience. Camp participants witness professional musicians at play, reading and enjoying often unrehearsed chamber music with much laughter and jokes for all to share. I don’t give much direction to camp musical staff. I encourage them to bring their own special passions and interests to the camp which has built the unique flavour of each camp over the years. As electives, we’ve included scales competitions (hotly contested), Chinese music, Celtic fiddling, jazz, free improvisation, Pilates for string players, Dalcroze workshops – a wide spread of different aspects of music with a community flavour that people can elect to be part of, or not. The choice is each individual’s.

RSSC today is a much larger, thriving camp in a lovely area of the Bass Strait, a week-long residential camp for all ages and ability levels which is attracting staff from the mainland and the US. Would-be tutors and conductors are interested in how the camp runs and how the model works. What are we doing to support its ongoing success? One factor has definitely been the banning of mobile devices and access to social media which had begun to detract from the quality of the camp experience. This gave us back of lot more than we really understood we had lost. Conversations flourished, as did participation in physical activities and just joining in.

Susie McMahon, an adult string student camp participant from 2009 writes, “The annual Residential Summer String Camp is a wonderfully immersive experience, not only musically (that is a given) but also an intensive week of sharing meals, conversations, fun and activities with like-minded creative people of all ages and backgrounds. We all have one thing in common: the love of making music together. There is the euphoria of arriving at the seaside site, with friendships renewed, meeting conductors and tutors and having that first playthrough of the week’s music, with occasional hilarious results. The camp’s organisational structure is similar from year to year, but there are always exciting new and different things to look forward to. Tutorials and specialist workshops are keenly attended. Almost as soon as it’s begun, time has really flown and RSSC is over for another year as we perform our final concert, pack up and say our goodbyes as we head home. Everyone is a bit tired

and sore, but on a real high and already making plans for next year.”

String camp as an organisational entity doesn’t strictly exist. Somewhat like that musical village of yesteryear, Brigadoon, it rises up at the same time each year because of the love people have for it. It has survived a couple of near endings, but each of these has given an opportunity for a new and better way forward. Because the camp has no staff, property or external funding, relying solely on the goodwill of people who love it, it has an enduring flexibility and is very adaptable as a result. Those characteristics are the camp’s great strength and advantage and underpin its long-term success. It’s not about short-term goals but rather engaging people of whatever age for the rest of their lives.

Visitors have often remarked that the camp is unique to Tasmania and couldn’t be replicated elsewhere. But music is a universal language and the desire to be involved is compelling. What I have done is to find a community and build on its strengths, and not be frightened of challenging the status quo. A realistic approach and desire to add opportunity and value to an exchange of energy which will be of benefit to teachers and students is a fundamental principle, as is the maintenance of financial independence which supports flexibility and freedom of choice. Each camp generates reflection and is treated like a good student. What has worked? What hasn’t? Were campers engaged and happy with the activities provided? Did tutors meet and match expectations? Can our offering be improved, and if so, how? How do we keep the camp accessible in an unequal world for those who might find it beyond their means? Planning for the next camp begins as the old one finishes.

We will keep going as long as it’s possible to keep a residential, inclusive and mixed age camp going. The camp will transition to other people over time, and there will be change and challenges to maintain the ethos and culture of the camp experience. In the end, music must exist in, and of, love to have life. Music is participatory, not just a spectator sport. For more info, go to https://www.lyco.org.au/rssc/ about-the-rssc/ Margaret Hoban studied violin in Minnesota before moving to Australia. She has a thriving private studio and conducts the Launceston Youth and Community Orchestra. She is the cofounder, long-term camp Director and Musical Director of the Residential Summer String Camp in northern Tasmania.

Cello tutorial at RSSC

Spare time at RSSC

Transformative musicianship: SYO’s holiday programs unveil the power of music education

James Pensini

One of the key evolutions of the last decade at Sydney Youth Orchestras has been the introduction of what we affectionately call our “Open Programs”. These Open Programs, including Summer School (13–18 January 2025) and Winter School (14–19 July 2025) roughly mirror the regular SYO structure of orchestras, but are condensed into a week and do not require an audition for entry; hence, “Open”. Summer and Winter Schools are designed for students 6–18 years of age.

The intensive week-long model allows students from all around New South Wales, and indeed nationally, who simply could not be in Sydney every weekend for orchestra rehearsal their chance to “meet their tribe”. Through the generosity of SYO donors, SYO is also able to help offset the cost to many of these families.

Each new Summer and Winter School is structured based solely on enrolments and is completely separate in terms of ensemble placement from the regular SYO program. Alongside orchestral rehearsals, tutorials and concerts, every member of Summer and Winter School will also sing each day with some of the leading vocal instructors in Sydney.

A typical orchestra structure normally looks something like this:

Yellow Strings – AMEB Preliminary–Grade 2 or equivalent

Orange Strings – AMEB Grade 2–3 or equivalent

Pink Strings – AMEB Grade 4–5 or equivalent

Purple Strings – AMEB Grade 6–7 or equivalent

Green Symphony Orchestra – AMEB Grade 7–AMusA or equivalent.

The orchestras work with the outstanding regular SYO conductors, tutors and staff and special guest conductors like the inimitable SYO alumni, Stephen Chin, at the start of this year. Where possible and practicable, SYO also tries to include professional development for educators in the Summer School program.

The other Open Program that SYO runs is called the Youth Orchestral Camp (YOC) where we take four SYO orchestras (Peter Seymour Orchestra, Richard Gill Chamber Orchestra, Symphonic Wind Orchestra

and Western Sydney Youth Orchestra) to a location in regional NSW and invite players from all around NSW and nationally to join one of the orchestras for a week of intense music making including rehearsals, tutorials and multiple performances. In 2025, the Youth Orchestral Camp (YOC) will be held in Armidale, NSW, 23–27 April. This program will be most suitable for players roughly AMEB 6th Grade or equivalent or above, aged 12–24.

The Open Programs are, of course, rooted in SYO’s ethos of inclusivity, excellence and community. They serve as fun catalysts for personal and artistic growth, empowering students to unlock the boundless potential of their musical aspirations, no matter how long they have been learning an instrument.

We look forward to seeing your students and potentially you (!) at one of our SYO Open Programs in 2025.

Go to www.syo.com.au for more information on SYO’s Summer School programs and weekly programs. For any specific enquiries, please feel free to contact james.pensini@syo.com.au

James Pensini is a former State and National Board member of the Australian Band and Orchestra Directors Association. He is the founding conductor of the Western Sydney Youth Orchestra, conducts the Peter Seymour Orchestra, and is SYO’s Head of Orchestral Training and Artistic Programming.

Young orchestral players (credit Heung Soon)

James Pensini conducting SYO

Makers and Suppliers page

At Alex Grant Violins, our bows by master Austrian bow maker Thomas Gerbeth are now sold out! Three new bows are expected in spring; book now to secure your trial. We are also excited to announce that the playful and dynamic Greenline cases for violin and viola from Jacob Winter in Germany will soon be in stock. Constructed using non-toxic glues, these cases feature eco-friendly cotton and velvet interiors, reducing the cost of our music making on the environment.

Saraband Music has more of Louis Bégin’s Classical bows for sale. Violin, viola and cello available and more can be ordered if these have been snapped up. $2500 each plus packing and postage. These bows make string playing a pleasure.

Kickstart your 2025 music program with the Simply for Strings Workshop. As our string teachers prepare for some well-earned rest, so do the many instruments that have spent a year in the hands of an excitable student. With years of experience in assessing, repairing and setting-up instruments for budding and established music programs, the team of luthiers at Simply for Strings are preparing for their biggest season of school repairs yet. Last year saw hundreds of instruments make their way through our workshop, and we expect this year to be even greater! In 2024/25, our focus is on making the repair process as simple and streamlined as possible, both for string teachers and their admins. With every instrument being assessed by a member of our workshop team, and lovingly quoted

by Jacqueline, our Education Manager, you are guaranteed a smooth experience that is uniquely tailored to the needs of your program. If you would like your instruments repaired and returned to you asap, get in touch with Jacqueline as spots are limited.

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Why violin acoustics matters: a violin maker’s point of view

Rainer Beilharz

To anyone with an interest in violin acoustics, a proposition is quite often put along the lines that Stradivari didn’t have these tools available to him, so what makes them important now? My answer would be: He was certainly able to judge pitch (representative of stiffness) with some accuracy and he was able to measure weight.

These two elements alone are in fact the basis of all commonly used acoustics in violin making. I find it hard to believe that the old Cremonese makers would not have relied on their judgement and observation of these elements over time to help ensure the quality of their instruments. Interestingly, Stradivari was probably not able to measure thickness exactly, something modern makers take for granted, a thicknessing caliper accurate to 1/10th of a millimetre being standard equipment on every modern violin makers workbench.

So, why not leave it at just that? Now we are measuring things and using concepts way beyond the 17th and 18th centuries. Why all the extra paraphernalia? Well, we could keep going with the careful, empirical methods violin makers have been using for centuries and have served us well, but to actually know why a certain change has a certain result is both forward leading and liberating. We can truly start to imagine the violin we want to make and be less a slave to the physical shapes we already know. For me, one of the most dramatic benefits has been better consistency from instrument to instrument. In fact, one of the great promises of violin acoustics is of improved consistency in making without the decades of trial and error.

Given the right equipment, it’s now possible to measure everything, from the speed that sound waves travel through the materials before making a violin as well as the density and the damping of these, to the potential output of a finished violin across its spectrum and the shapes of each individual mode of vibration. In addition, the way in which the bow moves the string, the way the bridge moves, the way mode shapes change from one to the next as well as many subtle side effects of relative mode position and amplitude have been exhaustively studied, and though much of this study is ongoing, the general effects are now well known.

So how can such an enormous amount of information be incorporated in violin making in a practical way? Obviously, it’s not possible or even

practical for a humble violin maker to utilise all of this, not least because of cost and time constraints, but a lot of it is easily accessible via a smartphone and a few other bits and pieces. Unfortunately to be effective, it still requires consistent note taking, something that doesn’t always come naturally to the craftsperson type!

Here are some examples from my own workshop practice, with a disclaimer: none of these procedures are my own invention. I’m indebted to numerous acousticians and violin makers over the last half century who have worked on both theory and practice and continue to do so.

To begin with, I measure the speed that sound waves travel along the grain of the rough pieces of wood for the top and back. This is easy to measure quite accurately with a smartphone, a hammer and a simple formula. I also measure the specific density. Again, easy to do by weighing it and dividing by the calculated volume. The two resulting figures for speed of sound and density give me an overview of the responsiveness I can expect from the plates as well as giving me some guidance for arching height and shape. Some measurements I have enough experience with for them to provide direct guidance. I do also measure the speed of sound across the grain, but this is observational only for me at this point.

A concept borrowed from other branches of structural acoustics is the notion of impedance. This

A typical data sheet for a violin

involves combining, via a formula, the mass and the calculated stiffness of an object to estimate how much energy is required to cause it to move, or flex. Stiffness in the case of violin plates is calculated from tap tone frequencies, taken on an app on a smartphone. As I work on the thicknessing of the plates, I regularly recalculate impedance, treating the number the formula gives me as a reference number to guide progress. Over the years I have become very sceptical of our (including my own) ability to feel when a plate has the “right” amount of flexibility, maybe as a result of too many conflicting views while attending violin making group workshops! I still flex plates as much as anyone, but as much as my scepticism about the accuracy of feel has increased, my confidence in the impedance calculation has grown.

Two violin bridges cut to exactly the same dimensions can sound very different to each other because of the variability of the material, even with a material as carefully selected and controlled as bridge wood. This unwanted effect can be minimised by bridge tuning. The side-to-side rocking/flexing frequency of the bridge, along with the weight, are two of the most important measurements for this. Most violins will sound better with a rocking frequency above about 3000 hz, measured by

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clamping the feet in a small vice, flicking one bridge arm with a fingernail and measuring frequency at the other side with, you guessed it, a smartphone. In my workshop, I aim for a much higher frequency than this, as much as 3400 hz if the bridge blank will allow it, and mostly this sounds round and balanced just as it is. Occasionally, a violin will feel a little glassy under the bow and I have had success solving this by narrowing the waist and thus lowering the frequency by up to about 150 hz. It seems some violins benefit from having a bridge tuned to match in some way.

Recently I have been working on a special rig to measure sound radiation, not only for violins and violas but also for cellos, which have been much less studied in this way. On this rig, the instrument is held in a way that is firm but allows the body to vibrate and the strings are damped. The side of the bridge is tapped with regulated force by a small hammer. The sound output is picked up by a specially designed, flat spectrum microphone and fed into a computer where it is transformed into a graph showing the instruments output spectrum from that tap. On this graph we can see all the peaks, troughs and their relative amplitudes that the instrument produces from an even, “white noise” input. This is still work in progress, there are still many details to iron out particularly in the specifics of microphone placement and the regulated tap. All the same, seeing what I think I am hearing quantified on the screen has been profound for me and I’m looking forward to seeing what avenues this opens up.

I think it’s worth reminding ourselves that musical instruments are physical objects and are subject to the laws of physics. Understanding the interwoven causes and effects in a complex structure like the violin is not easy, but a lot of work has already been done and with smartphones and computers, it’s more accessible than ever. The violin, though it’s about as deeply woven into our culture as it’s possible for an object to be, can never really stand on its own, rather as a tool, an intrinsic part of the greater artwork that is music. Let’s work to make the best tools we can. Whether or not Strad needed acoustics is irrelevant in my view. I hope many makers will join me in using acoustics to improve our work and our knowledge about the violin.

Rainer Beilharz began his violinmaking career in 1982 at 18 years of age in Melbourne. Rainer has worked extensively in all aspects of violin making, including restoration, repair and bow making as well as new making, and has a deep knowledge and understanding of the violin. He is now one of the most sought-after violin makers in the country with instruments played worldwide.

Jam sessions, education, kindy and twilight concerts: Camerata spreads string music joy!

Jacqueline Fraser

A community jam session was just one of the new innovations that formed Camerata’s 15th annual tour of Queensland centres.

Hot on the heels of performances in a cattle shed at the triennial Beef Australia event in Rockhampton (that attracted about 100,000 people to the area including the Prime Minister), Camerata (Queensland’s chamber orchestra) embarked on its annual Queensland tour during May and June to centres such as Gayndah, Mundubbera, Monto, Mt Perry, Bundaberg, Theodore and Biloela – a total of 1,648 kilometres from its base in Brisbane. This year’s tour reached 2,435 audience members, visiting ten towns in eleven days across five residences, presenting performances for kindergartens, senior citizens, schools and locals.

The 2024 tour included three new innovations: a community jam session in Biloela with local musicians of all levels and instrument types; collaborating with Bella Canna, a professional string quintet in Bundaberg; and the rollout of

a new, scripted concert, ‘Camerata Caravan’ for senior citizens by Camerata violist Elizabeth Lawrence that focused 15 years of concerts in aged care facilities into an enthusiastically received ‘show’.

A longer standing tradition is Camerata’s touring commission, which this year saw the creation of music, inspired by the towns of Theodore and Biloela in the Banana Shire, by Camerata’s 2024 Emerging Composer-in-Residence, Alexandra Mison. Alexandra visited the area in March ahead of Camerata’s tour. As has become customary, this new work received rave reviews from audiences across the region and was regularly the favourite of each evening’s performance; there is something about connecting with music and the places we know. As one audience member, Elizabeth Perkins from Biloela, put it: “I loved all the music, but if I had to choose, the Banana Shire Suite really resonated with me. It captured the history of Ruby Campbell, and I loved the peacefulness of the Dawson River where I grew up.”. Camerata was also pleased to be able to commission Brenda Gifford to write a new piece of music to accompany its Acknowledgement of Country, an idea that grew out of Reconciliation Action Plan meetings.

Camerata began these annual tours in 2009, starting with a 3,200 km return bus trip to Winton, and included iconic places like Barcaldine, Longreach and a concert under starlight at Charleville’s Cosmos Centre. Embedded from the start was the idea of presenting regionally based listeners with exactly what Camerata presents in its home city of Brisbane, a request from its initial

touring funders, the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation. With requests from schools and teachers, this quickly evolved to include education shows and workshops for schools. Initially, The John Villiers Trust enabled a performance at a retirement village in Emu Park that kicked off years of concerts in homes for seniors, and which coincidentally was the centre where John Villiers had lived out his final years.

In an age of fears about waning audiences and interest in classical music, meeting and greeting audiences, whether performing for senior citizens or in a more traditional concert settings, has proved to be a beautiful opportunity for audiences and Camerata’s musicians to connect before or after a concert and to develop audiences. On tours, audiences regularly comment about this: “I am so grateful to everyone who organised this performance and gave me my first night out since I moved to Mundubbera 16 months ago” (Margaret Rapley). Aged care coordinators report that their residents haven’t been able to stop talking about the experience and those moments of solace, inspiration, passion and vivacity that only music can evoke.

Part of Camerata’s mission is to inspire audiences and especially to enrich communities through music, and so this has been addressed by taking on a “residency” approach rather than the FIFO (fly-in-fly-out) style. Across eleven to twelve days, the aim is to base the orchestra across four to five towns or areas, spending at least two nights in one location, enabling not only an evening performance but also two to three days performing educational programs and tailored workshops at schools, concerts for senior citizens and the group’s smash hit, “Kindy Show”, written and usually presented by Principal Second Violin and Education Manager, Jonny Ng. The approach is very collaborative and involves creating relationships with presenting partners to customise the activities for the area.

This year, this approach enabled a workshop at Shalom Catholic College in Bundaberg with 140 students from 12 local schools brought together by violist and string teacher, Bernadette Connelly,

while in Biloela, Camerata held its first community jam session. For the latter, local musicians of any level or instrument signed up to join the group (with music sent out ahead of the session), offering the opportunity to play with professional musicians and without the psychological pressures associated with performing – it was all about the joy.

Camerata welcomes local musicians and singers to join the group on stage for tour evening concerts. The group works with local contacts, local professional musicians and amateur musicians and students who are then invited to join the orchestra at the end of the evening performance for a bonus encore segment. This has provided very special moments for all involved. Maxene Cooper from Mundubbera said this year, “Absolutely wonderful concert. Thank you for sharing your stage with local performers. So generous and we appreciate the respect you gave us.” This engagement is an integral part of Camerata’s model and further bridges that gap between performer and audience in a connective, group music experience.

It’s no mean feat to tour across regional Queensland, with cities, towns and municipalities dotting the full length and breadth of Australia’s second-largest state. The costs involved are staggering and increasingly so. Camerata’s touring is made possible with funding from the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, as well as a list of enthusiastic and loyal donors, but also to those initial funders that brought the group’s touring to life in the first place, the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation and the John Villiers Trust.

“That first tour had an impact,” says Camerata’s Artistic Director Brendan Joyce, “and I like to remember this quote from a man in Longreach when I need a reminder about the role we can play as musicians”: Richard from Longreach, after Camerata’s first regional tour in 2009, wrote: “For the first time in my life, I got to see an orchestra perform. I am 43 years old. The performance at the Qantas museum was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. I am just writing to say thank you for allowing me to have this great pleasure.”

At Gracie Dixon Centre Bundaberg

Marian Heckenberg with aged care resident

Goldner Quartet realises Richard Goldner’s dream

Charmian Gadd OAM

The Goldner Quartet was established 30 years ago, and 2024 is their final season. I have written a few reflections on how they got their name and embodied his vision.

In 1939, Richard Goldner, his brother and their two wives arrived in Australia. A refugee from Hitler’s Vienna, he kissed the ground as he descended from the ship in Fremantle. Probably not such a good idea as it was a heatwave, but the miraculous nature of the escape had to be acknowledged. Australia was their new home. They would speak only English.

Richard was first and foremost a musician but with brother Gerard, the two boys made things: lampshades for Russia and jewellery from casein, a precursor to plastics. He invented things, like a special mute for violin or viola that could be initiated by the chin, suitable for the contemporary music he was playing in Hermann Scherchen’s Musica Viva Orchestra. His greatest love was chamber music, and he had the honour of playing in the chamber orchestra of Szymon Pullman and in four string quartets coached by Pullman and known at the time as the finest in Europe. At least the Viennese public claimed so, and with repertoire like Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge and Alban Berg’s brand-new Lyric Suite, I can imagine the claim could be substantiated. There were many fine Jewish musicians in Vienna who were not allowed to play in the state orchestras; Pullman had their enthusiastic services.

The Goldners settled in Sydney and began making costume jewellery. Richard was offered the job of Principal Viola in Sydney Symphony Orchestra but that was rejected by the Musicians Union at the time. When war was declared, he was approached by the Army’s Inventions Directorate, as some of his inventive exploits had been written up in the local newspapers. They needed a zipper for dive bomber suits. Richard lived in Manly at the time and, as an “enemy alien”, was not allowed to drive. So, each day a police car came and transported him to the army office. Much to his surprise, he cracked the problem and ended up with a patent on a new mechanical principle, the double helix. Ten years or so later, Francis Crick and his fellow scientists revealed this to be the shape and mechanism of our DNA. I sometimes wonder if Richard could have sued God for violating his patent!

He managed to sell this patent for what he considered a princely sum and set about forming a first-class ensemble in Sydney. Meanwhile, sitting in

his dentist’s waiting room, he had read that Pullman and the entire orchestra that he had set up in the Warsaw ghetto had been captured by the Germans and taken to Treblinka, where they perished.

The first concert of Richard Goldner’s Sydney Musica Viva took place in the Sydney Conservatorium of Music on 8 December 1945. It was a time of great contrasting emotions. The Japanese emperor had just surrendered, following the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A few months earlier, Hitler had killed himself and his wife, after killing a few million other people. The troops were returning from the terrible places we sent them to. Joy and relief were in the air.

Richard had spent much time and money preparing for the concert and it was sold out. Unfortunately, a blackout was declared; our power supply was having difficulties. No novice to facing difficulties, Richard approached Sir Charles Moses, head of the ABC at the time. He was an Army man and provided Richard with generators and lights for the music stands. Car headlights lit up the entrance to the Conservatorium from the original main front entry and the concert took place in a romantic setting with some beautiful girls with flashlights showing people to their seats. Thus was Musica Viva born.

Richard established his ensemble. He brought violinist Robert Pikler and family from Indonesia

Richard Goldner 1945

where they had been incarcerated by the invading Japanese while on a concert tour with their family’s light music ensemble. He brought Theodore (Teddy) Salzman and his wife from Israel. Edward Cockman was a great second violinist and young Moureen Jones a supremely gifted and beautiful pianist. The Musica Viva Ensemble was very successful and played all over Australia and New Zealand. Branches of Musica Viva were established in major cities and volunteer committees, often comprising fellow refugees, pledged their assistance. However, in the long run, it proved not financially viable. Some fine financial minds came to the rescue, notably Paul Moravetz and Charles J Berg.

In the process, Musica Viva changed from an ensemble to fundamentally a concert agency for chamber music. The ensemble disbanded and Musica Viva took up its position as a major force in Australia’s musical life. Under the lawyerly wisdom of Kenneth Tribe, the financial judgment of Charles Berg and the honorary music directorship of Richard until 1966, it fulfilled a valuable and productive role commissioning new works, encouraging new ensembles, importing top international groups, training future leaders in the arts and branching out into educational fields.

Richard Goldner left Australia for the US in 1966. He had received an appointment as Professor at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and started a new life with new inventions, new concert series and festivals. Teddy Salzman had also settled in Pittsburgh and was a wonderful friend teaching at the rival university. I joined Richard there and we built up a fine string department. After some publicity, a phone call came for Richard: “Are you the Richard Goldner who played in the Pullman Orchestra

in Vienna?” It turned out to be a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony who was the sole survivor of the Nazi removal of the orchestra in the Warsaw ghetto. He had managed to hide under the stage. I was with Richard to observe his reaction to the story. The Germans had burst into the hall where the group was rehearsing at one of the most sacred moments in music, the slow G flat major central part of the Grosse Fuge. It was gut-wrenching, as he seemed almost as hurt by the musical violation as the human tragedy.

Richard Goldner died in Sydney in 1991 after returning to Australia without much fanfare in 1987. At his funeral service, some friends played: Dene Olding, Dimity Hall, Irena Morozova and Julian Smiles. They were members of the Australia Ensemble based at the University of New South Wales. They played the Cavatina from Beethoven’s Opus 130 quartet and the slow movement of the Shostakovich Quintet with pianist David Bollard. Soon afterwards, they formed a string quartet officially and approached the Goldner family for permission to carry his name, becoming the Goldner Quartet. For thirty years, they have spread joy through their talent and charm, and though we regret that they have reached their final season, we are so grateful that they fulfilled Goldner’s dream.

Charmian Gadd OAM is one of Australia’s foremost violinists, having and an illustrious national and overseas career as a concerto soloist, chamber musician and teacher. She was featured as Stringendo’s Living Treasure in the April 2023 edition.

Moravetz and Goldner, 1980s

Richard Goldner, Charmian Gadd 1980

The Australian Music Centre and Music for Strings

Dr Joanna Drimatis

Asmusic educators, consider the question: how are you embedding Australian culture and, importantly, Australian art music into your private teaching or co-curricular ensembles? We live in a country with a rich music tradition, so it is vital we preserve and continue to build this practice with string players at all levels.

It is wonderful that many studio teachers and ensemble directors include Australian music in their core repertoire. In recognition of this initiative, we are seeing more Australian music on AMEB lists, orchestra festivals and repertoire lists for Year 12 examinations such as the HSC in NSW and VCE in Victoria.

The study and performance of Australian music allows us educators to share the valued music culture we have in this country with audiences and students alike as well as give inspiration and create pathways for future composers. The Australian Music Centre creates repertoire lists for students who study HSC and VCE music, and within these lists it is possible to identify interesting new works for your students to perform. The repertoire curated focuses on works that are predominantly for Grade 5 AMEB and above. For NSW students, the HSC lists consist of Australian music written in the last 25 years and each work is up to 5 minutes in length which are the requirements of the HSC Music 2 exam. In Victoria, the VCE lists includes repertoire composed within the last 30 years with works longer that 5 minutes in duration. This mandate to perform Australian music in these curriculums has inspired many of Australian composers to write repertoire for this level of music study.

For violin, works include a sprightly jig by Christine Pan titled Irish Breakfast, Lachlan Skipworth’s sumptuous Ode for violin and piano or the meditative Ione in the Sky by Caerwen Martin with its Celtic influenced melodies written for solo violin. Other works in the collection include Sati for violin and piano by Jessica Wells who gives focus on mindfulness with both instruments exploring the wide range of emotions in the musical construct of the work. In contrast, Nicholas Russoniello has composed a work that reflects the wonder of ‘call and response’ in the composition, Werri Dance II, originally written as a duo but now arranged to be performed as a solo work with loop pedal.

For viola, the vibrant work, Talking Points by Natalie Williams, played frequently on ABC Classic, is housed at the AMC along with Margaret Brandman’s Jucaro rhumba d’amor, a lively composition celebrating the rhythms and harmonic flavours of Latin America. Djeran by Aaron Wyatt is a work for either viola and piano or viola and strings which explores the beauty of the full range of the viola with a slow introduction followed by an energetic Allegro vivace.

The cello repertoire features the soulful and reflective Permit Me for solo cello by Deborah Cheetham Fraillon, Fantasy on Waltzing Matilda by Harry Sdraulig (originally composed for Yo-Yo Ma) as well as an elegant work from the film Heretic titled Nameless One by composer Mee-Lee Hay.

Aaron Wyatt (credit Jessica Bader)

Christine Pan (credit Ester Maria Photography)

For double bass, Binary Code by Richard Charlton is an excellent solo work for emerging bass players. Changes I, II, III for double bass and guitar by John Spence demonstrates a wonderful exploration of the technical capabilities of the two instruments as they interact with each other in this composition. Keyna Wilkins’ 3 Pieces for Double Bass and Piano was inspired by the NASA’s 2012 Mars Rover mission, and a few recent additions include Take out the Trash Tango by Paul Stanhope and Walimbaya (Return) by Brenda Gifford.

The string orchestra repertoire at the AMC is rich with repertoire suitable for all ensemble levels. Christopher Gordon’s beautiful film score to June Again is arranged in a suite as well Moon Feather Magic by Elena Kats-Chernin which is regularly performed by overseas ensembles, including the London Symphony. Daniel Rojas’s Little Serenade is for advanced string orchestra and gives students the opportunity to play the energetic rhythms and vibrant harmonies that feature in Latin American music. The exquisite string music on the ACO’s ‘Hush’ album, Collective Wisdom, includes works by composers Maria Grenfell, Katia Beaugeais and Natalie Nicolas along with a recent work for advanced high school level string orchestra, Fantasy for Strings by Tristan Coelho.

There are numerous compositions for string quartet housed at the AMC. Elena Kats-Chernin’s famous works, Eliza’s Aria and Butterflying, are arranged for string quartet, giving students a lovely introduction to the genre. In addition, Robert Davidson has composed a beautifully written string quartet, Beyond the Shadow, for younger players which is also effective as a work for string ensemble.

When programming chamber music for your student ensemble, there is a wealth of repertoire to choose from the catalogue. It is worth having a look at the music composed from the Ngarra-Burria First People’s Composers Program; many of these works can be heard on the album, To Listen, To Sing, released by ABC Classics in December 2022. These works were composed for mixed ensemble with string instrumentation that includes violin, cello and double bass. The composers were mentored by Christopher Sainsbury and the project includes

works by Aaron Wyatt, Brenda Gifford, Troy Russell, Nardi Simpson and James Henry.

Another way of engaging students in chamber music is to start with duos, and there are some excellent duos for two violins, violin/viola and other instrumental combinations. Hollis Taylor has composed numerous duos that would work well for students and amateur players. Her Albanian Dance and Greek Dance are such examples. These are beautifully written works for the string instruments and provide an engaging introduction to chamber music. In addition, Cat Hope’s Shadow is a work to be performed via the Decibel Score Player app, giving students the experience of performing to a score moving on an iPad connecting artistic practice in performance and composition with STEM.

The AMC is the national service organisation dedicated to the promotion and support of art music in Australia. We can assist you to fulfil this practice of integrating Australian music at all levels of music education, in the classroom, private studio, and in the rehearsal and performance space. Therefore, I encourage you all to lean into the AMC’s resources and contact us for support to add some Australian music into your teaching and artistic practice.

After initial studies in music education and violin performance, Joanna Drimatis completed a Masters degree from the University of Texas at Austin in violin and orchestral conducting. And graduated with a PhD in Musicology from the Elder Conservatorium of Music in 2009. She was Head of Strings at MLC School Sydney, 2016–2022. Joanna has also given presentations on string and orchestral pedagogy with emphasis on the use of Australian repertoire for training orchestras. She is now the newly appointed Music Education Specialist for the Australian Music Centre.

Daniel Rojas (credit Mike Chesworth)

Margaret Brandman (credit Matt James)

Five tips for ornamenting baroque music

Alan Choo

In my teaching of baroque music over the years, one of the topics that I specifically get asked a lot relates to ornamentation – how to do it, when to do it, etc. Indeed, it can feel like an intimidating subject, and there can be various approaches to ornamentation even amongst historical performers today. At the risk of over-generalisation, I have distilled my personal approach to ornamentation to five simple tips, which you will hopefully find useful as an introductory guideline to explore more. These function more as blanket principles – if you are looking for a prescriptive list of “rules,” please refer to my list of historical sources under tip #5.

1. Know the historical context of your piece

How we ornament Lully in 17th-century France is hugely different from Corelli at the turn of the 18th century in Italy and Bach in 18th-century Germany. Knowing what time and place your composer is from would inform what style of ornamentation to use, and what historical sources to look towards for ornamentation ideas.

Understanding national styles is also important. Italian music (Vivaldi, Corelli, Scarlatti, etc.) is in general more outwardly dramatic, more unabashedly heart-on-sleeve. Their instrumental music tends to be more virtuosic, calling for more fast, florid ornamentation meant to dazzle and impress. One notices that in Italian music, we think more about ornaments occurring in between the notes (discussed in tip #5), how to create flow and excitement, how to connect weak beats to strong beats with a flowery gesture, etc. Italian composers don’t write out their ornaments so much, but performers are expected to add them.

French composers tend to notate their ornaments (or agréments) more, which usually occur on the note (instead of ‘in between’ the notes) and are more concise (see examples of French ornament tables in Tip #5). They seek to beautify a phrase by making it more elegant and expressive, with a certain emotional restraint characteristic of French Baroque music. Notably, following François Couperin’s famous declaration of Les Goûts-réunis (‘the tastes reunited’) in 1724, certain French high Baroque composers like Leclair and Rebel started to incorporate more Italianate gestures in their musical language. Hence, one might consider adding some florid and ‘fiery’ Italian ornaments to their music.

German music in the 18th century similarly assimilated the best of both Italian and French styles, and as such open themselves to wide possibilities

of Italianate florid ornamentation and French-style agréments, such as in the music of the ‘chameleon’ composer Georg Philipp Telemann and Johann Sebastian Bach who championed a wide variety of genres from the Italian concerto form to the French dance suite.

2. Convey the affect of your piece

The starting point for all ornaments should be in service of the music – more specifically, the affect (emotions, mood) of the music in question. Depending on whether the mood of the piece is lively or melancholic, furioso or peaceful, that will determine how fast one might want to perform a trill, how long one might want to hold an appoggiatura, etc. As such, ornaments are never performed mechanically (i.e. metronomically), despite how they might look like on paper when one tries to notate the execution of an ornament. In practical terms, one should almost never consciously subdivide the rhythm in which to perform an ornament. The repercussions of a trill can start fast and slow down or vice versa. If the tempo of a piece is slower and has a more melancholic affect, one might want to linger on the beginning note of a mordent longer than in a brisk piece with a lively affect. It all stems from the sentiment of the music. Go deep into the music and feel it.

3. Understand the harmony

String students in general do not think about harmony enough. However, an understanding of underlying harmony (in the basso continuo) would influence decisions about how to perform certain ornaments. For example, in a high baroque piece where a cadential trill typically starts from the top note, it could make musical sense to start on the main note if it forms a dissonance with the bassline which later resolves, especially if the affect of the piece is angry and intense. If one started the trill on the upper note instead, it could be a missed opportunity to express something dramatic that the composer might have intended in penning a vertical dissonance.

4. Practise the music without ornaments, then with – and vary them!

Understanding the structure of a piece is paramount, and ornaments should seek to clarify the musical structure instead of obscuring it. As such, it is always helpful to practise the music without the ornaments, possibly dropping out even written notes that are ornamental in nature (such as notes that simply arpeggiate). By doing so, the voice leading and the structural notes of a melody become clear. We should seek to be as expressive and clear with our phrasing as we can with just these skeletal notes, after which the ornaments (or ornamental notes) which we add back in would simply help to clarify or accentuate the musical phrasing and structure.

To avoid being comfortable with just the same ornamental notes each time (such that they become “automatic” in nature), practise varying them as much as possible to train your creative mind and discover how there can be multiple ways to say the same message!

5. Explore historical sources!

I list here a sample of historical sources which I find most pertinent and practical to the string teacher in today’s world, due to the nature of the repertoire that string students nowadays come most into contact with. As such, the list below deals primarily with 18th-century music, and less with 17th-century music of the likes of Monteverdi or Biber that will have their own list of possible sources.

• Written-out ornaments to Arcangelo Corelli’s Op. 5 Violin Sonatas (Estienne Roger, c. 1723): a valuable guide to Italian florid ornamentation, supposedly as Corelli himself performed in concert:

• JS Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in D minor, BWV 974, an arrangement of Alessandro Marcello’s Oboe Concerto. Here, we can see Bach’s strategies for ornamenting the more skeletal structure laid out by Marcello, with writtenout florid ornamentation and some one-note agréments in the form of mordents.

• Ornament tables as prescribed by French composers such as Couperin, Rameau and D’Anglebert. This is from Jean Henry D’Anglebert: Ornament table from Pieces de clavecin (1689).

• J.S. Bach himself copied out D’Anglebert’s ornament table, and also has his own ornament table found in the Clavier-Büchlein vor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, to be used for instruction for his eldest son. Bach uses many of these symbols in his music.

Other important historical treatises:

• François Couperin: The Art of Playing the Harpsichord (1716)

• Francesco Geminiani: The Art of Playing the Violin (1751)

• Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach: Essay on the True Art of Playing the Keyboard (1753/1762)

• Johann Quantz: On Playing the Flute (1756)

• Leopold Mozart: A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing (1756)

The more we understand the history, language and aesthetics of baroque music in general, the more the style and manner of ornamentation makes sense in a piece. And the more we understand ornamentation, the more we can use it as a powerful tool to express the emotions of the music. Ornaments are always alive and dynamic, and their improvisatory nature could also serve to teach students to free themselves up in performance, thereby opening their minds as to what is possible with interpreting and communicating music.

Visit seamusicacademy.online to sign up for Dr Choo’s online courses on baroque music, or to purchase recordings of his courses, with an option for consultation. AUSTA members are eligible for a 15% discount with the discount code AUSTA15OFF.

Dr Alan Choo is a graduate of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, Singapore and has two masters degrees in violin performance and early music from the Peabody Institute, Baltimore. He is the founder and director of Red Dot Baroque, Singapore’s first professional period ensemble and Ensemble-in-Residence at NUS Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music.

Young Bach detectives

Josephine Vains

As a performer of Bach, I have become increasingly fascinated by the delicious communication between protagonist and audience. No matter the size of the crowd, the Bach cello suites provide us an opportunity for connection, with the aim to “master the hearts of the listeners and arouse or still their passions,” to quote JJ Quantz.

As a teacher, I love my students to do historical detective work around instruments and bows, temperament, harmonic sleuthing, beat hierarchy, identifying dissonance and consonance, improvisation and imagining bass lines. We do well to remind our modern ears of the evolution of harmony. (Listen to Leonard Bernstein’s “Greatest 5 minutes in music education” video.)

Some ideas on the hardware

I often allow my students to try my gut-stringed historical cellos for a different sensory understanding of the suites. They are surprised by the texture on the fingertips, challenged by producing a sound with more squeaks than usual. If gut is an option, it’s worth a go. Tuning modern instruments down a semitone to A415 Hz is a decent substitution, altering pressure on the instrument’s belly (and maybe the player’s too), increasing resonance and bow awareness. I recommend this website with a treasure trove of 1000 images of cellos and bass viols: https://remise18.com/iconography/

It isn’t difficult to find affordable historical bows these days; online and through places like Saraband Music (Qld) and Bows for Strings (Vic). In the absence of a historical bow, holding the modern bow a bit higher with a little ‘tennis racket’ grip for ease of holding can be fun. We can embrace inequality in bow strokes, listening for the bloom and decay between down and up bows. Changes in articulation, slur sostenuto and ‘off-ness’ of the stroke are often revealing.

Getting started with Anna Magdalena

This website (http://www.wimmercello.com/ bachms.html) includes free facsimile copies in Anna Magdalena’s hand of the suites and can provide a great exercise in reading “the notes” for intermediate and more advanced students. The Dutch cellist, Anner Bylsmer, had plenty to say on slurs, ornamentation and phrasing in his quirky and insightful commentary within self-published editions such as The Fencing Master. The Bärenreiter seems to be the standard modern edition these days, with excellent references to the sources in the appendix.

You’re never too young (or old) to be HIP

A little bit of research never hurt anybody. If there were one book to read on the multi-edged subject of Historically Informed Performance (HIP), it would be

Bruce Haynes’ The End of Early Music. Also read Judy Tarling’s highly practical tomes (The Weapons of Rhetoric and Baroque String Playing for Ingenious Learners) which are full of digestible HIP insights. If you’re interested in the primary sources, go to Joseph Joachim Quantz’s Versuch and Quintilian’s Institutio Oratorio from 95 AD for the origins of rhetoric. Melbourne-based Greg Dikmans has an excellent website (https:// historicalperformance.dikmans.net/home). My personal favourites for HIP listening include Anner Bylsmer, Pieter Wispelwey, Mime Brinkmann, Hidemi Suzuki and Steuart Pincombe of the Netherlands Bach Society.

Let the music speak!

In the words of Nicholas Harnoncourt, “music prior to 1800 speaks while subsequent music paints”.

I have found if students have access to ideas grounded in oratory or rhetoric, it can incentivise them in their home practice and discovery. Some common rhetorical ideas and figures we might use in oratory and music include: dramatic use of pauses or silence, repeating a phrase or text with differences in inflection or leaning, imitation and dynamic contrast. I was astounded one week by Chiara (in Year 10 at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School at the time) who presented the Prelude from Suite no. 3 full of imagination and conviction after having played rather drily previously. It turned out she had secretly enrolled in a public speaking course and within that week had found a way to internalise some rhetorical elements to her musical “speech” by studying the text of Shakespeare’s “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears”.

Finally, I’ll leave you with some quotes from young Bach detectives I’ve been honoured to teach...

• There’s a reason why we play Bach.

• Ahhh, Bach has such beautiful harmony.

• Playing Bach means having the freedom to become the musician I want to be.

• Bach’s music makes me feel happy and calm at the same time.

• A Bach a day keeps the worries away.

• Bach’s music is a self-contained universe.

• Thank goodness for Pablo Casals!

Josephine Vains performs around Australia and internationally on modern and historical instruments. As a teacher, she relishes training the next generation of curious musical minds at Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music at University of Melbourne. In 2022, she presented at the AUSTA National Conference on rhetorical approaches to string playing and teaching. www.josephinevains.com

Does homeowner insurance cover musical instruments?

Lea Matti

Whether you’re a budding beginner or enthusiastic amateur, seasoned muso or acclaimed virtuoso, looking after your instrument is likely second nature. No doubt you handle it with care, keep it in tune, clean and polished, and store it safely in its case. But what about protecting it from things out of your control – things like damage or theft? That’s where insurance comes in.

Many owners will rely on their home and contents insurance to protect their instruments. However, this could fall short. Having a specialist insurance for musical instruments can help musicians and collectors to safeguard their instruments.

Designed to cover all the contents of a home from furniture to clothing, home insurance policies often have a set limit for how much can be claimed for a single item or collection. At times, this limit can be insufficient to cover the cost of repairing or replacing quality musical instruments if they are stolen or damaged due to an insured event such as a fire or flood.

To cover high-value items, most home and contents insurance providers allow the policyholder to apply for specified item cover. Usually this additional cover, if the insurer agrees to cover the item, comes with a higher premium and sometimes additional terms.

Importantly, most home and contents insurance policies don’t cover musical instruments when they are in use and usually exclude cover when the instrument is used for business (for example, by a professional or teacher). Nor do they generally include accidental damage, but this may be offered as an add-on at extra cost.

Another consideration with home and contents policies is whether the instrument will be covered outside of the home, for example at a lesson, rehearsal or performance venue, on tour or in transit. Again, if portable contents cover (either unspecified with a set value limit or specified with a nominated sum) is offered, it will likely attract a higher premium and might exclude cover while the instrument is in transit or in use.

Instead of relying on a home and contents policy to protect your instrument, taking out specialist musical instrument insurance could be more beneficial.

These policies are designed to afford the policyholder the right level of cover to protect against a range of risks that owners may face including damage (from both insured events and accidents) and theft, whether the loss occurs at home or away (including in transit).

Cover while outside the home is essential for those who ‘play for pay’ such as professional musicians, music teachers and luthiers. Whether you play backup bass in a band or are first chair in an orchestra, you’ll want your instrument to be protected against damage or theft when you’re performing or travelling.

Most musical instrument insurances generally provide cover for musical instruments of all types including bows, cases and all other associated accessories used in the production or performance of music. Your instrument is covered for:

• accidental loss or damage worldwide

• loss of value following accidental damage (classical instruments only)

• borrowed instruments

• instrument hire costs following loss or damage, with your choice of repairer

• theft from an unattended vehicle.

Solo performers and teachers can also be covered for public liability for an additional premium.

So, while home and contents insurance may be suitable for some musicians, in many instances it won’t offer the breadth of cover required to adequately protect your instrument.

Don’t risk going off-key when protecting your precious instrument – seek out specialist insurance.

Lea Matti is the Marketing Coordinator at EBM Insurance.

Clarity in instruction

Markiyan Melnychenko

(In May 2022, I travelled to the Hanns Eisler Conservatorium in Berlin to observe the violin teaching of Professor Antje Weithaas, one of Europe’s foremost string pedagogues. This is part three in a series of articles from my Churchill Fellowship report.)

Howimportant should clarity in teaching instructions be? Most would agree that it is very important. It can be argued, though, that there are certain things in certain situations that can be gained as a result of less concrete instructions that force students to engage more in their own search for answers. The application of such an approach would need to be selective, based on student capabilities, and flexible, based on the results being achieved.

It is generally and correctly accepted that clarity in instructions is a vital element for successful teaching. Music students usually have a very limited amount of time that they spend with their teacher each week with a limited number of teaching weeks per year. Furthermore, for those who are aiming to go down a professional musical path, the competitive nature of the profession today means time is very much of the essence and so time-efficient delivery of instructions is very important. This is made even more important in the case of somebody like Antje Weithaas (AW) who balances her teaching life with a performing career which takes much of her time and attention, although it provide its own benefits to the students.

However, if we consider both the philosophical questions of pedagogy and the unique elements inherent to the artistic pursuits, we find that, in certain cases, less clarity in instruction may lead to a deeper understanding of certain concepts along with a more personalised artistic development in the student. At first, this may seem like a paradox, but in analysing AW’s lessons, evidence can be seen which lends support to this premise.

In many of the lessons observed, AW began by providing students with an end goal, giving a general set of parameters to follow and nudged the student along towards that goal without “holding their hand” with step-by step, micromanaged instructions. As a result, the student is forced to start thinking and feeling their own way through the instrument in order to achieve the desired result. The benefits of this are several:

• Perhaps most importantly, when given an end point and the freedom to reach for it on their own, one student will find a way forward which will (to a certain extent) be different from another, even though they reach for the same result. For example, to take the following musical instruction, “the bottom of this bar needs a deeper colour

with more emphasis”, it would be possible to add, “on these particular notes, you need to increase the weight of the bow, reduce its speed while adding a burst of speed to the beginning of each stroke”. The addition makes it very clear how to achieve the original instruction and might make the process faster; however, it could be argued that without it, there is enough detail so as not to be completely vague, but there is more room for exploration/discovery. If a student engages in this process of innovation over a longer period of time (being nevertheless guided by the boundaries of style and taste put in place by the teacher), the result will be the development of a unique musical personality of sounds, colours and approaches. This is to be valued as it will make a large difference to the sincerity of their music making, being an organic expression of their uniqueness as an individual. Additionally, the good health of the musical arts is connected to the diversity in creative voices.

• On a more general level, the student will also inevitably have to engage their critical thinking in a deeper way. This will result in the better development of the problem solving skills that are so essential to mastering a musical instrument, but at the same time will also bring benefit in many other areas of a student’s life. It will also be an investment for their future playing, when

Cello lesson (credit Picfair)

student years end and they become their own teacher. Finally, excellent problem-solving skills are vital to good teaching, something almost every music student will engage in at some point in time, since each person being taught presents unique challenges and a teacher’s flexibility of approach is key.

• The student will be unable to fall into the trap of “passive” learning, a common pitfall where information is simply accepted without being truly processed and without an active engagement with the material. By putting a student in a position where they must remain an active participant in the learning process, it is much more likely that they will be more stimulated and absorb, as well as retain, more knowledge.

The first caveat to this strategy is to be found in the need for flexibility and readiness to react. Whether from student to student, or even from bar to bar, it is important to consistently be gauging how successfully a student is managing the search so that the teacher can step in with more detailed help, if that is what is required. In one lesson, AW was working on releasing tension from a student’s bow arm during a long sautillé–ricochet passage. She began with more general instructions and to “let the bow do it” but, notwithstanding the strenuous efforts applied by the student, no progress was made. AW moved to increasingly

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detailed descriptions, eventually physically moving the arm of the student and controlling their body into making the movements that were needed. The move across the scale of general to specific into the far extreme of actually controlling the physical movements of a student was an interesting example, underscoring the need for judicial application of teaching strategies, with the final deciding factor being whether or not the student is achieving the necessary result.

Finally, one more consideration with this strategy is a realistic assessment of a student’s capabilities. This approach is most suited to highly motivated and highly talented players. They need to be curious enough to want to explore and self-driven enough so that they can push through the many inevitable frustrations of the search process. A deeply seated love of the music provides much of this. Such students would be commonly found in a major European cultural centre such as Berlin, with students flocking to study at one of the world’s top music conservatoriums, and therefore AW is well positioned to often employ this teaching strategy. However, even without these conditions, most teachers will have at least one such student come into their lives at some point who would be suitable for this sort of work.

As with many aspects of pedagogy, care must be taken to make sure the right circumstances exist for the students to gain most benefit from an approach which provides them with just enough information for them to fill in the blanks. However, the possible effects on a student’s musical and cognitive development means that this strategy should, at least, be considered to form part of a teacher’s arsenal.

Ukrainian-Australian violinist Markiyan Melnychenko has served as Lecturer in Violin at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and Principal 1st Violin with the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra. He has performed in 17 countries and has been broadcast on ABC Classic FM, 3MBS FM and Radio NZ, and has commercially released recordings on the Tall Poppies (2019) and Naxos (2020) labels.

Cello lesson (credit Yan Krukau @ pexels)

Bow changes from the instrument’s perspective

Lachlan Dent

An area of great frustration and confusion for many string players is the process of changing the bow’s direction smoothly to achieve an uninterrupted legato line. There are many differing opinions on how to achieve smooth bow changes, yet absent from many of them is the way in which various techniques actually affect the instrument. In this article, I will share some key concepts that facilitate reliable and consistent bow changes. I am a cellist, but the concepts presented here are also applicable to other stringed instruments. The ideas presented below assume the use of the whole bow but have relevance to some shorter bow strokes too.

First, we should acknowledge that it is physically impossible to change the direction of the bow without impacting the sound. Therefore, the bowchange process becomes one of minimising the gap between two sounds, and matching these sounds as closely as possible, to create the illusion of legato. All else being equal (e.g. in the absence of a significant change of string length), we thus need to ensure that our variables of bow pressure/weight, bow speed, and bow placement match as closely as possible on either side of the bow change.

Pressure/weight

Keeping the pressure/weight on the string consistent during a bow change is highly likely to result in a crunching sound, unless we change the plane of the bow during the bow change. Changing the bow’s plane simply involves rolling the bow on the string, as occurs when crossing to an adjacent string. In the context of legato bow changes, minimising (but not removing) this change of plane is preferable because we need our variables to be as consistent as possible. To keep the bow’s pressure/weight on the string as consistent as possible during the bow change, roll the bow towards the higher-sounding strings (lower-sounding for violin/viola) for both changes of direction: that is, for both up-bow to down-bow and down-bow to up-bow changes. While this approach may initially seem counterintuitive, rolling the bow in the opposite direction to the one described above reduces the pressure/ weight on the string and can therefore create a larger gap in the sound.

Over the course of several bow strokes/changes, rolling the bow towards the same adjacent string would cause the bow to (undesirably) touch that string. Therefore, for the ‘rolling’ process to work over multiple bow changes, a slight adjustment to the bow strokes themselves is required. The

necessary adjustment occurs during the up-bow stroke and involves moving the bow gradually in the opposite direction to the ‘bow-change roll’: that is, the bow hair on the heel side of the string moves towards the lower strings for cello/bass, towards the higher strings for violin/viola. This movement can be largely achieved by ‘following the curve of the bow’, a process illustrated in Figure 1.

Bow speed

A topic I have frequently heard debated amongst string players is whether the bow should stop during bow changes. I believe that the answer to this question depends mainly on one’s perspective. One point of view is that any object needs to stop moving in one direction before it can move in the opposite direction. However, if we accept that the bow’s plane will change (which is necessary unless we want to reduce the pressure/weight, which would change the sound), then there will inevitably be continuous movement of the bow between legato bow strokes. This is analogous to a north-bound car performing a U-turn; its overall speed could remain consistent throughout the manoeuvre, but there will also be a moment where the car is travelling neither north nor south. If our goal is to keep the variables as consistent as possible across the ‘old’ the ‘new’ bow stroke, it follows that the speed of the movement between strokes should match the bow speed as closely as practicable. Therefore, the experience of the bow change may be one where the speed remains the same, even if the bow’s velocity has reached zero from a strictly up-bow or down-bow perspective.

Putting it together

We can now move to a step-by-step practice process. For clarity, the rolling of the bow on the string will be described in terms of the bow’s tip or heel moving closer to the left or right side of the instrument, from the player’s perspective, as this facilitates one explanation for all string instruments. For cellists playing the D string, rolling the bow’s tip toward the instrument’s left side represents movement toward the A string, and rolling the bow’s heel towards the instrument’s right side represents movement toward the G string. For violinists, violists and bassists playing on the D string, rolling the bow’s tip toward the instrument’s left side represents movement toward the G string, and rolling the bow’s heel towards the instrument’s right side represents movement toward the A string.

At first, pause after each step to check it has been performed correctly.

1. Perform a down-bow, using the whole bow, and stop without releasing the bow’s pressure/weight on the string (it will probably make a ‘crunching’ sound at the end of the stroke).

2. Keeping the pressure/weight on the string, roll the bow so the tip moves a little toward the left side of the instrument (this process should be silent, as it is neither an up-bow nor a down-bow).

3. Perform an up-bow, using the whole bow. During this stroke, move the bow in such a way that the bow hair on the heel side of the string moves gradually closer to the adjacent string on the right (this will occur naturally if you ‘follow the curve of the bow’, illustrated in Figure 1). Stop without releasing the pressure at the end of the stroke.

4. Roll the bow’s tip slightly towards the left side of the instrument, without releasing the pressure (the same as Step 2, but at the heel).

5. Repeat all steps.

Once these steps are internalised, they can be performed without pausing or stopping the bow. Once the pauses are removed, any ‘crunching’ sound should disappear, as the bow will no longer stop altogether on the string. Ensure that the steps remain distinct (although smoothly so), rather than blending them. You may notice that the right hand makes ‘loops’ at the end of each bow stroke, and you may perceive the whole motion of the hand as drawing an extremely flat figure of eight.

Traditionally, some of the above processes are described the other way around, starting with descriptions of loops or figures of eight, and often not mentioning the bow’s change of plane at all. While it is certainly useful to consider the imaginary lines that the hand draws in the air, it is also extremely valuable to analyse the interaction between the bow and string. This analysis is useful because the curved motions that occur during bow changes are at least partially due to the string’s cylindrical nature, and also because it is the string’s vibration that ultimately creates the sound.

The illustrations show the steps involved in wholebow, legato bow changes from the player’s perspective. The red circle represents a crosssection of the string. Note that the bow strokes themselves are not straight, but rather follow the curve of the bow.

Lachlan Dent studied with New York Philharmonic cellist Evangeline Benedetti and holds a PhD in Music Performance. Lachlan has performed in New York, Brazil, New Zealand, Malaysia and China. He has given masterclasses at Monash University, and Universiti Tecknologi MARA (Malaysia), as well as teaching at Monash University.

Igor Ozim

9.5.1931–3.3.2024

Igor Ozim was born in 1931 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. At age 5, he started lessons with Leone Pfeifer, a former student of Sevcik, at the Academy of Music, Ljubljana. In 1949 he was awarded a British Council scholarship to study in the United Kingdom. He had lessons for two years from Albert Sammons and Max Rostal.

Following his win at the Carl Flesch Competition in 1951 and upon receiving first prize at the ARD Competition Munich in 1953, he toured widely through Europe, the Soviet Union, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the Far East. He had a repertoire of around 60 violin concertos and many chamber music works. He gave many first performances and was the dedicatee of many works. He made a number of recordings, including integral recordings of the piano trios of Mozart and the chamber music of Schubert. Ozim appeared as a jury member at noted violin competitions.

Ozim taught at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Musikhochschule in Cologne, Germany and the Hochschule der Künste in Bern, Switzerland. From 2000, he also taught at the Académie musicale de Villecroze. His students include Kurt Sassmannshaus and Alexei Igudesman, Australians Peter Tanfield, Richard Tognetti and Brian Finlayson, and concertmasters of several major European orchestras, who remember his elegance, clarity and dedication to his students.

Ozim produced editions of various works from the classical and contemporary violin repertoire, including the Mozart violin concertos.

Patricia Kopatchinskaja, who studied with him in Bern 1997–1999, wrote that Ozim had “a very detailed knowledge of historical performance practice and also dealt naturally with completely new music, knew and worked with living composers and was interested in everything that was created … He could even accompany all the sonatas on the piano. My time with him changed my consciousness … It was always crystal clear what he was talking about

and you never went home from his lessons at a loss. The tasks were tailored to everyone, guaranteeing success with his practice method. He demanded total dedication, diligence, punctuality and seriousness. The musical aspects were discussed but in the end each student was consciously entrusted with them. He trained several generations of countless fantastic violinists.”

Igor Ozim died in Salzburg, Austria on 23 March 2024, at the age of 92.

Roger Myers

AustralianUS

violist Roger Myers was born in Sydney to Hal and Leone Myers (née Stredwick). His father, a political journalist, was also a periodic music critic for the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. His mother was a concert pianist. Roger was educated at Sydney Grammar School and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. At the age of 12, he sang professionally as a boy soprano with Opera Australia in three productions.

Myers performed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Sydney Conservatorium Quartet, the latter being invited to become the international quartet in residence at Michigan State University. After relocating to the US, he studied under Donald McInnes at the University of Southern California, gaining his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in viola performance.

His collaborated with artists such as cellists Lynn Harrell and Martin Lovett. He performed with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, as principal violist with the Santa Fe Pro Musica and played with the New West Symphony Orchestra in Los Angeles as principal viola on tour with Andrea Bocelli.

Roger was a featured soloist in the 100th birthday tribute concert to the violist William Primrose at the 32nd International Viola Congress in 2004. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2005. World premieres included Kevin Puts’s Piano Quintet in 2006, Michael McLean’s Suite for Viola and Orchestra in 2008 and in 2011, a viola concerto by Peter Askim at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. In 2017, he was soloist in the world premiere of Michael McLean’s

newly orchestrated version of Robert Schumann’s Märchenbilder with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

He presented critically acclaimed concerts and masterclasses in countries on five continents including Austria, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, China, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Brazil, Mexico as well as the US.

His recording Fantasy and Farewell (works by Schumann, Shostakovich and McLean) on the Delos label with the London Symphony Orchestra was released in 2013 and acclaimed by the American Record Guide as ‘a masterpiece’. The disc was awarded ’Best of Show’ at the 2014 Global Music Awards and won two Gold Medals for Solo Instrumental Performance and Best Album.

Myers became Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in London in 2014. The Strad Magazine described his playing as possessing, “Consistently beautiful tone and unshakeable aplomb”. He taught in many prestigious summer festivals in the US and was the youngest Artistic Director and Host Chairman of the XXV Silver Anniversary Viola congress.

He held the position of Fellow of the Florence Thelma Hall Centennial Chair in Music and professor of viola at the University of Texas at Austin, Butler School of Music., when he died of cancer on 25 February 2024.

Geoffrey Michaels

1944–2024

Geoffrey Michaels was born in Perth, Western Australia and began playing the violin at the age of five. Recognised as a prodigy, he was the youngest performer ever to win the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s Concerto Competition.

In 1961, he studied violin with Efrem Zimbalist at the Curtis Institute of Music, and violin and viola

with Oscar Shumsky. While there, he joined the Curtis String Quartet, a position he held for the next eight years, and was a founding member of the Liebesfreud Quartet and performed with numerous other chamber music groups.

Michaels was a prize winner in the Tchaikovsky Competition, the Queen Elisabeth Competition and the Concours Jacques Thibaud in Paris. As a soloist, he appeared throughout Europe, North America and Australia, performing works by Berg, Kurt Weill, Arvo Pärt and Alfred Schnittke. He premiered Arvo Pärt’s Fratres and Tabula Rasa for Two Violins and Strings. Many consider his interpretation of Elgar’s Violin Concerto with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra one of the all-time best performances of this work.

During his Australian tours, he collaborated with pianist-composer Roger Smalley, whose piano trio, commissioned by the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, is dedicated to Michaels.

Michaels’ passion for music education has left a profound impact on his students and the broader music community. An experienced teacher of violin, viola and chamber music, Michaels taught at numerous US institutions and the University of British Columbia.

US–WA violinist Brian Hanly recalls, “I first met Geoff when he was about nine years of age, and I was about thirteen, when he came for violin lessons with my father. I was dazzled by his violinistic brilliance.

“When Geoff was about fifteen, we formed the Geoffrey Michaels String Quartet with John Dean and Brian Meddemmen. Playing in the quartet with Geoff was a total joy, and I learned so much from him both violinistically and musically. Two years later he left Perth for Curtis, but when he returned to Perth for visits, we again functioned professionally as a firstrate string quartet.

“Geoff was intellectually brilliant, sensationally talented as a violinist and a warm and very generous friend to those who knew him well. Who will ever forget his three-concerto concert at age seventeen with the WASO (Mozart D major no. 4, Tchaikovsky and Brahms)? Without Geoff’s influence and encouragement, it is highly unlikely that I would ever have made it to the US to study with Gingold.

“During the 59 years that I have lived in the US, Geoff and I have remained close, with many get-togethers and I don’t know how many phone calls. Geoff and I last spoke five months ago. He was obviously not well. I can only hope that at that time I may have brightened his life, if only a little.”

Reviewers

Mary Nemet

National Reviews Editor, violinist; solo, chamber music and orchestral concerts worldwide.

During a distinguished career her second homes were London’s Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Abbey Road and BBC studios. Former Lecturer in Strings, Sydney Conservatorium and VCA, Melbourne, UQ and USQ.

Patrick Brislan Guest Reviewer

Patrick has been active in music performance as hornist in Australia for over 60 years –as guest member or soloist of all the state symphony orchestras, and as member of the Adelaide Wind Quintet. Subsequently he served as Director of the Elder Conservatorium from 1984 and as Associate Dean of Performing Arts from 1989-2000. From 2002 until 2023 he voluntarily assisted the Australian Youth Orchestra with their alumni program.

Patrick has written numerous articles, short stories and a book, Heresies of Music - an irreverent take on the many fables, fantasies and fictions he has encountered throughout a long career in music.

Andrew Lorenz

Extensive career as violin soloist, orchestra leader and chamber musician, including over 30 years teaching at tertiary level. Led Adelaide Symphony, Melbourne Elizabethan Trust and London D‘Oyly Carte Opera Orchestras, New England Ensemble and Australian Piano Trio.

Susan Pierotti

Career experience includes London, solo, opera, ballet, recordings, Elision Ensemble, Principal Violin, Orchestra Victoria. Stringendo Editor.

Patrice Connelly

Patrice owns Saraband Music, Australia’s premier early music publisher. An M.Mus (Hons) from the University of Sydney, she has taught viola da gamba since the 1980s. Patrice is President of the Early Music Society of Qld.

Helen Tuckey

Based in Perth, violist Helen is an orchestral musician, AMEB examiner and studio teacher. Immediate past AUSTA National President and is now President of AUSTA WA.

Jon Rose

Jon Rose’s lifework is The Relative Violin, a total artform including innovation in new instrument design, instrumental techniques, and interactive electronics. In 2012, he was honoured with The Music Board of The Australia Council’s senior award, the Don Banks Prize. www.jonroseweb.com

Ros Hurst

Former string and pedagogy lecturer, conductor and Visiting Fellow at ANU School of Music. Currently pedagogy researcher, Honorary Associate and member of Emeritus Faculty ANU.

Dr Anne Berry

Newcastle cellist, teacher and researcher. Anne was awarded her PhD in Music Education and Pedagogy, from the University of Queensland in 2007. She is a member of Newcastle’s Christ Church Camerata .

Dr Michael O’Loghlin studied cello, double bass and viola da gamba in Sydney and Vienna. He now teaches those instruments in Brisbane, after a long career as a member of the QSO. His book, Frederick the Great and His Musicians: the Viola da Gamba Music of the Berlin School was published in 2008 and reprinted in 2016.

Robert Jackson

A.Mus A, L. Mus A (distinction), B.Mus (Perf.) Sydney Con, M. Mus (Perf.) Hannover Hochschule für Musik. Robert teaches Cello and Double Bass at the New England Conservatorium in Armidale. He performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician around the region. He is also conductor and principal cellist with the Armidale Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor of the Errol Russell Sinfonia.

Marian Heckenberg

B.Mus (Hons) UQ, and M.Mus University of Southern California. After travelling extensively interstate as performer and teacher, Marian is now on the Qld Conservatorium (Griffith University) Double Bass faculty; principal double bass with Queensland’s Camerata and freelance player with QSO.

Adele Ohki

Adele recently returned to Australia after a long career performing in the USA, Now Head of Strings at Newington College, Sydney, and Baroque violinist.

Book Reviews

by Mary Nemet

G.HENLE

PUBISHERS: 75 YEARS

Tobias Heyl 2024 Hanser Verlag www.henle.de

Henle celebrates its 75th birthday this year.

To mark the occasion, Hanser Publishers has released the remarkable history of this esteemed publishing house written by Tobias Heyl.

We tend to take for granted the many fine Urtext editions that come into our hands nowadays.

Heyl’s extensive archival research vividly brings to light how much effort has gone on behind the scenes, and still continues.

Henle’s history begins with its founder, Günter Henle.

Heyl paints a fascinating biography of this erudite man, from his childhood and youth, the impact on him of both World Wars, musical studies, his time in the diplomatic service, as an industrialist, politician and eventually gravitating back to his first love, music.

Employed by prominent industrialist Peter Klöckner whose daughter he had married, Günter Henle founded the publishing house and issued the first Urtext editions of Mozart and Schubert.

But first the war years intervened. In 1942 Henle, of Jewish ancestry, was summarily dismissed from his post at Klöckner and went into hiding for a time. A talented pianist, and with more time for music, Henle played duos, trios and quintets with accomplished friends in those gloomy wartime days. Dissatisfied with the available editions on the market,

which he noticed were frequently encumbered with random markings, Henle conceived the idea of launching his own publishing house and ‘producing editions that reflect the composer’s ideas as accurately as possible’.

Building useful networks, the new company was launched in October, 1948. Quickly gaining momentum, first editions off the press were Mozart’s piano sonatas, Schubert’s piano works and Sonatinas for piano and violin, all ready in time for Christmas that year.

Henle had discovered by chance the manuscript of Schubert’s first violin sonatina in a Zurich antiquarian bookshop. His staff had to content themselves with photographs, photocopies and microfilm. The search for sources continues amid the arduous process of bringing the Urtext editions into being.

Today the collections are completely digitised and contain around 40,000 sources.

Many celebrated artists such as pianists Edwin Fischer, Rudolf Serkin, Arthur Rubinstein and Alfred Brendel, and later Murray Perahia, András Schiff, Yehudi Menuhin, David Oistrakh, David Geringas, Gidon Kremer, Hilary Hahn and Renaud Capuçon enthusiastically endorsed the company, and in turn, Henle promoted many of these gifted musicians. Around 1500 Urtext editions have been published to date, making Henle the global leader in the field.

The term ‘Urtext’ is not the be-all and end-all, considering that new research and newly discovered manuscripts will lead to changes in the Urtext version. From printing press to the music-stand, this intriguing history of Henle, replete with many impressive photographs, is a fitting tribute to Günter Henle and his remarkable achievements.

CLAUDE DEBUSSY AS I KNEW HIM

Arthur Hartmann

UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER PRESS www.urpress www.boydellandbrewer.com

Part of the Eastman Studies in Music series, this book by American violinist Arthur Hartmann (1881-1956), contains fascinating memoirs of Debussy (1862-1918). Hartmann enjoyed a long career giving recitals and concerts throughout American and Europe, also composing and teaching (on the founding faculty of Eastman School of Music in 1921).

Although Hartmann never recorded commercially, a 2009 Toccata Classics recording by violinist Solomia Soroka exists of some of his salon pieces.

It is said that he wrote over 200 transcriptions, string quartets, symphonic and chamber music, Many were published but are today out of print.

He is perhaps best remembered for his transcription of Debussy’s The Girl with The Flaxen Hair, made famous by Jascha Heifetz.

Hartmann regularly corresponded and met with some of the most notable musicians of his day; among them, Bartók, Webern, Schoenberg, Grieg, Richard Strauss, Copland, Sinding, Glazunov, Kodály, Zimbalist, Kreisler, Szigeti and Sevčik.

This memoir centres on Hartmann’s friendship with Debussy between 1908-1918 and includes many letters between the two.

They gave recitals together of Hartmann’s transcriptions of Debussy’s works. A recital in February 1914 included Grieg’s Sonata in G, opus 13, a Bach concerto and works by Paganini, Corelli and Geminiani.

The program covers and billboards show Hartmann’s name in large print, with Debussy’s in much smaller print. After all, he was ‘only’ the accompanist! Hartmann’s charming and witty anecdotes of their time together bring Debussy vividly to life.

This captivating memoir concludes with sharp portraits of the legendary Eugène Ysaÿe, whom he called ‘Colossus of the Violin,’ as well as an incisive study of Joseph Joachim, who he also put on a pedestal.

Mary Nemet

by Marian Heckenberg

TEACHING VIOLIN, VIOLA, CELLO & DOUBLE BASS

Historical and Modern Pedagogical Practices by

Dijana Ihas, Miranda Wilson & Gaelen McCormick

Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group www.routledge.com

Receiving this publication for review has been an incredible gift. The resource is in three parts, Violin/Viola; Cello then finally Double Bass. Dijana Ihas systematically distils the essence of Historical treaties from the many schools of thought from the Old German Violin School, the French School, Franco-Belgian School through to the Berlin, Soviet and modern violin schools. She then examines the historical approaches to viola teaching leading into contemporary applications and modern pedagogy.

Similarly Miranda Wilson summarises the major pedagogical historical treatises for cello. She even creates fascinating ‘family trees’ tracing how pedagogues have influenced the generations that follow.

Part three, Historical Treatises and Approaches for Double Bass compiled by Gaelen McCormick is rather slim compared to the earlier parts of the book but it is thorough and beautifully constructed, making it entertaining reading whilst covering all aspects of double bass pedagogical history with practical advice relevant to bass playing today. It is fascinating to learn about the Italian, Prague, Paris, English and American schools of bass playing over time. The most valuable section for me is McCormick’s chapter on applications to modern teaching which pulls together many timeless pearls of wisdom. The entire work is systematic, logically structured, interesting and thorough. This is a publication all string teachers will want in their libraries.

Marian Heckenberg

Sheet Music Reviews

by Mary Nemet

Brahms: Sonata Movement in C minor from the F.A.E. Sonata for violin & piano, WoO2

HENLE URTEXT HN 1572

The close association between Brahms, foremost violinist of the day Joseph Joachim and the Schumanns is well documented. The idea of a joint composition by this tight circle of friends

was mooted by Schumann’s student Albert Dietrich and intended as a surprise sonata for Joachim who had come to Düsseldorf to give concerts.

Thus Dietrich contributed an Allegro in A minor, Schumann an Intermezzo in F and Finale in A minor, and Brahms, an Allegro in C minor.

Taking Joachim’s personal maxim, Frei Aber Einsam (free but lonely), Brahms, Schumann and Dietrich echoed the notes, F, A, E as a musical cryptogram in each of their movements. Apparently Joachim had no difficulty in identifying each composer.

The third movement, a fiery scherzo, was donated by the 20-year old Brahms. Published by Joachim 10 years after Brahms’ death, in 1906, it may otherwise have suffered the same fate as many of Brahms’ youthful works. However, this early surviving gem with its taut energy and sweeping lyrical phrases continues to be a lodestone in violinists’ repertoire.

Dietrich wrote the first movement while the romantic, opulent movements nos. 2 and 4 are unmistakably by Schumann (who later took them into his own Third Violin Sonata in a minor).

The F. A. E. Sonata remained unpublished during the lifetimes of its three composers and its dedicatee. It was not published until 1935.

The present Henle edition by Michael Struck is taken from the Violin Sonatas volume of the New Brahms Complete Edition. It supplies many new findings on problematic passages in the musical text and on the work’s genesis and reception history. Henle’s scholarly-critical editions of Brahms’ works for one instrument and piano offer today’s players not only a reliable text but also a comprehensive approach to the works. Marked and unmarked string parts are a valuable adjunct to this fine publication.

GRADE 8 VIOLIN ANTHOLOGY

ABRSM Examination Pieces from 2024

EDITION PETERS EP 20003

Published by Faber Music fabermusic.com

This Grade 8 anthology comprises a broad selection of pieces from lists A, B and C of the Associated Board, Royal Schools of Music.

The book also includes a selection of suggested repertoire suitable for the own-choice list.

For List A, choose one of six pieces from Bach’s Allemande in D minor, the Allegro from his A minor Concerto, or any of the Allegros from Haydn’s G major concerto, Beethoven’s G major sonata, Vivaldi’s La Primavera Concerto, or three short movements from Corelli’s Sonata in F.

List B includes movements by Tchaikowsky, Lalo, Chaminade and Grieg while List C contains virtuosic items by Ten Have, Monti and Gershwin.

The own-choice section contains three unaccompanied works: Australian Matthew Hindson’s The Big 5-0, Polish Caprice by Grazyna Bacewicz, Etude No. 30 by Kreutzer and an accompanied piece; Résignation by Dancla.

Extensive Performance Notes by violinist, teacher and examiner Jessica O’Leary give advice on technique and interpretation for each piece, with guidance on preparing an effective programme.

I have a few quibbles regarding this publication, mainly concerning choices of fingering which involve awkward shifts.

Those indicated are merely suggestions and will not suit every teacher or student, who may wish to change from the printed fingerings if they don’t agree.

However this is a welcome collection of pieces for students working at this advanced level.

PHANTASY, OP. 47 for violin & piano

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)

Henle Urtext HN 1171

Arnold Schoenberg pushed the boundaries with his atonal system.

Feeling that the entire tonal method since 1600 had exhausted its possibilities, he resolutely broke with precedent.

While listeners and colleagues did not at first embrace his visionary style, in time his innovations were accepted, even admired and thus the Second Viennese School emerged, along with his pupils, Berg, Webern, Egon Wellesz and many other followers.

Schoenberg’s String Sextet: Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), perhaps his best-known work, introduced his 12-tone system already in 1899, followed by Pierrot Lunaire, and large-scale works n the 1930s followed, such as the Violin Concerto and Fourth String Quartet in 1936. By this time his twelve-tone method had formally taken hold.

Schoenberg’s free atonal expressionist language coincided with the times, exemplified by the painters Kandinsky, Klimt and Kokoschka, the poet Stefan George, Freud and Wittgenstein.

Apparently their Vienna camaraderie was a cauldron of intellectual and artistic ferment, with highly stimulating dialogue between disciplines.

In Arnold Schoenberg’s last instrumental piece, the Phantasy of 1949 is dedicated to Los Angeles violinist Adolph Koldofsky, who premiered it to commemorate the composer’s 75th birthday in the same year. The Phantasy “for Violin with Piano Accompaniment” is very precisely titled – remarkably, the violin part was written first, and the accompaniment added later.

The Phantasy is an intense, virtuosic single-movement rhapsody, but contains episodes that recall archetypes of other traditional forms, including a complete little Scherzo and Trio crisply bouncing along in 6/8 rhythmic games. Schoenberg is meticulous about dynamic and expressive indications, including romantic markings such as passionato, dolce, cantabile, grazioso, and furioso. Variation is a central principle in composing with 12-tone rows, and there is also a very clear sense of theme-and-variations here, including a tight, dramatic recapitulation.

An extensive Preface and Comments enhance this fine Henle edition.

LA VIDA APASIONADA

Margaret Brandman

Encore Music Distributors MMP 8149 www.margaretbrandmanmusic.com www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/ artist/brandman-margaret

Margaret studied several instruments at the Conservatorium of Music and completed a composition degree at the University of Sydney.

An accomplished pianist, teacher, composer, arranger and music educator, she has performed and lectured in Australia and abroad. Margaret has composed for a variety of instrumental combinations

Including orchestral and chamber works. Sheis also actively involved in recordings as piano accompanist for her substantial collection of duet works.

PIANO QUINTET in G minor, JS 159

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)

BREITKOPF & HĀRTEL 2023

The piano quintet forms part of the complete works of Sibelius published by the National Library and the Sibelius Society of Finland and is found in Series 4, Volume 3, Chamber Music.

Her suite of 8 new Latin-American influenced works for violin and piano was commissioned by violinist Vov Dylan. This reduction of the ensemble score has also been arranged for solo piano and other instruments including cello.

Vov Dylan has contributed very helpful performance notes on each dance together with gradings that indicate suitability for HSC presentations and advanced AMEB levels.

All the duet works for both violin and cello are on the AMC’s recommended works for HSC for 2024.

The violin part incorporates double stop passages, imbuing it with extra rich harmonies.

Each dance is meticulously crafted, and while demanding technical proficiency, allows room for embellishments and flamboyance to bring out their rhythmic élan and character; as Vov Dylan points out, giving the performer lots of scope for cheeky playfulness.

Who can fail to be transported by these tantalisingly sultry, inspired dances?

The suite has been recorded for Margaret’s album, and piano backing tracks are also available, plus a video of the trio performance of the suite. These can all be accessed here: https://gig-alliance.com/artist/margaret-brandman/

WARM WINDS in HAVANA for STRING ENSEMBLE

Margaret Brandman

Furore Edition 10423

Jazzem Music Publications www.margaretbrandmanmusic.com.au/ product/warm-winds-in-havana-2/

Originally composed for saxophone quartet, Warm Winds has been adapted for string quartet with an optional 3rd violin part that doubles the viola part. There is also a percussion part for two of the movements, thus offering plenty of scope for teachers to use for students’ ensemble development, and very approachable for an intermediate level ensemble.

Featuring jazz and Latin-American influences, the first piece, Cuba Promenade is lively, in the style of a Samba Solida del Sol, capturing the sunrise, is more gentle, in 7/8 time, with a contrasting section and a swing feel in triple time. Danza del Dia is next, in syncopated rhythms contrasted with flowing melodies. Lastly Ritmo de la Noche has shimmering effects, building excitement in the disco rhythm, resulting in a variety of colours and textures.

Performance suggestions for Ritmo include sul tasto and sul ponticello, adding further tonal contrasts. Pizzicato is also used very effectively, bringing out the taut rhythms. A clearlywritten score with six separate parts in larger than usual type is very welcome, making reading easy. Apart from the sheer delight to be found in playing these pieces, there is great educational value here, particularly in controlling/commanding the more unusual rhythms.

Edited by Anna Pulkkis, with an extensive Preface, an appendix of movement 1V, many facsimile pages and a critical commentary, this magnificent bound volume of the score is a testament to years of dedicated research.

All the more so, as Sibelius was not always a willing or scrupulous proof-reader of his works, necessitating a detailed study of all relevant sources.

The quintet was completed in Berlin in 1890 while still a student. As a violinist, Sibelius played chamber music with his friends, including a performance of Schumann’s Piano Quintet. He had already written piano trios and string quartets as part of his studies. Hearing the Norwegian Sinding’s piano quintet premiere in Leipzig in 1889, (with the Brodsky Quartet and Ferruccio Busoni), inspired Sibelius to finish his own.

Even so, and despite numerous reworkings including a Scherzo completely different from the final one, the entire quintet remained unperformed and unpublished in his lifetime. Movements 1 and 3 were played in Helsinki with Busoni at the piano and Johan Halverson as lead violin. Still in Berlin, the composer was not present. It received mixed reviews but garnered more success at a second concert in Turku.

It was not until the hundredth anniversary of his birth that the entire quintet was first performed in public; on 24th May 1965 at the Turku Festival. First recorded in 1985, it was published posthumously by Hansen in 1993. Numerous performances can now be heard on YouTube and elsewhere. Its five movements, Grave-Allegro, Intermezzo, Andante, Scherzo and Moderato-Vivace, herald the future master of powerful symphonies, the violin concerto and beautiful chamber music.

QUINTET in C, OP. 68

Adolf Busch (1891-1952)

BREITKOPF URTEXT Study Score PB 5590

Known primarily as a celebrated violinist in the inter-war years and as leader of the Busch Quartet, Adolf Busch found time to write a large amount of music in all genres.

He had immigrated in 1939 with his quartet colleagues to the USA where he later founded the Marlboro summer school.

The flute quintet is printed here for the first time by Breitkopf. Considered a gem among his compositional output, it gives insights into the artist’s sound –world. Neoclassical in style but rather than following Stravinsky, Busch explored and further developed baroque, classical and romantic idioms. Written in 1949, the quintet sits between late romantic and early modern. Influenced by Brahms and Reger, Busch’s quintet draws a comparison with both these composers’ clarinet quintets.

The work was premiered in 1953 in Marlboro, Vermont and in his honour, as co-founder of the festival, it has been played there repeatedly. often by Busch family members.

Despite several re-workings by Busch, the flute part is very demanding, while the violin, two violas and cello also have challenging parts.

Its four movements; Allegro, a lovely Adagio cantabile, Presto and sparkling Allegro giocoso are a brilliant testament to his prodigious writing gifts.

This meticulously presented score including a detailed preface and a critical commentary is part of Breitkopf’s series of chamber music by Busch.

SONATA NO. 1 in E minor, OP.73 for Violin & Piano

Joachim Raff (1822-1882)

BREITKOPF Urtext EB 9386

The first of Raff’s five violin sonatas is titled “Grand Sonata” which like Schumann’s grand second sonata in D minor, implies virtuosity and expansiveness. Its four movement are headed Allegro, (Agitated with elegiac pathos), Scherzo (Very fast and fine), Adagio (Not too slow) and Presto (Agitated, very determined). Raff was close to Brahms during its creation, continuing the tradition of sonata form.

It was first played in 1854 by violinist Ferdinand Laub at Liszt’s house to illustrious guest Hector Berlioz and a few days later, Raff played the work with Joseph Joachim at another private gathering in Weimar. In subsequent public performances the critics were not impressed with the complexity and general nature of the work; however the public was quick to sing its praises.

Despite its popularity at the time, it fell into oblivion. Raff’s music was admired by Mendelssohn, Liszt, Bulow, Clara Schumann, Brahms and Joachim.

His prolific output produced 11 symphonies, violin and cello concertos, chamber music, piano works, operas and much more. It is said that his symphonies influenced Bruch, Strauss and Sibelius.

This much-neglected composer is now making a deserved comeback, with this brilliant Urtext edition fastidiously edited by Franziska and Lion Gallusser helping the cause. Violin and piano sonata duos are sure to revel in its dramatic virtuoso passages and poetic beauty.

SEPTET in E flat, Op.20

Beethoven

BĀRENREITER URTEXT Score TP 944 & Parts BA 10944

Scored for clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello and double bass, the Septet premiered at Beethoven’s benefit concert in Vienna in April 1800.

He had composed this large ensemble work at the same time as his First Symphony, which was also on the program, along with his piano concerto, a Mozart symphony, excerpts from Haydn’s Creation and a few improvisations with Beethoven at the piano. Concerts were long in those days.

However these sponsored events had commercial value as well as audience appeal, and his publisher, at his suggestion, soon printed the septet in versions solely for strings, and as a flute quintet. Beethoven also transcribed it as a trio for clarinet, piano and violin.

Within a year, the original septet was performed throughout Europe and had become hugely popular, so much so that Beethoven declared that it overshadowed works that were of greater merit or importance.

A possible reason for its popularity was its light-hearted nature, with its six movements in the style of a divertimento; welcomed by listeners as entertainment, like a serenade. Earlier composers had featured just one wind instrument with a string group. With his septet, Beethoven paved the way for others. Each instrument has beautiful solo passages (mostly the violin and clarinet), but the others come into their own featuring their special tonal qualities, including a long cello solo in the Trio, and tricky triplet virtuoso passages for the horn.

Despite Beethoven’s impatience with it, it remains one of the most felicitous in the entire chamber music repertoire. This beautiful work from the burgeoning 29 year old remans a favourite with chamber aficionados and still receives universal applause, as it did in his day.

Bärenreiter’ scholarly-critical edition is everything one expects from this esteemed publishing house, correcting numerous earlier discrepancies to accurately reproduce the original notation.

SERENADE for STRING ORCHESTRA in C, Op. 48

Tchaikowsky (1840-1893)

BREITKOPF & HĀRTEL

Urtext Score PB 5721

Tchaikowsky’s symphonies, his violin and piano concertos, Romeo and Juliet and 1812 overtures and perhaps above all, his Swan Lake and Nutcracker ballet music are known and loved by music lovers worldwide.

With already a great body of work behind him, in 1880 Tchaikowsky began sketches for a serenade for string orchestra. Later that year it received its premiere in Moscow and soon garnered widespread acclaim in many more performances. Walter Damrosch directed the work in New York in 1885 and the composer himself conducted it in Baltimore and Philadelphia in 1891.

Tchaikowsky called the Serenade,”A piece from the heart”. Originally conceiving it as either a symphony or a quintet, he settled on a string work, specifying that he wanted “the largest number of strings possible.”

Although it has its dramatic and even melancholy moments, the Serenade is sunny in temperament and overflows with gorgeous melodies. Clever use of double-stops contributes to the lush string sound.

Its first movement pays homage to Tchaikowsky’s idol, Mozart. His second movement, a graceful Waltz, reminds one of his inimitable ballet tunes, followed by a poignant Elegy, while the Finale incorporates effervescent Russian dance and folk tunes.

No other string work is so firmly entrenched in the modern repertoire,

A fulsome Preface and detailed Critical Notes by editor Tanja Geschwind complements this splendid production of the full score.

VIOLIN JUNIOR – A Creative Violin Method for Children

Ros Stephen SCHOTT

www.schott-music.com

www.schott-music.com/en/violin-junior/ welcome

Ros Stephen is an eminent violinist, teacher and composer based in London and the author of many best-selling publications on learning to play the violin.

Designed for children from the age of 5 years upwards, she begins with Violin Junior Lesson Book 1.

This is a fun and creative approach to learning the violin, with colourful illustrations to guide the little beginner and plenty of room for colouring in and writing their own tunes. Violin and piano accompaniments are available as downloads from the Schott website. Video tutorials showing the techniques and musical concepts as well as information, advice and audio tracks will also be found on www.violinjunior.com

Violin Junior Book 1 Concert Book (ED 23121) follows. All of the 30 pieces are carefully chosen for their playability and cover a wide range of styles from classical to traditional and folk. Many are arranged as duets at the same level, while others have a teacher’s accompaniment on the same or opposite page. With six pieces on open strings, the first finger is introduced in piece 7 (Simple Twinkle), then the other fingers follow in quick succession.

Importantly, ensemble, intonation and bowing skills are learned along the way and players will also benefit from mixing and matching each of the parts between them.

Large size notation is easy to read for little players.

Lastly in this series of three books we have Violin Junior Theory Book supporting students as they work through the Lesson and Concert books. It’s more like a colourful picture book than a study book, with even more opportunities for solving puzzles, drawing and composing one’s own tunes.

The three Violin Junior Level 2 books continue onwards and upwards, introducing minor scales, varying rhythms, different bowing styles and improvisation exercises.

It’s creative all the way and again filled with entertaining characters and more helpful tips from Fiocco the Frog and his friends.

This versatile series will be continued up to 5 levels.

THREE STRING SERENADES

Henle Urtext

Elgar Serenade in E minor, Op.20

Study Score HN 7004, Full Score HN3310, Set of Parts HN 3312

Elgar’s Serenade has come a long way from its early beginnings.

First performed by an amateur ladies’ orchestra in Worcester in 1892 with Elgar conducting, it was then rejected for publication by Novello’s who deemed “this class of music practically unsaleable”. It later appeared in print in 1893 and was not performed in its entirety until 1899. Today the Serenade is held in great affection by musicians and audience alike.

Tchaikowsky Serenade in C, OP.48

Study Score HN7550, Full Score HN1550, Set of Parts HN1567

Twelve years earlier, in 1880, Tchaikowsky wrote his Suite for string orchestra even though he had intended to take a year off and ‘listen to others’ music.’ Premiering in 1881, countless further performances followed. The enormous popularity of his beautiful Serenade continues to this day.

Dvořák Serenade in F, op.22

Study Score HN 7003, Full Score HN3300, Set of Parts HN3302

Five years earlier than Tchaikowsky’s, Dvořák completed his Serenade in just 11 days. A year later, in 1876, it received similar rapturous applause at its premiere in Prague. Not yet printed, the musicians had to make do with handwritten parts. With this lovely work, Dvořák finally achieved the international breakthrough he had hoped for.

All three of these splendid Henle publications come with an extensive Preface and detailed Comments.

Mary Nemet

by Andrew Lorenz

VIOLIN CONCERTO No.22 in A minor G.B. Viotti (1755-1824)

G. Henle Urtext HN 1579

It is always a pleasure to open an Urtext score published by G. Henle Verlag and this new publication of the Violin Concerto No.22 in A minor by Giovanni Battista Viotti is no exception. The work is thoroughly researched and the information in the Preface by Maren Minuth is invaluable. There are two violin parts; one is the original text and the other has very helpful fingerings and bowings by Friedemann Eichhorn. Cadenzas, lead-ins and embellishments are by Joseph Joachim and Christian Tetzlaff.

Founder of the French violin school, Viotti composed 29 violin concertos.

His outstanding students included Pierre Rode, Rodolphe Kreutzer and Pierre Baillot.

The Violin Concerto in A minor was written in London where the composer had fled due to the French Revolution. It was probably composed at the beginning of the 1790s for Viotti’s own concert use in his performances at Salomon’s Hanover Square Concerts. The work is dedicated to Luigi Cherubini and the first edition was published in 1803. Brahms writes of the work that “Viotti’s A minor concerto is my very special love . . . . . . It is a magnificent piece . . .” and you can find no better publication than Henle’s edition.

Andrew Lorenz

by Susan Pierotti

ROMANCE in C major for violin & piano Joachim, ed. Christine Elisabeth Müller Doblinger DM 1512

Joseph Joachim was one of the greatest violinists of the 19th century, forming close and productive relationships with Clara and Robert Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms

and Bruch. Joachim was also, like many violinists of the day, a prolific composer. Clara Schumann described his playing as ‘so gifted, so noble, so simple but moving to the core’, which aptly describes this Romance.

Clara dedicated her Romances for violin and piano, Op. 22, to Joachim, so possibly he repaid her with this charming Romance in C, published in the later part of his life. It is a melodically simple, four-minute work that explores the lower and upper reaches of the violin with a section in double stops. Joachim’s original phrasing and choices of string have been retained. The active piano part is not difficult.

String Quartets nos. 3, 4, 5

Scores and parts

Béla Bartók

HENLE HN 7423/1423, HN7424/1424, HN 7425/1425

Bartók’s third and fourth string quartets sit in the middle of his string quartet output. In 1928, his third string quartet received its premiere and won an international chamber music competition. “…we have played the work for Schoenberg and he was very enthusiastic about it,’ wrote the Kolisch Quartet who gave it its European premiere on BBC Radio. Within a year, it was being performed across Europe and the United States. His fourth quartet was written in the same year and premiered a year later. Bartok’s fifth quartet was his first commissioned one. Completed within a month, it was his most complex and his longest string quartet.

Working with string quartet players, copyists and publishers has resulted in numerous errors across different editions. Henle’s usual meticulous research has sorted this out and printed these handsome sets of parts accompanied by study scores that provide extensive notes by Bartók regarding tempos, glissandi and vibrato among others, that will enhance performance.

Cavalleria Rusticana Intermezzo

Mascagni, arr. Moraru

Son Art www.sonartedition.com

Mascagni’s gentle and beautifully melodic Intermezzo from his tragic opera, Cavalleria Rusticana, is scored in the original for strings and harp, so an arrangement for violin and piano works well. Moraru’s arrangement begins with a fourbar introduction reproduced from the final four bars, in my opinion lessening somewhat the effect of the ethereal ending.

His accompaniment, which differs considerably from other editions, is sensitive and supportive of the violin line. Moraru’s fingerings show not only where to shift position but indicate expressive intent. It is possible to play the entire arrangement on the two upper strings, though some D-string colour could be added. This short piece is a worthwhile exercise in bow control and for developing personal expressivity. The Intermezzo is about Grade 4 standard but is a useful piece to add to one’s gig repertoire.

crowds! Moraru has given us two versions, the first version being more florid towards the end, with scale runs, leaps and some double stops. The second version retains the quiet tremolo where, in the original, the off-stage chorus sings and, apart from the final tag up the E-string written by Moraru that works well for an ending, can all be played in first position.

As the original aria has many repeated notes, the bow stroke will need to be well articulated and made expressive. The original is a ‘hero’s’ aria that will require a strong and expressive tone. Pianists will need to resist the urge to indulge in a full-blown fortissimo at the end. Violinists will relish playing this splendid music.

Gnossienne no. 4

Satie, arr. Moraru Son Art www.sonartedition.com

Satie’s Gnossienne series of piano pieces, like his Gymnopedie, are reflective and deceptively simple. The bulk of Gnossienne no. 4 consists of short phrases of descending scale passages interspersed with repetitive semi-quaver ones over undulating quavers in the piano. Beginning in D minor, with just one major chord in the whole piece, the subtle, slow-moving harmonies convey a sense of Eastern cultures.

The arranged violin part is an exact transcription of the righthand line of the original, but Moraru’s accompaniment is more florid that the original left-hand part, disturbing, perhaps even negating, the stillness of the original. Moraru extends the piece by repeating another twenty or so bars. Allowing for a range of expression and interpretation, this would be an atmospheric and unusual encore to a recital, especially one of music by French composers.

Complete works for violin & piano

Grieg

HENLE HN1164

This volume contains Grieg’s three violin sonatas and his arrangement of the March from his incidental music to the play, Sigurd Jorsalfar. Judging from his compositions for violin and piano, Grieg may have had violin lessons and he also had a close relationship with Norway’s most famous and contemporary violinist, Ole Bull, who was an advocate for Norwegian folk music, an influence that permeated Grieg’s music, including his violin sonatas.

The sounds of the Norwegian hardanger, a stringed instrument with additional resonating strings, features in the first sonata and the second sonata, dedicated to Johan Svendsen, is redolent with folk tunes. The third sonata, his most grand, is rightly a staple of the repertoire. Due to different publishers and re-issues, errors have been introduced which Henle, with its usual scholarly research, has been able to correct and present us with a beautifully laid out and playable edition.

Susan Pierotti

Nessun Dorma

Puccini, arr. Moraru

Son Art www.sonartedition.com

This rousing tenor solo from Puccini’s opera, Tosca, is beloved across the world, having even been adopted by World Cup soccer

Viola Sheet Music Reviews

by Helen Tuckey

ADVANCED SCALE STUDIES FOR VIOLA

An Organized Method of Practicing Three-Octave Scales, Arpeggios, Chromatic Scales and Complete Set of Double Stops

Larisa Elisha

Carl Fischer B3478 www.carlfischer.com

In preparing the AMEB Technical work for Viola Series two, I am impressed by the many scale books that are now available for viola. Here is a new and valuable addition to this expanding stable.

The three-page introductory preface gives insights into motivation for the book, with practice strategies and lots of ‘how to’. Harmonic and natural minors are included, and the spelling of scales in C# and Db is skilfully dealt with from a visual perspective. The typeset is generous, which is important when there are many fingering patterns to be learnt, and the book opens flat and sits well on the stand.

Larisa Elisha is a Russian- American violinist and violist, and in this book she continues in the legendary traditions of the Russian School of Violin Playing from her early childhood and throughout her teaching and performing career. There is a violin edition also, which includes four octave scales. Although the viola edition closely approaches this with inclusion of B scales three octaves, for those who need the challenge, tenths and fingered octaves are included in both books.

VIOLA CONCERTO in F Major

Jan Michal Hataš (1751-1784)

ed. Travis Urban edition offenburg www.edition-offenburg.com

There is not an abundance of original works from the classical period that feature the viola as a soloist, which makes this is an exciting first publication! Jan Michal Hataš, who died at the early age of 32, was a cantor and rector from a musical family of several generations in Bohemia and Germany. Most of his works were religious choral compositions, works for wind ensemble and this viola concerto. The manuscript copy was held in a collection by Joseph Antonin Seydl, a dean, historian and violinist, and the original is held near Prague at the Okresni Archiv, Beroun. This two-movement concerto is in Italian sonata style. The first movement is in F major, delightful and in typical classical style, with the addition of a cadenza by the editor. The following playful Rondo (Allegro non molto) is also in F, with contrasting sections in Bb major and D minor. Mannheim School was my first impression, confirmed by preface remarks on similarities in melodies and textures to concerti by Stamitz. The orchestration of viola, strings and two horns is also reflected in the solo writing, with double stop writing imitating paired horns.

Travis Urban is an American violist whose research focuses on neglected viola repertoire from the 18th century, and he will give a world premiere in 2024. This publication contains a piano reduction and viola part. Attractively presented by edition offenburg, (specialists in music of this period), the level

of challenge would be at approximately Grade 8 or above. Recommended as an attractive and welcome addition to the known viola literature of this period.

ARIA for viola & piano

Paweł Łukaszewski (1968-)

PWM Edition

www.pwm.com.pl

Paweł Łukaszewski is a much-acclaimed contemporary Polish composer and sacred choral conductor whose father and brother are both composers. Originally for cello, his first instrument, and written for his son studying cello in primary school, this salon piece later appeared in transcriptions for several different instruments, including violin. At just over 4’ in length, it is of upper intermediate level, and quite demanding musically on the piano, more so than the melodic instrument. The score is clear and well laid-out, with program notes on the piece and the composer. Although first written for a child, this work has considerable scope for emotional interpretation. In style, with restless piano ostinato figures, lyrical melodic solo line and slightly jazzy harmonies, it is somewhat reminiscent of Elena Kats-Chernin.

SELECTED PIECES for viola & piano

Aleksander Pogorilec

PWM Edition

www.pwm.com.pl

Aleksander Pogorilec is a composer and violist in the Podkarpacka Philharmonic in Poland.

The three works in his attractively presented album are intended for pupils to enjoy playing together. Diatonic and straightforward, the first piece is variations on a popular Georgian folk song, Suliko (soul). At AMEB Preliminary –Grade 1 level, this is the easiest work, entirely in first position and C major, however it builds stamina through the variation form and is longer in length compared to many other works for this level. The variations explore rhythm, register and bowings.

Two waltzes follow; the first in C minor and the second in E minor. Both are marked Moderato con moto, and offer challenges with position work. The second waltz is even more challenging and includes double stops. These are AMEB 2nd3rd Grade level and are fun pieces for students, at the same time building technical extension with support of the piano accompaniment.

RÊVERIE for viola & piano

Wieniawski

(1835-1880)

ed. Stefan Kamasa

PWM Edition

www.pwm.com.pl

Henryk Wieniawski’s concert-going activities inspired all his compositions. On one occasion, Wieniaswki performed on viola in a quartet at the Beethoven-Quartett Society along with Ernst, Joachim and Piatti. Concerned that there were too few original compositions for viola, he decided to add to the repertoire with this short, lyrical piece. It was published posthumously by Hieronymous Weickmann, to whom the work was dedicated. Weickmann (1825-1895) was the first viola professor appointed to the Moscow Conservatory, and

Anton Rubinstein dedicated his viola sonata to Weickmann. Rubinstein and Wieniawski made a grand concert tour of North America between 1872-1874.

The viola part in the piano score contains the unedited version by Weickmann. It is interesting to compare this with the articulation and fingering of the viola part of this edition, very well edited by eminent Polish violist Stefan Kamasa. An earlier IMC edition edited by Leonard Davis in 1994 has many similarities and some differences with the Kamasa edition. Both have their merits. This pensive and beautiful original work for viola lasts just over 6 minutes. It is in Grade 8 List C of the AMEB viola syllabus.

VERKLÄRTE NACHT (TRANSFIGURED NIGHT)

String Sextet Op 4

Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951) ed.

Annette Oppermann G HENLE Parts HN1565 & Study Score HN7565

The inspiration for this composer‘s most famous work comes from a poem by Richard Dehmel, who, like Schönberg, challenged the artistic conventions of the time with great intensity and sensuality. The poem from 1896 is about an amorous new couple who walk through a dark forest on a moonlit night and share the secret; the woman is expecting a child by another man. References to this caused controversy in the period it was written and premiered (18991902). The poem begins with her sad confession, followed by a reflective interlude, acceptance by the man of the situation, and they finally proceed happily as a couple.

This edition comes with a score and separate parts, with an excellent preface to the score in several languages by Annette Oppermann. There were several revisions of the score by the composer, and it is interesting to compare the published version of 1905 with the original, which can be viewed in Schönberg’s handwriting on IMSLP.

Much later when the composer lived in the USA, orchestral versions were produced. However, the composer emphasised that one of the advantages of the original sextet was “the great freedom of soloistic performance” that chamber music affords.

Much scholarship has gone into preparing this edition, and for such a complex score, the parts are very well notated indeed, with practical page turns and all instructions clearly indicated. As with all Henle editions, an app version is also an option for those who prefer to play electronic versions.

Helen Tuckey

Cello Sheet

Music Reviews

by Michael O’Loghlin

Sonata for Organ & Viola da Gamba. BuxWV

Anh, 5

Bertali-Buxtehude

Edition Breitkopf EB 9497.

basso by Antonio Bertali. In does not say that there are four sources, which also attribute the work to William Young and Johann Michael Nicolai. The trio version published by Edition Güntersberg is attributed to Young. This organ transcription carries the only mention of Buxtehude, as ‘Box de Hou.’

The original trio is an attractive work in a typical German format, in which the second violin of the Corellian model was replaced by the gamba. The version presented here is however problematic, and may have limited appeal. The score is presented as a typical three-voice organ part in landscape format: right hand, left hand, and pedal. However, the left hand doubles the separate viola da gamba part, so what is the organist to do with their left hand? The ideal solution would be to use a small chamber organ without pedals (or a harpsichord), with the left hand playing the pedal line.

The work is in three movements with no tempo markings. The first movement has a slow basic beat, but the 32ndnote passages would be fast and brilliant. This is followed by a flowing, imitative section in 3/2 time, and finally one in moderate common time. The viola da gamba part in alto and bass clefs requires good technique, and covers a wide range, from D to f’’. By rearranging a couple of double stops, it would work well on the viola, as the few low sections double the bass.

SONATA no. 1 in E minor for cello & piano, op. 38.

Johannes Brahms

Bärenreiter Urtext BA 9429

Along with Beethoven’s three sonatas in op. 69 and 102, the two sonatas for cello and piano by Brahms are among the most significant 19th century works in this genre. Like Beethoven’s op. 69, this sonata opens with a cello melody which can well be described by that overused word, ‘iconic,’ and I will refer to the performance of it below. The work has no slow movement, although it was originally conceived with an Adagio. The first movement in sonata form is followed by a charming pseudo-baroque Allegretto quasi Menuetto, and then by the robustly fugal Allegro finale. The sonata is on the AMEB list for Certificate of Performance, and I believe every cellist at about that level should study it. This edition is so superior to any previously available one, that I can recommend it as essential for any musician who feels the need to gain understanding of their repertoire – and hopefully that’s all of us!

The Preface by editor Harald Vogel of this rather puzzling work tells us that it is a transcription by Dieterich Buxtehude of a trio for violin, viola da gamba and

Four earlier editions of the sonata are available as free legal downloads from IMSLP.org. This edition contains two copies of the cello part: an unaltered copy of the original source, which in this case is the first edition as the autograph is lost, and another with editorial performance suggestions by Kate Bennett Wadsworth.

To Bärenreiter’s credit, they have engaged the absolute leading scholars in preparation of this work. The chief editor is Clive Brown, author of the authoritative and very readable book, Classical and Romantic Performing Practice, 1750–1900. The piano part has been reviewed by our very own Neal Peres Da Costa, also a world authority on Romantic piano styles. Dr Wadsworth is a postdoctoral research fellow at Guildhall, and has recorded the two Brahms cello sonatas. Clive Brown’s Preface makes essential and fascinating reading; this is followed by a detailed Performance Commentary by all three editors, and finally there is the Critical Report. The pages are large, the music text is crisp and clear, and the page turns in the cello part are well placed.

My suggestion would be for cellists to use the Urtext copy, and keep the Wadsworth edition for consultation. This is because I find some of her suggestions interesting, but not necessarily informed by what we know of performance practice. Returning to that first subject, she suggests the C string for the first four bars. Why? It’s fine to play it that way if you like it, but the G string is also good. Surely no-one in Brahms’ day would have been afraid of a passing quaver on the open G string. However, these are minor quibbles about an edition which belongs on every cellist’s shelf.

Michael O’Loghlin

suggested fingering on the G and D strings attracts a warmer tone colour from the instrument.

The Introduction contrasts with the spirited allegretto tempo of the Russian Dance. The cellist plays fast passages in thumb position in the Dance with pizzicato chords, some double stops and dance like bowing techniques such as bariolage.

by Robert Jackson

GRANDE SONATE, op. 21 for cello & piano F. Ries (1784-1838) ed. M.Rummel PALADINO MUSIC pm0061 www.paladino.at

German composer Ferdinand Ries was best known as a pupil of Beethoven. He performed as a pianist all over Europe, most notably in London. Ries has more than 200 compositions to his name, although most are virtually forgotten.

Ries’s Grande Sonate, op. 21 is dedicated to Bernard Romberg, with whom he performed the work in 1811. The paladino edition provides two cello parts and piano score. One cello part is marked to closely resemble the original published by Simrock, in Bonn in 1810. The other has practical suggested bowings and fingerings, articulations and dynamics edited by Martin Rummel.

The sonata is in four movements. I- allegro, II- andantino quasi allegretto, III- menuetto allegretto, IV- rondo, allegro ma non troppo and is approximately 27 minutes in length.

There are some stylistic crossovers in Ries’s work with those of Beethoven’s and perhaps even Mendelssohn’s cello sonatas. The piano interjects in the first movement with rapid semiquaver passages and the cello motives are similar to those in Beethoven’s melodic writing.

Ries’s sonata has some of the sforzandos and subito piano markings that we generally see in Beethoven’s works for cello, but is overall lighter in vein and more concise.

This sonata is well suited for an amateur cellist and is certainly a good developmental sonata for students seeking a less demanding sonata to perform.

INTRODUCTION & RUSSIAN DANCE op. 113/1

Ferdinand Ries (1784-1838) ed. M. Rummel

PALADINO MUSIC pm0062

www.paladino.at

This paladino edition of the Introduction and Russian Dance is closely modeled on the original Clementi edition of Ries’s work from 1823. Ries was in London when fantasies, divertimentos and sets of variations were very fashionable, and was perhaps motivated by the English bourgeois love of melodies “based on tunes from foreign countries”.

Both the cello and piano parts are challenging, although the piano has the lion’s share of notes to play and is at a higher level of difficulty.. Two cello parts are provided along with the piano score. I found Martin Rummel’s fingered and bowed part helped towards a more romantic and virtuosic style. The cello melodic line is marked piano, mezzo voce, while

The slow introduction melody returns midway through the Dance before a sparkling Più mosso finish to the piece. Ries’s elegant Dance bubbles away with energy. It would suit any advanced cello student looking for a short flashy work to perform.

TWO SONATAS, OP. 2 FOR CELLO WITH A 2nd CELLO

Johann Stiastny (1764-1826) PALADINO MUSIC pm0077 www.paladino.at

Czech composer and cellist Johann Stiastny worked in Germany in the later part of the 18th century. These two sonatas are written with a second cello accompaniment. Like Stiastny’s contemporary, Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805), his sonatas are designed to showcase the performer’s skill and virtuosity.

His sonata no.1 in D major has two movements. I- allegro molto and II- andante con variazioni. The first opens with three grand minim chords to establish the tonality before trills, dotted rhythms, double stops and octaves quickly challenge the performer. The arpeggiated cello line sounds at times like the ascending flourishes in Friedrich Grützmacher‘s Haydn D Cello Cadenza.

The second movement has a stately dance like opening, followed by 8 different sets of variations, each with a challenge for the performer. Variation 1 is a fast allegro in thumb position with staccatissimo articulation; Variation 2 features fast slurred semiquaver passages and challenging string crossings.

Sonata no. 2 in E flat major has 3 movements. I- allegro non troppo, II- andante con variazioni and 3- allegro.

The double-stopped passages throughout the paladino edition sonatas have all been bowed and fingered with practical common sense solutions, although not necessarily prescriptive. These sonatas make a great challenge for students wanting to develop their ability to move around freely in the cello’s upper register, and also make an interesting excursion for students to model writing cadenzas.

Robert Jackson

Double Bass Sheet

Music Reviews

by Marian Heckenberg

THE SCHOOL OF AGILITY

A Technical Method of the Scale System for String Bass by Eugene Levinson

CARL FISCHER BF3 www.carlfischer.com

In his method book Levinson systematically works through all tonal centres. After a brief but clear explanation on how to use the book Levinson works through each key, starting with the major scale, then harmonic, melodic and natural minors culminating in a page dedicated to all the arpeggios (including major, minor, dom7, dim7 and augmented) related to that key. He shares the fingering and bowing patterns that have formed the backbone of his powerful technique. The last section in the book is Sequences of Arpeggios for Daily Practice. This finale is a marathon and mastering this gruelling study will no doubt build technique and agility as the entire fingerboard in explored.

Eugene Levinson is a Titan in the double bass world and this work was published after his immigration to the USA from Russia. It is no surprise that this method book is used around the world to build a high level of expertise for those who can scale its heights. The use of third finger in fingering lower than thumb position is not part of my personal technique and I use second finger instead in many instances. However this is trivial in the face of the virtuosity this monumental method will foster in the next generation of bassists.

LA CAPTIVE, OP.40 NO.1

by Amy Beach

Arranged for Double Bass by Cathy Elliott Bartholomew Music Publication www.bartholomewmusic.co.uk

The sweeping, lyrical beauty of La Captive pulls at the heartstrings with vocalisations up and down the G string of the double bass punctuated by a fluttering semiquaver motif that adds a breathless quality. A sophisticated dialogue between the bass solo and the piano accompaniment interweaves and responds to one another with chromatic interest. This short but passionate piece in G minor was originally written for violin and piano in 1893 but a later version was created for cello by Beach. Acclaimed American pianist and child prodigy Amy Beach was in demand as a soloist in Boston until her marriage at age 18 forced her to retire. Beach then focused on her compositions and achieved extraordinary feats as a female composer with her Gaelic Symphony premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1896. The difficultly level of La Captive is approximately AMEB Grade 6 but musical maturity and a lyrical mastery is required. I consider this an important piece and I plan to perform it myself in the near future.

ADORATION - Double Bass & Piano

by Florence Price

Arranged by Cathy Elliott

Bartholomew Music Publication www.bartholomewmusic.co.uk

Adoration is a brief yet haunting piece, originally written as a religious offering for organ with its hymn-like quality. This version by double bass educator Cathy Elliott sits in a lyrical range on the bass from around printed middle C and above into thumb position. Price had a unique style and in the publishing notes her music is described as a combination of ‘southern African- American spiritual melodies with European classic techniques’.

The difficulty level is around AMEB Grade 5 but it requires superior bow control, sustain, vibrato and lyrical shifting to do it justice. The bass and simple piano accompaniment are largely homophonic, evoking the organ through its sustained

lines. The publisher quotes a letter Florence Price wrote to Koussevitzky asking for feedback ‘…. I have two handicaps - those of sex and race. I am a woman and I have some Negro blood in my veins …. I should like to be judged on merit alone.’ To the modern reader her opinion of herself and indeed society’s attitude towards women composers in the early twentieth century seems outrageous. It is therefore remarkable to note that in 1933 Price’s first symphony was premiered by the Chicago Symphony’. I find this work moving and recommend it as a unique recital piece.

FANTASIES No. 7 in F major & No.11 in G major for Violin without Basso Continuo

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)

Transcribed for Double Bass by Nicholas Recuber www.carlfischer.com

CARL FISCHER BF123

These exquisite, unaccompanied works are a welcome addition to the solo repertoire for advanced solo bassists. The difficulty level is equivalent to approximately AMEB A. Mus, with technical challenges similar to Hans Fryba’s ‘Suite in the Old Style’ for solo double bass. Recuber was inspired to adapt these pieces to ‘bridge the gap between sonatas by Marcello and Telemann and the cello suites of JS Bach”. He has dictated fingers and bowing patterns that he felt strongly about to create the style and colours he desired, especially in difficult passages.

The F major Fantasie starts with an expansive dolce slow movement with use of tenor clef for the high register, ornaments and chords. The Allegro that follows brings to mind the final movement of the Eccles Sonata that is popular on the bass, however this is much more difficult but very effective, with large interval leaps and running semiquavers requiring virtuosity. The brief Largo and Presto are more straightforward. The three movements of Fantasie 11 in G major are more difficult technically but the joy of playing such beautiful music on the bass is reward enough.

Marian Heckenberg

CD Reviews

by Guest Reviewer Patrick Brislan

HORN TRIOS

Brahms, Ligeti, Mozart, Schumann

Martin Owen | Francesca Dego | Alessandro Taverna CHANDOS CHAN20280

The trio combination of violin, horn and piano has not attracted the attention of major composers, with the notable exceptions of Brahms and Ligeti. The more favoured combination of violin, cello and piano has long been established as the popular, practical ensemble for both salon and concert hall. Brahms himself was a keen amateur player of the valveless hand horn, even contributing to the robust sounds of the Wiener Waldhorn Verein on occasion. György Ligeti’s Trio on the other hand reflects Hungarian folkloric and traditional influences. It’s claimed that Ligeti first embraced this style – and rejected the label avant garde – in his Horn

Trio. This may have been his wish in signing his “Hommage à Brahms”, though the two trios could not be more starkly contrasted. The performers are all clearly at home with the style and demands of each work. Their playing and ensemble are universally masterful.

The other pieces are arrangements by Ernst Naumann (18321910) of Mozart’s and Schumann’s original compositions for a different ensemble. Despite Naumann’s best attempts, perhaps less satisfactory is his re-arrangement of the Mozart Horn Quintet K407. The rich sonority of two violas and cello are replaced with a virtual ‘accompaniment’ by piano and an ‘obbligato’ violin, with the result that the work sounds more like a horn solo or concerto. It’s not easy to imagine that Mozart would have approved.

On the other hand, Naumann is much more comfortable and effective with a simple replacement of cello with horn in the Phantasiestücke ‘Duett’ of Schumann – who might well have approved.

Horn player Martin Owen is most impressive musically and technically. Violinist Francesca Dego, clearly accomplished, is most prominent in the Brahms, whilst pianist Alessandro Taverna shines especially in the Ligeti. It seems the recording engineer definitely favoured the horn, which might please horn players, but others may wish for a more equal acoustical partnership.

Patrick Brislan

Assembled together by the Lyrita Recorded Edition Trust in association with Cameo Classics, here are original broadcasts of concert and studio performances by 11 orchestras and 19 conductors.

All the recordings presented here were made using a state-ofthe-art tape machine subsequently archived on disc acetates by recording buff, the late Richard Itter.

These historically preserved broadcasts offer a remarkable insight into orchestras and conductors of the time. In fact in this rich smorgasbord you can treat yourself to 25 Haydn symphonies over 8 discs. ‘The Clock’, ‘Le Matin’, the ‘Oxford. The ‘Surprise and ‘The Drumroll’ rub shoulders alongside less well-known but just as enchanting works.

The sharpness and clarity of the recordings from these 1950s performances is extraordinary, offering pure pleasure to today’s listeners with their undiminished panache and vitality. Among others, we hear the London Philharmonic, the Boyd Neel and Jacques Orchestras, the LSO, the RPO, the Philharmonia and London Mozart Players. Illustrious conductors include Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Eugen Jochum, Nicolai Malko, Hermann Scherchen, Paul Sacher and Jean Martinon.

Biographies of all these maestros are detailed in the liner notes.

It is impossible to pick a favourite among so many performances exuding such flair, elegance and verve. Haydn enthusiasts will have a field day with these captivating, invigorating performances.

by Mary Nemet

BERNSTEIN SERENADE, JOHN WILLIAMS VIOLIN CONCERTO

James Ehnes, vln., St. Louis Symphony cond. Stéphane Denève PENTATONE PTC 5187 148

James Ehnes pays tribute to both composers in the liner notes:”John Williams’ artistry occupies a unique place in musical history with the breadth of his output and the way his music has transcended boundaries of genre and audience. Bernstein’s delightful Serenade is for me, the most successful musical marriage of his various artistic personalities. It is a work of great profundity, but also of the most raucous merriment”.

Bernstein wrote the Serenade in 1954, after reading Plato’s Symposium. Denying a literal comparison, Bernstein nevertheless admitted that the music is like Plato; a series of related statements in praise of love and all its guises.

Ehnes revels in its many emotional layers, starting with a solo line before the tutti strings and percussion join in its many quirky mood-changes and tantalising rhythms; from dazzling virtuosity to enchanting nostalgic tunes.

John Williams’ Concerto no. 1 was written twenty years later, in 1974. Unlike most of his classical and many film scores, it was not composed under a commission. Although atonal in style and technique, Williams follows the romantic tradition with expansive themes and virtuosic passages over three movements, plus a cadenza. Elegiac and ebullient in turn, soloist and orchestra do full justice to this remarkable work.

HAYDN SYMPHONIES

Recordings from 1952-1960

The Itter Broadcast Collection

CAMEO CLASSICS CC9119

www.wyastone.co.uk

MA VLAST

Smetana (1824-1884)

Czech Philharmonic.cond. S. Bychkov PENTATONE PTC 5187 203

The Czech Philharmonic and its Chief Conductor Semyon Bychkov present a new recording of Bedřich Smetana’s masterpiece Má vlast (My Homeland). This album celebrates the bicentenary of Smetana’s birth.

The Czech Philharmonic is one of the world’s great orchestras, recognised for its interpretations of Czech masters as well as of European repertoire. Together with Semyon Bychkov, they have so far recorded for Pentatone Mahler’s First, Second, Fourth and Fifth Symphonies (20222023), part of the complete Mahler cycle to be released by the label.

Má vlast (1874-1878) is a powerful and poignant symbol of the Czech Republic’s turbulent political history. Reflecting the landscape, history, and legends of Bohemia, Má vlast is best known for its world-famous Moldau melody.

It is deeply personal, nostalgically connecting to the Bohemian-Moravian landscape of Smetana’s childhood.

Essentially a tone-poem, it reflects a vivid portrait of Bohemia’s mighty river from source to end, beginning high in the hills. First heard in burbling woodwind and strings, it evokes the gentle rippling of the Vltava River.

Along the way it passes by a rustic folk wedding heard through a lilting folk-dance. It then moves into darkness before broadening majestically with brass fanfares depicting the swirling St. John’s rapids and imposing crags of the ancient historic fort, Višehrad.

By integrating folk elements into his style, Smetana significantly influenced his younger colleague, Dvořák. This visionary work remains a pinnacle of symphonic literature and is here magnificently performed by Bychkov and the Philharmonic who get right to the heart of its poignancy and drama.

RĔVES

Ysaÿe Violin Concerto & Poème Concertant

Philippe Graffin, Royal Liverpool Orch. cond. J-J Kantorow AVIE AV2650

Violinist Philippe Graffin, professor at Paris’s Conservatoire National Superieure de Musique and the Royal Conservatoire of Brussels, has released his new album, Rêves.

It presents works by Eugène Ysaÿe (18581931), including the world premiere of the recently discovered Violin Concerto in E Minor and Poème Concertant, together with Two Mazurkas de Salon, Opus 10 and Rève d’enfant, Opus 14 for violin and piano.

Famous as a violin virtuoso, teacher and conductor, Ysaÿe’s albeit challenging compositions are not frequently performed.

Released on Avie Records, this album was made in collaboration with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Jean-Jacques Kantorow, and pianist Marisa Gupta.

A second and third movement of Ysaÿe’s violin concerto already existed, but the recent discovery of the first movement’s manuscripts completes his Violin Concerto in E Minor. Both a full orchestration and others for violin and piano were found on opposite sides of the Atlantic.

Graffin’s close collaboration with Ysaÿe aficionado and musicologist Xavier Falques led to a detailed analysis and reconstruction of the musical puzzle pieces, resulting in this recording of the full three-movement concerto.

“For reasons unknown, Ysaÿe abandoned his Violin Concerto in E minor in 1885, but some years later embarked on another, Poème concertant, which was also recently discovered in manuscript form and is imbued with passion and the love Ysaÿe felt for his pupil Irma Sethe. The album description reads:” Their love was mutual but their relationship could not endure, possibly sealing the fate of Poème concertant which lay undiscovered for over a century but is now brought back to life with this world-premiere recording.”

All the works are recorded here with the passion and drama that they demand, and highlight the technical and artistic innovations that Ysaÿe later used in his solo sonatas. Graffin says that working on the recording project gave him the feeling of a journey back through time. (A poignant video of Ysaÿe’s Belgium interspersed with Graffin’s playing of excerpts can be found on YouTube). Graffin’s recording is a fitting tribute to the great Belgian master.

Ysaÿe’s legacy. First taught by his father, he later studied with Wieniaswki and Vieuxtemps. In turn Ysaÿe taught Gingold, Primrose, Milstein, Enescu, Persinger, Shumsky and Thibaud among many others.

VERSINKENDE SONNE

Zemlinsky/Wellesz/ Webern/Kreisler

Auner Quartet

GRAMOLA CD 99220 klassik@gramola.at

Or it could be interpreted as ‘Dusk over Vienna’, which signalled the end of Viennese Romanticism; stylistic elements that were banned with the rise of Nazism in Germany and Austria.

The Auner Quartet from Vienna, known and applauded for its diverse range of repertoire, is a strong advocate for new music and has won numerous awards.

The four composers showcased here were born within 14 years of each other; the earliest, Zemlinsky in 1871 and the last, Egon Wellesz in 1885, with the other two, Webern and Kreisler in between. All born in Vienna, their city was a melting-pot of culture and creativity, to which these four composers hugely contributed.

The young Zemlinsky’s first quartet harks back to Brahms in its thematic invention but displays an impressive originality in its harmonic structure and melody. It is inspired by actual discussions on its merits (or otherwise) with Brahms; a pithy exchange of ideas between master and student!

At the other end of the scale Egon Wellesz‘s fifth quartet may well describe the sun setting over the old Austrian Empire, reminiscing on things already past.

Three of the four composers escaped from the clutches of Nazism; Wellesz to Britain and Kreisler and Zemlinsky to New York, while Webern died in Austria in 1945.

His famous one-movement work, Langsamer Satz, gives little clue to his later atonal development, harking back, as Zemlinsky did, to Brahms. To counter the weightier atmosphere, Kreisler’s delightful two-minute miniature, Syncopation’, invokes the Viennese dance halls of his youth but also reflects his new-found freedom in America. One could not wish for more worthy protagonists of these remarkable works than the splendid Auner Quartet.

ROOTED

Neave Trio

Anna Williams, vln., Mikhail Veselov, cello, Eri Nakamura, pno.

CHANDOS CHAN 20272

The Neave Trio’s latest album, Rooted, presents a programme of works variously inspired by folk music. Trios by Bedřich Smetana and Josef Suk carry strong Bohemian resonances. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor explores his African heritage, whilst Frank Martin bases his Trio on Irish folk melodies, nowhere more so than in the delightful Finale, a Gigue, a real toetapper.

First is Smetana’s piano trio, Opus 18. Its distinctive nationalistic style is largely based on Bohemian rhythmic and melodic elements. Acclaimed in his native Bohemia as the father of Czech music, Smetana’s Trio in G minor was composed in 1855 as a response to the death of his four-year old daughter and shows the influence of Liszt.

The title, Setting Sun, is inspired by Stefan Zweig, who wrote in exile in his farewell letter in February, 1942. ‘May you see the dawn after this long night!’

Josef Suk was a favourite pupil of Dvořák’s, and his early Piano Trio, although shorter in length and less intense than Smetana’s, is embedded in that Czech tradition. Also deeply influenced by Dvořák, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was inspired by his African heritage as well, and his Twenty-Four Negro Melodies for Piano are a prime example of his research. He subsequently arranged five of these poignant pieces into the Suite for piano trio that we hear on this album. The programme concludes with Frank Martin’s charming Trio Opus 2 from 1925, which is based on traditional Irish melodies.

I cannot imagine better protagonists of this enchanting music than the splendid Neave Trio.

VIOLIN CONCERTOS

Pierre Wissmer (1915-1992)

Oleg Kaskiv, vln., Sinfonia Varsovia cond. A. Marković CLAVES CD 3080

Swiss-born Pierre Wissmer composed nine symphonies and worked in many other genres including concertos, ballets, chamber music and vocal pieces.

He was acquainted with Stravinsky and Poulenc and their influence can be heard in his three violin concertos dating from 1944, 1954 and 1987. I also detected shades of Bartók.

Wissmer’s writing style varies in range from the modal style of his first violin concerto, to a twelve-tone language in the second, and finally the atonal idiom of the third.

Despite their differences, all three concertos are very attractive works. Although not exploiting the lyricism and tonal qualities of the violin, rhythmic élan is the driving force in all three.

The orchestration is rich and varied and on this recording, the string-sound is crisp and transparent.

The soloist, Ukrainian –born violinist Oleg Kaskiv, brings out the virtuosic elements of these works with great aplomb and enthusiasm, always retaining a beautiful sound. Kaskiv is an ideal protagonist for these extremely fine concertos which should be performed more often.

MUSIKCOLLEGIUM WINTERTHUR

Two Piano Concertos

Franz Xaver Mozart (1791-1844)

Andriy Dragan, pno, Bogdan Božovič, Concertmaster CLAVES CD 50-3070

This outstanding recording from Claves is notable not only for the brilliant pianism of Andry Dragan, but for the splendid string-playing of the renowned Swiss orchestra, the Muikkollegium Winterthur.

Swiss-Ukrainian pianist Dragan’s mission is to highlight the unjustly neglected piano works of Franz Xaver, for too long in his famous father’s shadow. Despite some analogies to Wolfgang, his son had his own distinctive voice, as these two sparkling piano concertos brilliantly demonstrate.

The first in C major, was written when Fran Xaver was only 17, and the second, Opus 25 in E flat, (a key much favoured by his father), comes in 1818 between the so-called classical and romantic eras, dramatic and lyrical in turn.

In between delicately nuanced passages, Dragan displays amazing virtuosity in the very fast runs, always retaining clarity and a luminous sound.

The orchestra led from the first chair by Bogdan Božovič, ideally showcases these beautiful works with crystal-clear sound and ideal recording balance. Don’t miss these delightful performances.

Mary Nemet

by Andrew Lorenz

BACEWICZ, ENESCO, YSAŸE

Music for

Strings

Sinfonia of London, John Wilson, cond. CHANDOS CHSA 5325

George Enesco’s (1881-1955) Octet in C major, Op.7(1900) is heard here in its string orchestral version. The composer sanctioned its performance by full string orchestra in 1950 ‘on condition that certain singing passages (i.e. highly melodic parts) be entrusted to soloists.’ Indeed, it is written in a symphonic manner and begins with a grand introduction in unison strings which then fragments into solo lines. It is a romantic opening for this composer but extremely effective. A beautiful viola solo is followed by a lilting dance-like figure. The second movement is dramatic and brilliant, followed by an exquisite slow movement that leads immediately into a finale filled with urgency. The work is very easy to listen to.

Eugène Ysaÿe’s (1858-1931) one- movement Harmonies du Soir, Op.31 (Harmonies of the Evening, Poeme No.8) for String Quartet and String Orchestra was completed in 1924 and one can hear the echoes of Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht throughout.

The Concerto for String Orchestra (1948) by Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969) rounds out the CD.

Again, the first movement is brilliant writing but much more angular and ‘muscular’ in its approach than the Enesco. In its first UK performance The Times reviewer commented on the music’s neo-classic energy.

This is one of the finest string orchestra recordings I have heard – magnificent music, magnificently played by the Sinfonia of London directed by John Wilson.

BRAHMS & CONTEMPORARIES VOL.1

Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective CHANDOS CHAN 20297

We can thank the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective for bringing Luise Adolpha Le Beau’s (1850-1927) Piano Quartet in F minor, Op.28 to a much wider audience.

Born in Rasttat, in the Duchy of Baden, Le Beau studied with Josef Rheinberger in Munich. Her piano quartet was composed c.1884 and premièred in the Leipzig Gewandhaus.

It is a very attractive work and at its première the quartet was more warmly received than when Brahms’s second piano quartet was premièred. However, as is now well known, the patriarchal society of the day allowed for very little recognition of female composers and Le Beau struggled to establish herself. Interestingly though, Brahms was very encouraging about her composing. The mournful opening Adagio with solo strings introduces a fiery first movement. The slow movement opens with solo piano. A Tempo di Mazurka ensues and a light hearted finale rounds out the work.

The first movement of Johannes Brahms’s (1833-1897) Piano Quartet No.2 in A major, Op.26 is extremely demanding musically. Overall this interpretation is meditative and certainly not unmusical but this approach makes for a slightly segmented effect in the opening piano solo. The string solos are exquisite, especially in the Poco adagio, and sections in triplets flow naturally throughout. The scherzo has a lovely lilt and the popular gypsy like finale rounds out this beautiful work.

Brahms premièred the quartet in Vienna on 29 November, 1862, along with Joseph Hellmesberger, Franz Dobyhal and Heinrich Röver.

VIOLIN CONCERTOS

Dvořák, Khachaturian Violin Concertos

Rachel Barton Pine, Royal Scottish National Orchestra cond. Teddy Abrams AVIE A2411

Barton Pine’s sensitive interpretation of Antonin Dvořák’s (1841-1904) Violin Concerto in A minor Op.53 (1879) is very imaginatively phrased. The usual grandiose approach to the opening is now far more wistful and fantasy-like and the folk- dance quality has a delightful lilt. There is nothing hurried about her approach. The slow movement is exceptionally eloquent and the last is simply delightful. The dedicatee, Joseph Joachim declined the first performance and it was left to František Ondříĉek to present the world premiere in Prague in 1883.

“Sometimes my thoughts and imagination outraced the hand that was covering the staff with notes. The themes came to me in such abundance that I had a hard time putting them in some order . . . I wrote music as though on a wave of happiness; . . .” So wrote Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978) of his Violin Concerto. It was written for and dedicated to David Oistrakh in 1940 and he premiered it in the same year. It was also awarded the Stalin Prize. Barton Pine writes in her excellent liner notes: “The sounds of Transcaucasia permeate the concerto, with vibrant rhythms, rich ornamentation in imitation of improvised melismas, modal scales, harmonics based on folk music tunings and overtones, and timbres suggestive of Eastern instruments.”

Rachel Barton Pine is a uniquely gifted musician and both concertos are beautifully interpreted with excellent support from the Royal National Scottish Orchestra and conductor Teddy Abrams.

THE COMPLETE PIANO TRIOS VOL.3, REVÊTEMENTS

Haydn (1742-1809), Kit Armstrong (b. 1992)

Trio Gaspard

CHANDOS CHAN 20279

Trio Gaspard continue their survey of the complete Haydn (1732-1809) Piano Trios with Volume 3.

Here we have four masterful trios - No.12 in E-flat, ‘Partita’, (Hob. XV: 36), No.19 in F, Op.43 No.1, (Hob XV: 6), No.25 in E minor, Op.57 No.2 (Hob XV: 12) and No.43, in C, Op.86 No.1 (Hob.XV:27) which are not presented in chronological order, and Revêtements by Kit Armstrong.

Haydn’s Trios are played with a delightful exhilaration and imagination which sweeps the listener along. A modern piano is used; however the best practices of historically informed performance are absorbed without being pedantic. No.12 composed before 1760 still shows the influence of the trio sonata and features a vigorous Polonaise. Whereas three of the trios contain three movements, No.19 includes only two and was probably written around 1770 but Haydn only sent it to his publisher much later, in 1784. It includes a brilliant Vivace opening movement. The E minor Trio (No.25 /17881789) includes a beautiful slow movement with a Siciliano rhythm and the finale of (No.43/1795) sparkles.

Kit Armstrong writes that Revêtements (2022) (stone facing) was inspired by Haydn’s piano trios. This world premiere

recording projects his 21st century brilliance. The writing is very imaginative and the piece is laced with motoric rhythms. Trio Gaspard revel in it and the music making in all of the above excels at the very highest level.

VIOLIN CONCERTOS & DOUBLE CONCERTO Haydn (1732=1809)

Thomas Albertus Irnberger, vln, Barbara Moser, fp, Münchner Kammerphilharmonie dacapo, Franz Schottky, cond. GRAMOLA 99308

Joseph Haydn mastered various keyboard instruments but his main instrument was the violin. His modest assessment of his own abilities; “I was not a wizard on any instrument but I know the power and effect of all of them”, and there is no doubting the inspired beauty of his violin concertos, especially the slow movements.

Here we have the Concertos for Violin and String Orchestra in C major, Hob. VIIa: 1 and G major, Hob. VIIa: 4 and the Concerto for Violin, Harpsichord and String Orchestra in F major, Hob. XVIII: 6, all composed in the 1760s. During this time Haydn worked as first Kapellmeister at the court of the Esterházy princes in Vienna, Esterháza and Pressburg. He was particularly taken with the playing of his colleague Luigi Tomasini (1741-1808) who became a member of the court orchestra at age sixteen. Haydn must have had the teenager in mind when writing these works.

In this recording the orchestra could be a little lighter in texture and the tempo in the last movement of the Double Concerto seems rather agitated. However violinist Thomas Albertus Irnberger‘s playing is very stylish and he uses vibrato discerningly. In the Double Concerto he is joined by Barbara Moser on the fortepiano, however this reviewer must confess that he prefers the harpsichord.

MUSIC FROM THE GHETTO

Ailenberg, Braun, Bruch, Shalit Simca Heled, conductor/vc, Jack Liebeck vln, London Chamber Orchestra, Christopher Warren-Green, cond. SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD653

This CD certainly features the assimilation of various elements of Jewish music; however the pieces are not necessarily ghetto related. Max Bruch’s (1838-1920) lovely Kol Nidrei is beautifully played by the cellist Simca Heled. There are two works by the Israeli composer Daniel Shalit (b.1940). The first is Resisey Laila (Out of the Dark) (1997) for symphony orchestra which features variations on an original Chassidic melody. The second work by Shalit is his Suite for String Orchestra (1993) in which three of the movements are written in a neo-classical style. The work opens with a rhythmically vibrant and energetic Prelude in the Dorian mode. This leads to a very lyrical Rondeau. The third movement is sub-titled Niggun and the liner notes describe it as a Mahlerian funeral march. ‘Out of the depth’ is the title of the fourth movement and the final Postlude is reminiscent of the opening Prelude. Heled is again heard in a solo cello piece, Lelero (In Memoriam) composed by his grandfather Leib Ailenberg (d.1943) who perished in Auschwitz. The klezmer influenced Min HaAyara (From the Shtetl), a suite for violin and chamber orchestra completed by Yehezkel Braun (1922-2014) in 2007, features the fine playing of Jack Liebeck.

Much of the above could be described as very listenable film music. In no way is the description meant to be disparaging because the recording is a most enjoyable listening experience.

BETWEEN THE CLOUDS

Charlie Siem, vln, Itamar Golan, pno SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD652

This is a marvellous selection of mostly miniatures played in an outstanding manner by the English violinist Charlie Siem. His playing is in turn rhapsodic, charming, virtuosic and always imaginatively musical. Each performance is a gem. Some highlights include the two Polonaises and Legende by Wieniawski, numerous Kreisler pieces such as Tambourin Chinois and Recitativo and Scherzo-Caprice, Elgar’s two Chansons, Sarasate’s Introduction et Tarantelle and the Chaconne by Vitali. The collection concludes with Siem’s delightful arrangement of Benjamin Britten’s The Sally Gardens.

Siem plays the 1735 Guarneri del Gesù violin, known as the D’Egvill, which sounds superb, while Itamar Golan is a very fine associate artist. The liner notes written by David Truslove are excellent and informative. There are many such recordings of potpourris of violin pieces but this is one of the best that I have heard. Very highly recommended.

BRAHMS & BUSONI VIOLIN CONCERTOS

Francesca Dego, vln, BBC Symphony Orch, Dalia Stasevska, cond. CHANDOS CHSA 5333

Johannes Brahms’s (1833-1897) Violin Concerto, Op.77 was composed in 1878 and dedicated to Joseph Joachim who premiered the work in Leipzig in the same year.. Ferrucio Busoni’s (1866-1924) Violin Concerto, Op.35a was composed in 1897 and was premiered in Berlin that year by the Dutch violinist Henri Petri. Both are heavily influenced by Beethoven’s violin concerto.

Francesca Dego’s technique is impeccable and she uses a minimal, narrow vibrato which rather mitigates against a rhapsodic approach in the Brahms. The inclusion of the Busoni cadenza in the first movement is a wonderful idea with its timpani and occasional orchestral accompaniment. I admire the soft dynamics Dego attains but how they would translate into a performance in a modern day concert hall I do not know.

The oboe solo in the slow movement is very fine and the wind section of the BBC orchestra acquits itself beautifully however the oboist is not acknowledged in the booklet. Francesca Dego’s clarity of sound is very effective in this movement.

Her brilliant virtuosity comes to the fore in Buson’s Violin Concerto, a work that should be played more often.

There is much competition out there concerning the Brahms and my preference would be Isaac Stern or Janine Jansen. However, if you like very disciplined and clear performances of these concertos without a ‘heart on sleeve’ approach then this is the recording for you.

INVOCATION

Véronique Mathieu, vln, Stephanie Chua, pno NAVONA RECORDS NV6531

What few liner notes there are, state that “Invocation is a program that showcases works for violin and piano written by female-identifying composers of various social and cultural backgrounds.” The first three pieces by Amy Beach (1867-1944) are a Mazurka Op.40 No3, Invocation Op.55 and Romance Op.23. Mathieu uses a minimal, narrow vibrato and the first stirring of any excitement or passion in the interpretations occurs in the piano playing of Chua in the Romance. Grazyna Bacewicz’s (1909-1969) Sonata da Camera suits Mathieu’s style of playing much better. It is an extremely fine neo-baroque work and is also known as her Sonata No.1 composed in 1945.

Pauline Viardot ‘s (1821-1910) Sonatina in A minor is an attractive three- movement work which is followed by the world premiere recording of Chinese-Canadian composer Alice Ping Yee Ho’s (b. 1960) Four Seasons Ballade. The first movement, Spring, is very beautiful and imaginative. Summer has a lilting dance-like introduction on the piano which continues throughout. Autumn is rather mysterious and Winter opens very dramatically. The contrasts work well in this very interesting 10’ piece. The music is available from the Canadian Music Centre. Elfentanz by AfricanAmerican woman Florence Price (1887-1953) is an energetic showpiece, while her Fantasy No.2 (1940) exhibits chromatic melodies and the influence of the blues.

It is regrettable that, although the album wonderfully espouses the cause of fine women composers, there is absolutely no information written about any of them.

MALEK JANDALI CONCERTOS

(World Premiere Recordings)

Rachel Barton Pine, vln, Anthony McGill, cl, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orch., Marin Alsop cond.

CEDILLE CDR 90000 220

The Syrian-American composer Malek Jandali (b.1972) could be described as the ‘Khachaturian of Syria’. His Violin Concerto (2013-2014) is very lyrical and incorporates Syrian melodies and idioms with the use of the oud (Arabic lute) in the orchestral accompaniment. One can also occasionally hear flashes of Szymanowski within its texture. It was written as part of a project in which Jandali writes compositions honouring brave women. The concerto is dedicated “To Rachel Barton Pine and to all women who thrive with courage”. Barton Pine and Marin Alsop conducting the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra are very fine advocates of this attractive work.

Alsop states: “Malek composes in some ways very traditionally, but like Bartók did, like Dvořák did, he uses his cultural folk music as a real underpinning for developing these themes, developing these ideas.” The Clarinet Concerto (2019-2021) sounds very exotic and is beautifully played by Anthony McGill, former principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

DEPENDENT ARISING

Concertos by Dmitri Shostakovich and Earl Maneein

Rachel Barton Pine, vln, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Tito Muñoz, cond. CEDILLE CDR 90000 223

What an amazingly stunning and exciting violin concerto (Dependent Arising) has been written by Earl Maneein (b. 1976). The influence of heavy metal music adds a

tremendous sense of excitement. The composer writes: “How do you express pain and violence musically? . . . Metal riffs are often repeated dissonant chords. When we use dissonances in metal, we call them ‘rubs’. Metalheads refer to the rhythmic modulations and odd meters that one finds in Shostakovich’s Scherzo and Burlesque as ‘breakdowns’ and ‘mosh’ sections. They inspire sudden eruptions of catharsis. These commonalities make it clear to me why Rachel chose to pair her excellent performance of the Shostakovich First Violin Concerto with my piece. I use the language of extreme music to fuel my work. I draw on my Buddhist practice of dealing with pain, violence, suffering and death as inspiration. Both of these violin concertos share expression of terror, hatred, fear, horror, and sorrow as their primary mover.”

Rachel Barton Pine’s performance is an absolute tour de force.

Of course, Shostakovich’s (1906-1975) Violin Concerto No.1 in A minor, Op.77 composed in 1947-48 is now a classic of the violin concerto repertoire. Its sadness and brilliance are well known to audiences around the world. Again, Barton Pine inspires and her partnership with Tito Muñoz and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra is second to none.

Andrew Lorenz

Brahms Violin Sonatas

Shaham/Erez NIMBUS RECORDS

NI 8106

As standard repertoire, Brahms’s violin sonatas are loved by players and listeners for their romantic fervour, colour and expressive lyricism. Violinist Hagai Shaham and pianist Arnon Erez are true proponents of these pieces with their exemplary ensemble. Shaham plays with a rich tone, full of feeling but not overly romanticised and Erez eschews muddy pedalling for well-articulated contrapuntal clarity.

Both musicians engage in a rich, warm and passionate performance of the first sonata, composed in an idyllic country setting where ‘the very air there bristled with melodies such that one has to be careful not to tread on them’. Unlike the first sonata, the second does not contain song quotes but is nevertheless influenced by several. Shaham and Erez draw forth a sweet and sonorous account. The third sonata is more intense and dramatic, yet tender. A lovely recording of romantic favourites.

Bohemia: Dvořák, Janaček, Suk

Waley-Cohen/Watkins

SIGNUM SIGCD510

by Susan Pierotti

Fauré/Ravel Violin Sonatas & Other Works

Shaham/Erez

NIMBUS RECORDS NI 8107

Established duo Hagai Shaham (violin) and Arnon Erez (piano) achieve perfect partnership in these recordings of violin music by two of France’s premier composers. A sweet and charming rendition of Fauré’s Berceuse, his most popular piece, is followed by his Sonata no. 1 in an ecstatic and dramatic account. Their sure-footed techniques are demonstrated in the third movement, played with precision at an astonishingly fast speed.

Ravel’s Berceuse sur le nom de Fauré, a tender, reflective homage to his former teacher, is played delicately and sensitively, as is Ravel’s Sonata movement in A, written as a student which nevertheless reveals his own personal style. The final piece is Fauré’s Sonata no. 2, delivered with passion and grace. This is a CD abounding in virtuosity and superb musicianship. For lovers of French music, this is the CD for you.

Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Scherzo a la Russe, Orchestral Suites, Apollon Musagète

Ehnes/Davis/BBC Philharmonic CHANDOS CHSA 5340

This CD covers a diverse range of genres in Stravinsky’s Neo-classic style over a 20-year period. The violin concerto is really a chamber music work and James Ehnes captures this interaction between the soloist and the orchestra with wit and warmth. The Scherzo à la Russe, originally composed for big band, was rewritten for orchestra and is played with zest and humour as are the two orchestral suites, arrangements from earlier piano pieces.

The other major work in this recording is the ballet music for strings, Apollon Musagète. Stravinsky was precise with his markings so it is a pity that in the first number, the strings ‘tripletise’ the dotted rhythms. Leader Zoe Beyers produces a beautifully lyrical rendition of the somewhat angularly composed solo; the other string soloists, unnamed, are also fine players.

This recording is a homage to middle European music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Dvořák played viola so he understood how stringed instruments work. His violin parts tend to be technically challenging (violist’s revenge?) but English violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen’s flexible and versatile technique is assured, especially demonstrated in Dvořák’s and his son-inlaw Suk’s Four Romantic Pieces.

The recording begins with Dvořák’s unjustly neglected violin sonata, played with sensitive interpretation by Waley-Cohen and pianist Huw Watkins, who crafts the silences beautifully. They have an affinity with this music and play lyrically, resisting the temptation to hoe in robustly in the dance-like last movement. The title of the recording is somewhat misleading; Janaček’s violin sonata is inspired by the language and music of Moravia, not Bohemia. Waley-Cohen brings out the wistful longing inherent in it. This is classy playing from both performers.

Walton & Shostakovich

Albion Quartet

SIGNUM SIGCD727

Walton’s String Quartet in A minor and Shostakovich’s Quartet no. 3 were both written in the same year, 1946, both compositions being affected by each composer’s response to the Second World War and its aftermath. Both composers were fairly inexperienced at writing for string quartet; both looked to Beethoven for their models – but there the comparisons end. Walton’s quartet is pastoral, yearning, with ecstatic moments in the 3rd movement, ending with a driving moto perpetuo. Shostakovich chose to begin and end his quartet reflectively and was criticised by the communist regime for not providing something ‘life affirming’.

The Albion Quartet, formed in 2016, are true advocates for both pieces. Their ensemble and blend of tone is seamless, and both violins are evenly matched. They perform with rhythmic verve, interplay and fire. The deliciously prominent viola parts in both works are played with relish and beauty by Ann Bailey.

Vaughan Williams, Grieg Violin Sonatas

Siem/Golan

SIGNUM SIGCD735

Charles Siem has Norwegian and English parentage, making him an ideal exponent of two violin sonatas written by composers known for their ‘nationalistic’ style. Vaughan William’s violin sonata is the last chamber music work that he wrote; a surprisingly strong and gritty work compared to his previous, more pastoral style. Siem is a refined player who displays a firm and robust tone with an improvisatory spirit that soars in the cadenzas. His ensemble with Itamar Golan, a most flexible and accommodating associate artist, in the 2nd movement is outstanding. Grieg wrote three violin sonatas. The second is a dramatic work of three movements, each based on a Norwegian folk idiom that gave rise to its being known as his ‘dance sonata’. Siem brings a fiery passion to each of the highly ornamented movements. The CD ends with Siem’s simple and delicate arrangement of Solveig’s Song from Peer Gynt.

Beethoven: The Late Quartets

Calidore String Quartet

SIGNUM SIGCD733

counteracted by articulation that is at times stabbingly short. A curious recording that may interest those who want to hear what Tchaikovsky really intended.

Haydn: Complete Piano Trios Vol. 3 Trio Gaspard CHANDOS CHAN 20279

Trio Gaspard continues its excellent recordings of all Haydn’s piano trios with another engaging collection. This particular collection spans the full extent of Haydn’s piano trio output over 35 years, from a Trio in E flat with a quirky Polonaise to the well-known, expansive C major. Pianist Nicholas Rimmer and violinist Jonian Ilias Kadesha display agile finger work and lyrical playing, supported solidly and musically by cellist Vashti Mimosa Hunter.

Most ensembles recording a Beethoven quartet cycle choose to begin with some of the Op. 18 set or the Razumovskys. The award-winning American-based Calidore Quartet, renowned for its superb interpretations of established and newly -written repertoire, has chosen to begin with Beethoven’s last five, the so-called Late Quartets. What a beginning! The Op. 127 begins with a daring statement boldly executed with no vibrato and from there, we hear explosive pizzicatos and sforzandos with gorgeous passages of sublime beauty and magisterial slow movements, all undergirded with fine musicianship and a deep commitment to connecting Beethoven’s soul with his audience.

First violinist Jeffrey Myers has a clear, bell-like, luminous tone beautifully matched by Ryan Meehan on second, Jeremy Berry (viola) and Estelle Choi (cello) blending seamlessly with substantial tone. Highlights for this reviewer are a Grosse Fugue with boundless energy and crystal-clear precision, the slow movements of Opp. 127 and 132 and Op. 135’s dazzling and somewhat terrifying Scherzo. This exquisite recording, winner of the 2024 BBC Music Magazine Award, should be in everyone’s collection.

Tchaikovsky Symphonies nos. 5 and 6

Poschner/Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana CLAVES 50 3104/05

To interpret anew Tchaikovsky’s symphonies, staples of the orchestral repertoire, takes resourcefulness. Poschner has obtained original manuscripts that show Tchaikovsky’s intended versions, with cuts in the fifth symphony that tighten up the sprawling final movement. However, the liberties he has chosen to take with tempi are disturbing. Every climax accelerates and other passages are ponderously slowed, making nonsense of each symphony’s inherent structure and pace. The winds and brass at times render the strings inaudible and the first violin and viola sections are not truly blended due to prominent players dominating the mix. To their credit, the strings do produce a lovely cantabile, especially in the slow movements, but this is

Their performance on modern instruments in a historically informed way generates verve and vitality. Their judicious use of ornaments is playful and witty. A full range of expression –drama, gusto, charm and joy – is prevalent. As usual in this series, a composer (in this case, Kit Armstrong) has been commissioned to write a piano trio, Revêtements, using Haydn as inspiration. This five-minute piece provides an energetic conclusion to a delightful CD.

Elgar Violin Concerto Zehetmair/Coote/Elder/Hallé HALLÉ LABEL CD HLL 7521

Commissioned by Fritz Kreisler, Elgar wrote his only violin concerto in the middle of his career. It is a work full of longing and regret and requires a superb technique and great sensitivity to perform. German violinist Thomas Zehetmair chooses to interpret the concerto in a performance that is in turn raw and gutsy, impassioned and delicate. His playing in the extreme higher registers is searing. This is a blazing and masterly performance. The orchestra, led by Lyn Fletcher (how refreshing to have the concertmaster named on a CD!), provides a supportive accompaniment that is noble and dramatic. The recording is bookended by fine performances of the Prelude to The Kingdom and the Prelude and Angel’s Farewell from The Dream of Gerontius, played with grace and distinction by the Hallé Orchestra under the direction of Sir Mark Elder.

Prokofiev by Arrangement

Kalnits/Chaplina

TOCCATA TOCC 0135

As part of the ‘…by Arrangement’ series, the Toccata label has produced these well-crafted arrangements of Prokofiev’s music from some of his music for piano, ballet and opera. They include a Tarantella composed when he was 10 and a waltz from his last, uncompleted ballet (though a surprising omission is the arrangement from the ballet, Romeo and Juliet). Prokofiev collaborated with violinists Oistrakh, Szigeti and Kochanski when writing his violin concertos, violin sonatas and chamber music. Violinists Fichtenholz, Heifetz and Milstein, among other Russians, returned the favour by arranging their compatriot’s music for violin and piano. Violinist Yuri Kalnits has been described as a ‘dedicated chamber musician’ and he and award-winning pianist Yulia Chaplina deliver a well-blended, stylish account incorporating Prokofiev’s tart

humour, soaring lyricism and dry wit. This is a delightful recording of well-known and less familiar miniatures for Prokofiev lovers.

Frank Martin: Piano Quintet & String Quartet, Pavane couleur du temps

Quatuor Terpsichordes/Chiovetta/Grin CLAVES 50-3081

Six Swiss musicians from Geneva celebrate the chamber music for strings of their fellow Genevan, Frank Martin. Unlike piano quintets of the 19th century, where the piano is an equal, if not predominant, partner, Martin’s piano quintet features the strings extensively in a melodious and harmonically colourful work. As one of his earlier works, it shows the influences of Debussy and Ravel.

The string quartet begins with an impassioned solo viola lament played soulfully by Caroline Cohen-Adad. This was one of the last works Martin wrote and is more atonal but still attractive. The Pavane couleur du temps for two-cello string quintet is a beautiful piece of about seven minutes from Martin’s early career that is nostalgic and lyrical. Quatuor Terpsichordes and their fellow chamber music partners play with sensitivity and finely blended tone.

Shostakovich String Quartets nos. 9 & 15

Carducci Quartet

SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD786

Shostakovich’s 9th and 15th string quartets bookend his final style of composition. With trademark biting wit, obsessive rhythms and searing intensity, a new level of uncertainty and despair pervades each one. Quartet no. 9 has five conjoining movements; quartet no. 15, one of his last works and one of his grimmest, has six Adagio movements in E flat minor.

The award-winning Carducci Quartet, founded in 1997, has released this recording as part of their ‘Shostakovich 15’ project, where they have regularly and frequently performed the complete cycle of Shostakovich’s quartets, including in a one-day marathon, over several years.

The project has won a Royal Philharmonic Society Award. This recording reveals their innate understanding and intimate relationship with these masterpieces of the string quartet repertoire, played here with energetic drive, incisive articulation and deep feeling.

Susan Pierotti

His sleeve notes show his belief that in the single monophonic voice there are other voices, not merely dialogue, but potentially a string orchestra. He shows this through an example taken from the Bourrée from Suite no. 3. The recording is spread over two CDs, and the first begins with a short improvisation before the famous G major Prelude. The suites are played in order, with the Biber arrangement at the end of the first CD. At just over 2.5 hours, this set is excellent value. This recording has personality and will be wonderful for comparison with other interpretations.

Patrice Connelly

by Patrice Connelly

J. S. BACH: SUITES A VIOLONCELLO

SOLO SENZA BASSO

Petr Skalka, cello CLAVES 50-3101/3102

The Czech baroque cellist Petr Skalka recorded the Bach Cello Suites in 2023, along with his arrangement of Biber’s Passacaglia for violin. Skalka’s virtuosity is evident, as is his very personal approach to these famous works. His articulation is somewhat more detached in certain movements than other performers may favour, but in the differences from a modern performance there is much to ponder and plenty to like. Skalka’s cello was made c. 1700, so during Bach’s lifetime and the varied tone colours he produces might conceivably be typical of what Bach heard.

by Jon Rose

DIFFICULT GRACE for Cello

Seth Parker Woods

Cedille CDR 90000 219 www.cedillerecords.org/albums/ difficult-grace/

Seth Parker Woods is an excellent cellist, one also gifted with a deeply resonant theatrical voice. Thus, much like Laurie Anderson, anything he says comes across as convincing no matter what the level of rhetoric—in this case, referencing the beat poetry and delivery of the 1950s. Well-promoted on the Internet, he is somewhat of a fashion icon as well.

Four contemporary composers wrote works for Woods on this album, which also draws from two black American composers of the 1970s and 1980s. The CD notes state that he is ‘propelling classical music into the future.’ He may be, but the sonic results tend to the other direction.

Track 1 has the vocal message multi-tracked over a stereotypical drone string pad.

Track 2 has a looped ostinato over a jazz-influenced melody. The pizzicato technique for this kind of workout is not strong enough, and the reverb does not ameliorate this.

Track 3 incorporates more drone looping—the Grade One of electronic music. This bland soup is mitigated by poised cello playing and relaxed vibrato in the main melody line. Harmonically, I would place it back with the New Age compositions of the early 1990s.

Track 4 brings forth yet another loop, this time on electric piano, which introduces text followed by a bluesy cello line that needs more raw edge and rhythmic momentum.

Track 5 surprises with a piece of modernism from the 1970s, with expressive articulation and accuracy.

Track 6 is by far this CD’s strongest. Featuring a field recording of women’s voices while at work in Haiti, the cello, although from another space, creates a convincing counterpoint. The women remain anonymous, however. The message is clear and profound, without any spoken text.

Track 7 is imbued with a 1980s Laurie Anderson aesthetic, complete with voice harmoniser.

The album’s visual production is excellent, and for those who appreciate their music packed with identity politics, this CD is for you.

BY JOSÉ MANUEL LÓPEZ LÓPEZ

For String Quartet

The Arditti Quartet

KAIROS 0022029KAI

INFINITA DOMENICA

The music on this disc uses every technique that has been developed/discovered by improvising musicians and composers over the last sixty years. From blocks of texture to interweaving counterpoint and occasional rhythmic elements, the ears are exposed to all varieties of spiccato, behind the bridge Klangfarben, stopped harmonics, heaps of sffz pizz, the ‘white noise’ of bow hair, col legno à go go, sul tasto, pressure bow, the use of guitar plectrums, way too much sul pont—you name it, and it gets its time in here somewhere. And perhaps that is a problem, since the excitement of Modernism (Ligeti, Penderecki, etc.) and the shock of new string sounds cannot really be recreated in 2023. Context is the question these days, but that would require a book, not a review. However, this music is extremely well-crafted and -structured. Towards the end of the quartet (the first track), the cello suddenly infers a melodic line to arresting effect. The recording is stunning. The close microphones pick up every sonic tap, twitch, and tone. The resonant hall finds sharp clonks, clinks, and dug in bow fff tutti all rush away from the listener and fill the ample space.

The trio for violin, cello, and piano shows a similar approach with powerful resources of the piano adding to the fray, in this case with a continuum of rhythmic energy on the sound board interrupted by occasional eruptions at the bass end, which tend to reduce the strings to insect roles. When the dominance of the grand piano is physically muted, the balance is restored. Here the close recording makes all aspects of the ensemble audible, but I’m not sure it would carry for a live audience.

The last work on the disc brings a more contemporary view of composer José Manuel López López. Gestures have more space, the piece is altogether more considered, and the range of extended techniques more limited. These ears could have done with more of the juicy and very fresh sounding chords that featured early on. As the piece unfolds, the composer relies upon a strong element of ‘cut and paste.’ If modernism is your thing, this is an excellent CD; if not, consider yourself curious about the nature of music and take the trip, regardless.

Jon Rose

Viola CD Reviews

by Helen Tuckey

There is some fine playing in less familiar literature to explore on these new recordings, showcasing viola works from many eras and places.

Basil Vendryes: (soloist on the Paul Juon, Three Centuries of Russian Viola Sonatas and a Century of American Viola Sonatas CDs)

The following two CDs feature violist Basil Vendryes, longtime principal of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, an experienced recitalist in chamber and solo repertoire and has worked in several other major American orchestras. I met him during a brief visit he made to my orchestra as acting Principal Viola in WASO, and it’s pleasing that he mentions this Australian connection in his biography. He draws a wellfocused, attractive tone from his 1887 Ceruti viola and is an engaging advocate of this music.

I hope violists will feel encouraged to explore these lessfamiliar works with open ears and minds, and hopefully discover new treasures in the process.

PAUL JUON CHAMBER MUSIC FOR VIOLA

Sonata in D Major, Op. 15

Sonata in F minor, op. 82A Romanze, Op. 7B Silhouettes, 2éme série, op. 43 Trio-Miniaturen

Basil Vendryes, vla., Igor Pikayzen, vln., William David, pno. TOCCATA CLASSICS www.toccataclassics.com

Russian-born Swiss composer, pianist and violinist Paul Juon (1872-1940) was trained in Moscow, with Rachmaninov and Skryabin as fellow students. Of Swiss heritage, he spent most of his creative maturity in Berlin, teaching at the Hochschule and retiring to Switzerland in 1934 when the Nazis came to power. He retained a life-long interest in Russian folk melodies, and with a more musically conservative outlook than many of his contemporaries, he was sometimes dubbed ‘the Russian Brahms’ or ‘the German Tchaikovsky’. His music found favour with the artistic conservatism of the Third Reich.

The two viola sonatas are original works and contrasting in style. The earlier op. 15 (1901) shares many attributes of Brahms’ writing, and also some elements of chromaticism from Russian nationalism. The later viola sonata op. 82z (1924) is a version of Juon’s sonata for clarinet and piano, arranged by the composer, again reminiscent of Brahms.

The earliest work is the Romanze (1898), an extract from the op. 7 violin sonata. This material was reused by the composer in a number of arrangements, including for viola and piano, which is identical but an octave lower than the violin sonata. It is somewhat in the style of Schumann or Kreisler salon pieces. The Silhouettes (1909) are for two violins, or violin, viola and piano. These consist of descriptive smaller pieces, including a prelude, songs, minuets, folk melodies with drones and accordion-like sounds, ending in a Danse Grotesque.

The CD finishes with the Trio-Miniaturen (1920) and is a reworking of earlier works. These are attractive sketches, and somewhat reminiscent of Tchaikovsky. An opening Reverie is followed by a Bacchanalian Humoresque, then a meditative Elegy and finishing with an elaborate Danse Fantastique.

Fine musical collaboration between violist and both pianists is a pleasure to hear throughout all works. This high-quality recording includes comprehensive program notes by Derek Katz.

Music by Bunin, Glinka, Shebalin and Sokolov

Basil Vendryes, viola & William David, piano

TOCCATA NEXT CDS TOCN 0014 www.toccataclassics.com

Mikhail Glinka (1804-57) Viola Sonata in D minor in 1825-28

Revol Bunin (1924-76) Viola Sonata in D minor (1955)

Ivan Sokolov (1960) Viola Sonata (2006)

Vissarion Shebalin (1902 – 63) Viola Sonata in F minor (1954)

THREE CENTURIES OF RUSSIAN VIOLA SONATAS

This CD and the accompanying invaluable program notes (which can be downloaded from the Toccata website for those who prefer to stream online) are highly recommended for exploring a rich and largely unchartered territory in viola repertoire.

The viola was somewhat frowned upon by Soviet authorities, and as a result Russian viola music has a rather patchy history in the 20th century. The best-known work on this album is by Glinka. In 1931, his 1825 Sonata was reconstructed from three existing manuscripts by Vadim Borisovsky, ‘father of the Russian viola’, who premiered it and produced his own edition. Thereafter, Russian musicians and composers worked together to expand the repertoire. The fraught history of Russia in the 20th century has until recent times limited the ability for violists in general to explore Russian repertoire for viola, hampered by political intrigue and compounded by the inability for leading Russian violists to have international careers for much of this period. The Bunin sonata was the result of collaboration with the violist Rudolf Barshai. Although half a century apart, the Shebalin and Sokolov sonatas have something unusual in common: both were created as part of a triptych, alongside sonatas for violin and cello. The youngest composer Sokolov is also a fine pianist and can be heard on YouTube playing his sonata. All four composers knew how to make the viola sing - though this lyricism is often animated by moments of drama and excitement.

BRITISH MUSIC FOR VIOLA & PIANO

Works by Clarke, Britten & Bowen Izabel Markova, viola; Irene Puccia, piano; Alla Belova, piano CLAVES CD 3073 www.claves.ch

Izabel Markova was born in 1997 in Bulgaria and began her musical studies on piano at the age of three, then starting viola at age 11 without prior violin studies. Following rapid progress in academic and music areas, at age 18 she continued studies in Switzerland, where she now works as a performer and teacher. She is particularly fond of British repertoire; all three works were written within 50 years, but are quite contrasting.

British-American violist and composer Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) wrote her three- movement Viola Sonata in 1919 for a competition, where she tied for first place with Ernest Bloch. Since then, this work has continued to grow in popularity, making some Top Ten works for Viola lists, while recording figures, particularly in recent decades, just keep rising. Lachrymae for viola and piano, op. 48 by Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) was written in 1950 for William Primrose, and has become another very popular work for viola, with its poignant references to the English Renaissance lutenist and composer John Dowland. The final work on this recording is by York Bowen (1884 – 1961). His Phantasy in F Major for viola and piano (1918) is both romantic and virtuosic. Lionel Tertis was the first to perform it, and Markova writes in the CD liner notes of its perfect balance of tranquillity and passion.

All three composers were violists themselves, enabling them to feature many expressive powers of the viola with great confidence. This is Izabel Markova’s first solo CD, and judging by the standard of musicianship, collaboration with piano and excellent quality overall, we can hopefully look forward to hearing much more from her.

A CENTURY OF AMERICAN VIOLA SONATAS

Music by Ewazen, Kay, Larsen and Tcimpidis

Basil Vendryes, viola; William David, piano TOCCATA NEXT, 2024 https://toccataclassics.com

At the start of the excellent notes by Derek Katz that accompany this CD is the advice that “It would be convenient to be able to suggest that the viola works on this recording were bound by some kind of essential American quality peculiar to the United States, but the enormous variety and wide emotional range found here resists such a move.”

The oldest works are the Sonatine for Viola and Piano (1939) and the Sonata for Viola and Piano (1942) by Ulysses Kay (1917-95). Kay comes from an African-American jazz background and studied with Hindemith at Yale School of Music when the sonata was written. The whole story behind the neglect of these works and their rediscovery as part of the Black Lives Matter research makes fascinating reading.

David Tcimpidis (1938-2023) wrote his sonata in 2004, at the suggestion of Basil Vendryes, to whom it is dedicated, and it is a sobering description of the events surrounding the events of September 11, 2001. The composer was in New York at that time, hearing the sounds of sirens and church bells bringing people together, which are incorporated into the music.

Libby Larsen (b 1950) wrote her Sonata for Viola and Piano in 2004, and of all the composers on the CD is the only one to have done so without the support of an education institution (in the USA, most composers are almost always professors of composition at universities). Larsen, along with others, formed the American Composers Forum in 1996 to help composers without these institutional affiliations have their works rehearsed, performed, and heard. The work of the Forum and her career make for another fascinating read, along with her collaboration over many years with violist James Dunham, for whom it was composed. It is a classical three- movement fast – slow – fast sonata. It is tonal with elements of swing, jazz and minimalism.

Eric Ewazen (b. 1954) wrote his Sonata for Viola and Piano in 1991 and despite his distinguished career in the academy (he has been on the faculty of Juilliard since 1982) he shares Libby Larsen’s deep commitment to connecting with audiences and collaborating with performers. This sonata was composed at the request of the late Eugene Becker, at the time Assistant Principal Violist of the New York Philharmonic and fellow on the staff at Juilliard.

This CD certainly adds significant works to the viola repertoire to explore, with exemplary performances of bristling intensity by performers who are seasoned collaborators at the top of their game – well worth a listen and a read!

CHORINHO

Music for viola & piano from Brazil Georgina Isabel Rossi viola, Silvie Cheng, piano

NAVONA RECORDS 2022 www.navonarecords.com www.georginarossi.com

The comment on the album sleeve “Violists can be guilty of relying too much on a short list of tried-and-true pieces” is so true! Dedicated to Roger Tapping, in memory of a wonderful teacher, this recording was made possible with support from the NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre by the

City of New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment in association with The New York Foundation for the Arts.

Chilean-American violist Georgina Isabel Rossi and pianist Silvie Cheng are a delight to hear on this colourful collection of significant and under-recognized viola music of Brazil, which includes world-premiere recordings of works by João de Souza Lima, Lindembergue Cardoso, and Ernani Aguiar. A solo piano interlude honours the legendary 20th century Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. The final track is a brilliant arrangement of Chiquinha Gonzaga’s nostalgic operetta song Lua Branca by the two performers. Scores of these works have yet to be published. For more information, contact Georgina Rossi directly via her website, which is also well worth exploring.

Brazil has a rich and complex music history, and I highly recommended this album for the excellent balancing and lyrical and expressive qualities of both instruments in this interesting and unfamiliar repertoire.

BY THE WATERS OF MEMORY

Richard Crosby

Solo works for piano, viola, cello & oboe, performed by Richard Crosby, piano, Sila Darville, viola, Nathan Jasinski, cello & Julie Smith, oboe.

NAVONA RECORDS NV6598 www.navonararecords.com www.richardacrosby.com/compositions

American composer Richard Crosby includes works for solo piano and oboe and piano in this CD. This review focuses on the string works, Sonata for Viola and Piano op. 10 and Sonata for Cello and Piano op. 19. Both works were commissioned by the Kentucky Music Teachers Association for conferences and are published by JW Pepper.

The viola sonata opens with a bristling energetic Allegro in C minor, reminiscent somewhat of Hindemith, with a more tonal and jazzy American twist. The second movement, Andante, is in ternary form. It opens in a pensive minor key, followed by a lyrical and lilting major key section in a higher register, with effective use of harmonics. After a brief cadential section, the opening reflective section returns, broadening out in register. In just over two minutes, this movement covers a lot of ground musically and is my favorite.

The final movement, Vivace, is extensive in register and technical challenges. A flourishing bravura ending is well executed by violist Sila Darville with the composer at the piano. The lyrical cello sonata, played with skill and conviction by Nathan Jasinski with the composer, also has three movements; Allegro, Un poco Andante and Allegro energico. Musically there is a combination of tonal, Romantic and contemporary harmonies, mixed meter and increasing dissonance in the last movement. The level of difficulty in both works would be suitable for advanced students and professionals. The CD is well- recorded, with accompanying notes. Richard Crosby’s website contains listening links to YouTube performances, and both string sonatas are worth exploring for extra tonal and contemporary repertoire for recitals.

Fiorillo: 36 Caprices Op. 3 for Violin, transcribed for Viola & recorded by Marco Misciagna www.marcomisciagna.com

BRILLIANT CLASSICS BRILL 97018 www.brilliantclassics.com › articles › fiorillo-36...

The life and career of Fiorillo (1755-1823) is well-matched by Italian virtuoso violinist and violist Marco Misciagna (b 1984). Both are multi-instrumentalists, with broad experience working in many countries and cultures. Violists may be familiar with the IMC and Belwin Mills arrangements entitled 31 Selected Studies or 31 Studies. These are indeed from the same works recorded here. Students of these etudes will be inspired by these recordings, which are available through various listening platforms.

Marco Misciagna (whose teachers include Accardo and Bashmet) has arranged, transcribed and edited more than 100 compositions for viola, and has many other interesting recordings online to listen to, including original compositions. His website contains links to both recordings and the publications – a great exploration to broaden viola repertoire even further.

HANS GÁL MUSIC FOR VIOLA, VOL. 1

Hanna Pakkala, vla., Reijo Tunkkari, vln.,Takuya Takashima, oboe, Irina Zahharenkova, pno., Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra cond. Sakari Oramo TOCCATA CLASSICS 2019 www.hansgal.org

Suite Concertante for viola & piano or Orchestra, op. 102a (1949)

Divertimento for violin & viola, op. 90 no. 3 (1969) Sonata for viola & piano, op. 101 (1942) Trio for oboe, violin & viola, op. 94 (1941)

Austrian-born Hans Gál had a successful and productive career as a music editor, composer, conductor and head of the Musikhochshule in Mainz until the Nazis came to power in 1933. Gál was of Jewish descent and was dismissed from his post and his music banned. After returning to Vienna, he and his family fled to London in March 1938. Life there was not easy as a refugee during the war, as he could not work and spent time in an internment camp as an ‘enemy alien’. He documented his incarceration in an internment diary, published after his death by Toccata Press, entitled Man behind Barbed Wire.

After the war he secured a teaching post at the University of Edinburgh, where he participated in the musical life of the city as a musician and respected scholar, and helped found the Edinburgh International Festival. He was recognised in both his native and adopted countries. In 2005 the Hans Gál society was formed to promote awareness of his life and work, shattered as it had been by the war.

Hans Gál’s music reflects his experiences as a man who studied composition with a good friend of Brahms, had an aunt who sang under Richard Strauss and who as a seven year old, heard Mahler conduct premieres of his own works. I encourage readers to play some of Gals’ works on this CD. The contemplative Impromptu (1940) would be a good starting point, and is in the AMEB viola syllabus, manual list, Grade 5D. All the pieces on this recording are skilfully written, easy on the ear, playful and expressive, with advanced chromatic harmonies in places and with some aspects of 20th C. string colour, such as use of sul ponticello. The CD

comes with excellent program notes by Richard Marcus. It is a pleasure to listen to the wonderful artists on this recording giving voice to neglected and highly lyrical repertoire.

ITALIAN POSTCARDS

Wolf – Mozart- Borenstein – Tchaikovsky Quartetto di Cremona with Ori Kam, viola, Eckart Runge, cello AVIE RECORDS 2020 quartettodicremona.com avie-records.com

This recording features artists on a superb collection of instruments recorded in resonant chambers in a palace in Torino. All of the music has Italian connections and inspirations. Recorded somewhat closely, at times breath intakes are audible. There are some fine moments, with lots of playing in an extroverted, virtuosic manner, which at times goes from being heart-on-sleeve, verging on the syrupy, to bright and somewhat edgy.

Opening with a sunny rendition of Wolf’s Italian Serenade (1887), it is followed by a Mozart quartet, K 80 in G, written while the composer was on tour in Lombardy. Next follows a new work, Cieli d’Italia, op. 88 by the British-French-Israeli composer Nimrod Borenstein (b. 1969), commissioned by the Cremona Quartet. In the composer’s words, it has “an ethereal beauty and magical peacefulness … with episodes of great despair, courageous protest and even playfulness”. Tchaikowsky’s legendary String Sextet in D minor Souvenir de Florence ends the recording with much enthusiasm and almost symphonic qualities.

HOME

Kevin Puts (1972- ) George Walker (19232018) Caroline Shaw (1982- ), Samual Barber (1910-1981), Harold Arlen (1905-1986) Miró Quartet PENTATONE, PTC 5187227 miroquartet.com

The 20th century Spanish Surrealist artist Joan Miró used subject matter drawn from the realm of memory, dreams and imaginative fantasy. These concepts inspire and inform the Miró quartet (Daniel Ching and William Fedkenheuer, violins, John Largess viola and Joshua Gindele, cello), one of America’s most significant long-established string quartets. Recorded in a radio station in Texas where they are based, the quartet expressively and creatively explores many meanings of home in this comprehensive collection of postRomantic American works.

Composer Kevin Puts has a long relationship with the quartet. His quartet “Home” expressively conveys meaning of home ranging from a sense of deep security to a refugee perspective, and also combines with recent global experiences of migration during the pandemic. The Molto adagio movement from Quartet 1 (1946) by George Walker follows. One of the most important and influential AfricanAmerican composers in the USA during the 20th century, he wrote in a diversity of styles. This movement was written as a tribute of love for his grandmother, who was born a slave and had deep emotional connections with the composer. Another version of this work is a staple of the American chamber orchestra repertoire, “Lyric for Strings”. Here it is heard in a beautiful original version for string quartet.

Next comes a series of Microfictions by Caroline Shaw, who during the pandemic discovered the writing of T.R. Darling. A reading of brief evocative prose introduces each movement, followed by a musical response by the quartet. “Under the hot sun, the road signs melted until they were the colour of an unrhymed couplet, pointing to cadences left or north.”

The three-movement quartet in B minor by Samuel Barber follows, with the famous Adagio a centrepiece. Symbolizing the power of music to speak directly from the heart, the Miró quartet concludes with Harold Arlen’s evergreen “Over the Rainbow”, arranged by American composer William Ryden. Recommended!

BEETHOVEN AND BARRY

- Britten Sinfonia cond. Thomas Adès Beethoven Symphonies 4 - 6

Gerald Barry (1952- ) Viola Concerto/ Lawrence Power, viola SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD 639 www.signumrecords.com

This interesting compilation is a credit to the vision of the Britten Sinfonia, UK. Soloists and chamber musicians come together with the intention of collapsing boundaries between old and new music, focussing on collaboration rather than following the vision of a principal conductor. Both audiences and performers thus experience an unusual intensity, finding ways to reach even the most excluded individuals and groups. How pleasing to see the names of all performers listed in the excellent and comprehensive program notes – let’s hope this gives inspiration to others to follow suit.

Gerald Barry’s music is gripping, quirky and challenging but also entertaining, with hints of inspiration from the literature of James Joyce and Oscar Wilde. Born in Ireland, Gerald Barry studied with Stockhausen and Kagel and has written many operas and other works.

His viola concerto begins with extended dialogues with the soloist playing regular single notes and octaves interspersed with tutti passages in unison. The extensive technical demands are capably met by Lawrence Power, one of today’s leading violists. After nine minutes of relentless hammering, with rhythmic ostinato as rigid as Bolero, the work ends with a very simple tune which is then whistled by the soloist. Barry writes, “Some guy chose the opening of my Viola Concerto as a jingle for a website. Whenever people log on to the site, they hear the beginning of my viola concerto. It opens with the percussion section and it is incredibly striking, actually. And amusing, too, very funny. It obviously tickled him and he used it.”

Australian/American bass Joshua Bloom is a superb dramatic soloist in Barry’s other featured work, “The Conquest of Ireland”.

The ever-wonderful Beethoven symphonies are an excellent pairing with the Barry works, and these interpretations by UK composer, pianist and conductor Thomas Adès are lively and worth hearing for their own sake.

STRING QUINTET & STRING QUARTET

Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)

Altomonte Ensemble with Rémy Ballot GRAMOLA 99241 www.gramola.at

Bruckner’s symphonies and choral music are much more well-known than his string chamber music. The Quartet in C minor WAB 111 (1862) and Quintet in F major, WAB 112 (1878) are works from his early to middle period as a composer. They were influenced considerably by the violinist Joseph Hellmesberger, President of the Vienna Conservatory while Bruckner was a student, and eventually became court music director. The quartet was conceived as an exercise in composition and orchestration, and shows influences from Haydn, Mozart and Schubert. Never performed until 1951, it was premiered on radio by the Koeckert Quartet in Berlin. Commissioned by Hellmesberger, the quintet is Bruckner’s only “proper” piece of chamber music, and after various reviews and revisions, was finally premiered by the Hellmesberger quartet with Hermann Kupka joining on second viola in 1884.

This fine recording was made by the Altomonte Ensemble; Rémy Ballot and Iris Schützenberger, violins, Stefanie Kropfreiter and Peter Eigner, violas and Jörgen Fog, cello. The hallmarks of Bruckner are all here in these classically inspired Viennese works and even more so in the quintet; the sense of space, the love of fugue, the restless repetitions of fragments, and the deep-dive modulations to exotic keys. Bravo to all musicians for consistent intonation and tasteful voicing throughout. The quartet is well worth exploring and would even be an intriguing “guess the composer” opportunity for an audience. The superb Adagio of the quintet could also function as a stand-alone movement, evoking the scale and greatness of late Beethoven. Hopefully, more listeners may be moved to become players of this intriguing music.

Helen Tuckey

Cello CD Reviews

by Robert Jackson

HIDDEN FLAME

Yoshika Masuda- Cello HyeJin Kim- Piano AVIE RECORDS AVIE2653 avie-records.com

Hidden Flame celebrates and recognizes truly great masterpieces composed by women. This CD brings together important works for cello and piano by the likes of Clara Schumann, Amy Beach, Rita Strohl, Nadia Boulanger, Maria Theresia Paradis and features a world premier recording of One word makes a world by American composer Reena Esmail.

The album stars Yoshika Masuda, a world-class cellist from Japan who grew up in Sydney studying with Sydney Conservatorium Professor Georg Pedersen and later with Ralph Kirshbaum at the USC Thornton School of Music. Here he collaborates with distinguished South Korean pianist HyeJin Kim in this important collection of pieces for cello and piano.

Masuda and Kim combine to create superbly heartfelt and powerful renditions. Amy Beach’s (1867-1944) Romance Op.23 and Clara Schumann’s (1819-1896) Three Romanzes Op. 22 are deeply moving and thoughtfully performed.

The duo delight again, expertly capturing the energy and spirit of the epic sonata by Rita Strohl (1865-1941) titled: Great Dramatic Sonata “Titus et Bérénice”. This sonata is in a romantic four movement format: I-Allegro moderato, II-

Vivace-Molto movimento, III-Lento, tristamente and IV- Allegro molto movimento. Based on Jean Racine’s tragedy Bérénice (1670), the programme notes accompanying the CD offer an interesting story behind the inspiration of each movement. Not to be missed on this album are Reena Esmail’s(1983) hauntingly beautiful world premier recording, Nadia Boulanger’s Three Pieces for cello and piano and the famous Sicilienne by Paradis.

This CD is truly a standout recording for all cellists to own.

8 WORKS FOR CELLO & PIANO

Margaret Brandman

JAZZEM MUSIC

margaretbrandmanmusic.com.au

Six of these works by Margaret Brandman are included in an album titled Binna Burra Dreaming. Brandman features on piano with young Australian cellist Ariel Volovelsky, combining virtuosity to create a joyful listening experience.

Binna Burra Dreaming (2023)

“Binna Burra- where the beech tree grows”, opens with the cello imitating the didgeridoo in the distance, gradually becoming nearer. The cello then sings high ghostly melodies and daydream- like motives, effectively becoming muted with tremolo and artificial harmonic passages.

Four Castles of Stone (2023)

Titled Taurus from her song cycle Cosmic Wheel of the Zodiac, this piece is a short, melodic interaction between cello and piano. The cello starts with lovely dark cantabile lines before complementing the piano melody with pizzicato, sul ponticello, tremolo and artificial harmonics.

Ariel’s Dream (2023)

Dedicated to cellist Ariel Volovelsky, this piece highlights the huge potential and sincerity of Volovelsky’s playing. Long ascending lines in the cello that roll up from the C string bring a depth to this piece, while some sweet high register playing is very satisfying to listen to. The piano lays an effective moving layer to support the cello, at times equally beautiful.

Universal Truth Remains (2023)

This is another of Brandman’s arrangements from her Cosmic Wheel of the Zodiac collection. The piece has a melancholic start and is suited well to the cello, capturing its expressiveness. A piano interlude is accompanied with pizzicato in the cello before a very rosy finish.

Snow Gums in Silver Moonlight (2023)

This is my favourite from the album. The septuple meter gives the piece a gentle swaying quality, evoking the dancing of the snow gums. There is tenderness in this music and beautiful executed double-stops in the cello line.

As Blue as Turquoise Pearls (2021)

Last to be included on this album release is a work inspired by The Water Dragon, a poem by Benita Rainer. The music is full of colours and tremolo passages for the cello.

Lady of Grace (2021)

This appealing little piece in c minor is written for cello and piano and sits in a pleasant range for perhaps a young cellist. There are some expressive melodic lines in the cello part with attractive rhythmic variation.

Jucaro Rhumba D’Amor (2024)

This arrangement by Brandman comes in three versions; for an intermediate player, advanced player and for cello duet

with piano. Bowing variations and semiquavers are added in the advanced version. The tricky double stops are omitted from the intermediate version. The cello duet combines the two versions with fun glissandi and col legno moments. All the duet works for both violin and cello versions are on the AMC’s recommended works for HSC for 2024. Scores and parts are available from Margaret Brandman.

MARTINU

Raphael Wallfisch- Cello

John York- Piano NIMBUS RECORDS NI8105 www.wyastone.co.uk

Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959) had a knack for writing for the cello. His compositional style blends influences of Czech folk music and dance with the neoclassical and impressionistic style derived from his time with Albert Roussel in Paris. His music is uniquely dance- like with moments of beauty, love and terror interwoven into a complex rhythmic web.

This Nimbus album by Wallfisch and York highlights several of Martinu’s works for cello and piano including the Seven Arabesques H 201 (1931), Cello sonata no.1, H277 (1939), Cello sonata no. 2, H286 (1941) and his Cello sonata no. 3, H 340 (1951-2).

The Seven Arabesques are I think, among some of Martinu’s most brilliant writing for cello and piano. Each Arabesque, titled Etudes Rhythmiques, is only a short two to three minutes and makes an excellent introduction to Martinu’s unique style. There is lots of counting for young cellists to get their head around before conquering his more intricate sonatas.

The sonatas were composed in and around the conflict in Europe in the 20th century. Pianist John York writes very detailed programme notes about the interesting context that surrounds each work. The sonatas are full of exciting rhythms, energy and constant moving parts.

Wallfisch and York are fully up to the demands of the music and in total command of their instruments. Their CD is an excellent reference point for all cellists to experience Martinu’s remarkable works.

BLOCH, BRUCH & DOHNÁNYI

Tim Posner – Cello Bern Symphony Orchestra CLAVES 50-3079 www.claves.ch

Tim Posner is the 2023 winner of the esteemed Prix Thierry Scherz which supports promising soloists early in their careers to record a CD with orchestra. Past winners have included cellists Anastasia Kobekina, Pablo Ferrández and Nicolas Altstaedt.

Here Posner collaborates with Katherina Müllner and the Bern Symphony Orchestra to present one of his favourite works, Ernest Bloch’s (1880-1959) Schelomo.

With his striking opening notes, Posner gives a strong passionate performance, with a beautiful dark tone that is surrounded by the rich and vibrant Bern Symphony Orchestra sound. Emblematic of King Solomon (Schelomo), the cello voice develops; from inward and sensitive, to passionately raging and then again reflective and desperate; so stylistic of Bloch’s Jewish music.

The second work on the album is Max Bruch’s (1838-1920) Kol NIdrei, Op. 47.a work many cellists are familiar with for its “Hebrew resonance”, Posner opens with a simple elegant tone, before the darker toned cadenza-like middle section. The orchestra is magnificent in its majestic sound.

Many may be unfamiliar with the final work on the album. Dohnányi‘s Konzertstück, Op. 12. isn’t as often recorded as the Bloch and the Bruch. Marked Allegro non troppo –Adagio- Tempo I, ma molto più tranquillo, it is a stunningly beautiful work with a romantic, exuberant orchestration that flows between light jubilant cello motives to virtuosic, charming Viennese forest murmurs. This is a very enjoyable listening experience.

SEASONS INTERRUPTED

Trey Lee- Cello English Chamber Orchestra

Schubert- Piazzolla- Lintinen SIGNUM CLASSICS www.signumrecords.com

This album envisaged by Hong-Kong born cellist Trey Lee, seeks to draw our attention to the climate crisis that is currently distorting “the behavior of nature’s four seasons…. beyond recognition”. Unlike the activists who destroy artwork or landmarks by splashing paint across them, Trey Lee uses his cello as a platform to present an album focusing on three composers’ works from three different eras; the past, the present and the future. It’s an exciting and passionate recording across all four seasons. Let’s hope no paint comes to harm Trey’s cello!

Lee opens the album with pianist Georgy Tchaidze, presenting four of Schubert’s (1797-1828) Lieder. Lee plays each with fine detail and sensitivity. Im Frühling, D. 882 (In Spring) is sweet and evocative, Die Sommernacht, D. 289 (The Summer night) is soothing and pleasant and Herbst, D. 945 (Autumn) and Gefrorene Tränen from Die Winterreise, D. 911(Frozen Tears) reflect a sense of darkness and chill pervading the music.

The main feature of the CD, and the reason you must all go and buy it, is clearly Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas by Piazzolla (1921-1992), arranged by Trey Lee. It is such a fun Nuevo Tango style work composed during the time when Piazzolla saw “intense urban development…..in Buenos Aires” and is structured into four mesmerizing movements. Trey flourishes octaves and tango glissandi and is supported with the high energy and flamboyant sound of the English Chamber Orchestra.

The final work on the album is a Cello Concerto composed by talented Finnish Kirmo Lintinen (b.1967). In four movements, it opens with Inizio- Dystopia, a haunting and scary first movement giving us the impression of a dystopian ravaged landscape.

The second movement is an elegant Gavotte-Modulation/ Mutation, neo-baroque in style, followed by the third movement, Cadenza- Defiance where Trey displays magically clean double-stopped and arpeggiated passages all while maintaining the ticking left hand pizzicato of what seems to be the doomsday clock.

The last movement Finale-Salvation is not only a heroic end to the concerto but a triumphant finish to an album which I am sure everyone will own by Christmas.

SONGS FOR A NEW

CENTURY

Jonathan Miller - Cello

Lucia Lin - Violin

Randall Hodgkinson - Piano

Marc Ryser - Piano NAVONA NV6623 navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6623

American cellist Jonathan Miller features on this album playing on his velvety- sounding “Paganini-Piatti” Matteo Goffriller cello (1700).

Miller, a former Bernard Greenhouse student and 43-year veteran member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, celebrates the music of Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) performing his famous Op. 109 Song\without Words arranged by Alfredo Piatti. A good friend of Mendelssohn, Piatti was a former owner of Miller’s Matteo Goffriller cello.

Along with five other Songs, Miller creates a very handsome tone in each. This album features a new Operetta for cello and violin by Gabriella Lena Frank. It begins with a Prologue- Semplice, calling, followed by Aria 1- melody, then a Recitativo and Aria 2 and finally the fifth movement, Finale: Hue and Cry: Vivo. This is very powerful music with dancelike elements, playful pizzicato chords, lyrical glissandi, shivery tone- colours and a healthy dose of dissonance.

Judith Weir’s Three Chorales are based on “meditationspersonal, secular and musical – on images from religious poetry.” The chorales are very thought evoking and pleasant listening. Beautiful phrasing and expressive vibrato from Miller feature throughout these chorales.

To conclude the album is Scott Wheeler’s Cello Sonata, #2: Songs without Words. It features three movements: 1. Among the trees 2. Forest at Night 3. Barcarolle.

The first movement has powerful double-stopped passages in the cello with sprinklings of piano virtuosity. The 2nd movement feels like something could be hunting you in the forest, with intermittent and scary Bartók pizzicatos. The 3rd movement is calm and reflective before a moving intensity rises up the middle of the movement. With lovely peaceful long phrases at the end, we feel satisfied and content.

Altogether this is highly enjoyable listening. While the Frank Operetta isn’t everyone’s easy listening experience, Charles Ives would say to “take your dissonances like a man!”

Robert Jackson

Demanding for pianist and cellist alike, Rachmaninoff’s Sonata for cello and piano in G minor, Op. 19, was completed in November 1901. It broke a three-year period of writers’ block after the disastrous premiere of his Symphony no. 1 in 1897. It was dedicated to his family friend Anatoliy Brandukov with whom Rachmaninoff premiered the work in Moscow.

Cellist Carmine Miranda has been described by Fanfare magazine as virtuosic, and intense with well thought out interpretations. Robert Marler, principal keyboardist for the Nashville Symphony and professor of music at Belmont University, is known for his performing, recording and masterclasses. Together their technical and musical expertise has resulted in a freedom to personalize their musical expression with clarity and cohesion in their ensemble performance.

This recording compels the listener to maintain engagement. The opening of the Shostakovich is assertive and blunt, perhaps a little gentler on the repeat of the exposition. In stark contrast is the exquisite tenderness of the final Rachmaninoff movement. Carmine Miranda’s interpretation is demonstrated throughout with great variety of articulation, often wide vibrato bordering on ornamentation, and frequent glissandi augmenting the lyricism of these two sonatas. His sound is strong and clear throughout all dynamics and finely balanced with the piano. Different turns of phrase give life to this fine performance.

Anne Berry

Double Bass CD Reviews

by Marian Heckenberg

20TH CENTURY ROMANTICS

Nicholas Bayley, Double bass; Geoffrey Duce piano

www.wyastone.co.uk

NIMBUS NI 6308

British double bassist Nicholas Bayley firmly establishes himself as a virtuoso with his CD, 20th Century Romantics

by Anne Berry

SHOSTAKOVICH & RACHMANINOFF SONATAS for cello & piano

Carmine Miranda & Robert Marler

NAVONA RECORDS NV 6475

Chamber music is often considered to be some of the most personal expression of composers and this combination of sonatas pays homage to this idea. The enormous emotional content of these two sonatas is explored and almost exploited in this performance by Carmine Miranda and Robert Marler.

Shostakovich’s Sonata for cello and piano in D minor, Op. 40, was composed in 1934 for his friend the cellist Viktor Kubatsky. At this time his country was in turmoil due to Stalin’s campaign to eliminate perceived enemies of the state, and his personal life was affected by an affair with a young student, precipitating a marital crisis.

The scope of this album is truly monumental, evoking every emotion. It opens with a convincing rendition of Glière‘s Four Pieces for double bass and piano. Bayley performs this iconic work with sumptuous tone and beguilingly long phrases in the Praeludium. The Scherzo impresses with its virtuosity and vivacious tempo. Pianist Geoffrey Duce plays with great sensitivity, supporting the bass, then emerging to dominate as a dazzling pianist himself. There are only a few moments in the very highest register when the double bass tone quality is unclear, in an otherwise overwhelming display of musicianship from Bailey. The melismatic melancholy of the Intermezzo creates a transcendental effect before the Tarantella explodes at an ambitious tempo, resulting in a thrilling finale.

I was immediately struck by the honest quality of the recording style. There is no audio trickery, just the true sound of the instruments, allowing the integrity of Bailey’s skills to shine through. The majority of double bass solo recordings are played in solo tuning these days as the bass then sounds bright and clearer than the day to day orchestral tuning. Solo strings are also lighter and easier to play in the highest registers. Bayley however, has opted for the latter and delights us with the true depth and powerful capabilities of a double bass in orchestral tuning. Bayley captures the imagination in the quirky and whimsical cadenzas of Piazzolla‘s Kicho before the passionate driving tango theme

sweeps us away. Next is Bloch’s Nigun which has been arranged for double bass by Bayley himself. He clearly has an affinity with this work as he captures the brooding tumultuous texture and soaring virtuosity of this passionate work. There are a few moments where the bass is lost in the deep dark texture but ultimately Bayley demonstrates technical prowess and mastery of his instrument. Extrême by Lajos Montag is a brief and phantasmic journey. At times it is fast and furious, reminiscent of Flight of the Bumblebee, then in places impassioned and lyrical, reminding us of the Swan and perhaps the mood of Czardas! Bailey’s performance is a musical and virtuosic triumph. The final epic work on the CD is the tumultuous Sonata op 100 for double bass and piano by British composer Derek Bourgeois (1941). Bayley demonstrates superior musical and physical strength as he compels the listener to engage with the multitude of moods and styles in his definitive performance of this land mark work.

DOUBLE BASS FANTASY

Double Bass: Ödön Rácz Piano: János Balázs Jr. www.gramola.atklassik@gramola.at GRAMOLA 93935

Mellifluous flights of fancy and breathtaking virtuosity best describe Ödön Rácz’s flawless rendition of Bottesini’s Lucia di Lammermoor. This delightful show piece is bursting with tenderness, humour and vivacity, moods that Rácz brilliantly evokes. His purity of tone throughout is crystal clear and the numerous harmonic passages ring like bell tones then seamlessly blend into the melodic lines. An expressive performance follows as Rácz beguiles us with the beautiful, dark and brooding Chanson Triste by Ferenc Vecsey. Then the atonal Sonata Enigmatica for Double Bass solo Op 81 by contemporary composer Gottfried von Einem contrasts well. The exposed solitude of the double bass alone allows Rácz to paint musical portraits with each the challenging six short, rather abstract movements, showing the full expressive capabilities of the bass. Bass Trip for Double Bass solo by Pëteris Vasks (1946) is rich with double stops, drones and plaintive modal melodic lines, creating a mournful atmosphere punctuated by textual pizzicato lines. The work evolves into a rhythmically frantic moto perpetuo, played at explosive speed, proving that in Rácz’s hands the capabilities of the solo bass can overwhelm the senses (his whistling is pretty good too).

Bottesini’s Fantasia Beatrice di Tenda opens with a whimsical piano introduction deftly performed by János Balázs. Typically of Bottesini the tender melodies are captivating while the virtuosic passages thrill, especially with Rácz’s masterful control. Paganini s Fantasia Mose arr. Stuart Sankey opens with a stunningly beautiful slow and expressive section, then the music takes flight with a fast humorous, virtuosic romp. Here the ensemble and musically synergy between Rácz and Balázs really shines as Balázs effortlessly supports the double bass then takes over with a commanding style of his own. For a hair raising finale of Rimsky-Korsakov Flight of the Bumble Bee arr. Tibor Kovács, Rácz is joined by ensemble The Philharmonics. They play at breakneck speed, leaving the listener in disbelief that such bass playing is possible.

The CD cover of Ödön Rácz holding his double bass over his shoulder and upside down perfectly illustrates his virtuosity as he turns traditional bass playing on its head! If you were to own one double bass solo CD, make it Double Bass Fantasy by Ödön Rácz!

Marian Heckenberg

Concert Reviews

by Ros Hurst ACO

MAHLER’S SONG OF THE EARTH

Directed by Richard Tognetti

Llewellyn Hall Canberra May 24th 2024

The ACO’s magnificent performance was spellbinding and an example of what this amazing orchestra can achieve.

The concert opened with Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll; a gift to his wife Cosima on her birthday and to celebrate the birth of the couple’s son Siegfried. The orchestra comprised top ranking core musicians; violinists Richard Tognetti, Satu Vänskä, violist Stephanie Farrands, cellist Timo-Veikko Valve, and guests from the SSO and some European orchestras. Flautist Sally Walker and Oboist Shefali Pryor were prominent performers throughout the evening.

This tour celebrates the homecoming of two of our international stars in tenor Stuart Skelton and ANU School of Music graduate mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby. Three early songs by Alma Mahler -Werfel arranged by David Mathews completed the first half of the programme.

The thirteen-piece orchestra and soloist were well balanced with effortless control of vibrato and sound by Carby.

Mahler’s Song of the Earth comprising six solo works was magnificently performed. Stuart Skelton’s artistry and excellent diction left us spellbound with his high reading in his first drinking song and was a commanding soloist throughout. Carby performed with poetic expressiveness and skilful diction and projection. Her performance of The Farewell was emotionally charged and stunning.

Tognetti deftly managed his scaled- down orchestra of around 18 players including two keyboard musicians and with many woodwind players doubling on parts to produce highly memorable and sensational performances.

ACO

ALTSTAEDT PLAYS HAYDN &TCHAIKOVSKY

Llewellyn Hall, Canberra 14/6/2024

Nicolas Altstaedt is a mesmerising figure on stage with his wild hair and unconventional concert attire. Constantly travelling and performing, he is recognised worldwide as one of the great virtuoso artists. Among the many accolades he has received was when his idol, violinist Gidon Kremer entrusted him to take over as the Lockenhaus Festival’s artistic director.

He has long admired the ACO and described the invitation to work and perform with the orchestra as an inspiration that surpasses many dreams.

Altstaedt sat in the principal cellist chair for the opening work, Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ, but took centre stage for Tchaikovsky‘s Variations on a Rococo Theme, op 33. His sound in the opening theme was spine- tinglingly beautiful and his effortless runs and big melodies ensured the audience was enraptured.

The Four Transylvanian Dances by Sȧndor Veress got a full workout by the orchestra while the final dance, Dobbantós, with its foot stamping and country style rhythms was especially interesting.

MAHLER

Aurora by Xenakis that opened the second half sounded intriguing and difficult before the final work Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C major was magnificently played, eliciting rousing applause by the audience.

Altstaedt has a definite rapport with the orchestra and it is clear he was impressed with their input, spontaneously hugging concert master Helena Rathbone. This was a memorable -must see performance.

ACO

Silence & Rapture

Directed by Richard Tognetti

Llewellyn Hall, Canberra August 17 2024

The ACO directed by Richard Tognetti is famous for its inspired programming and individuality. However, the mesmerising collaboration between the ACO and the Sydney Dance Company for this performance of Silence and Rapture which brings together Music, movement and haunting lighting proved to be truly extraordinary.

The audience was asked to remain silent for the 75 minute performance with no applause until the end. The smoke machine was working well before the Orchestra entered the stage, and throughout the performance the lighting was very atmospheric.

The program comprised of pieces by JS Bach and Arvo Pӓrt which though separated by 300 years shared a compositional style. The opening Prelude Bach’s Kannon was followed by Pӓrt’s collage on B-A-C-H which flowed seamlessly, tying these disparate works together. The program was divided into 3 parts all with religious connotations. The orchestra played superbly and were joined by the Sydney Dance Company’s Liam Green and Emily Seymour in magnificently choreographed works by Raphael Bonachela which also featured the countertenor Iestyn Davies as he moved between them.

Davies superb voice was beyond compare and during his rendition of My Heart’s in the Highlands the audience was transfixed. Tognetti’s performance of the Andante from Bach’s Sonata for Solo Violin No 2 in A Minor was excellent as was the incomparable Timo-Veikko Valve’s rendition of the Prelude from Bach’s Suite for Solo Cello no.3 in C major.

The concert concluded with Hindemith’s Trauermusik and magnificent silent dancing by the two artists.

The audience erupted into sustained applause for this truly satisfying and enlightening performance.

Ros Hurst

dynamic range and control of the Esmé Quartet is absolutely remarkable and quite astonishing, however it served the quartet’s musical interpretations far better in the first half than the second.

Anton Webern’s (1883-1945) Langsamer Satz (Slow Movement) (1905) was exquisite. The romantic atmosphere of the work was beautifully delineated and fine musicianship was displayed by each player. Felix Mendelssohn’s ((1809-1847) String Quartet No.2 in A minor, Op.13 (1827) was presented very musically in an ‘old style’, in the best sense of the term, not overly influenced by a historically informed performance approach. The opening was smoothly integrated and the fugato of the second movement was delicate and refined. The group’s voicing and internal balance was very clear, although perhaps the cellist could face out to the audience a little more for better projection. There was a delightful simplicity in the approach to the Intermezzo followed by a dazzling finale.

Written in a 21st century romantic style, Australian composer Jack Frerer’s (b. 1995) two movement Spiral Sequences (2018) is extremely effective and suits the Esmé Quartet.

Claude Debussy’s (1862-1918) String Quartet in G minor, Op.10 (1893) was rather disappointing. The Esmé‘s phenomenal control over extreme dynamics exhibited a sort of pointillist approach and often the overall line in the phrase was lost. The encore reflected traditional Korean instruments of the past.

Andrew Lorenz

by Andrew Lorenz

MVA

Esmé Quartet

Wonhee Bae vln I, Yuna Ha vln II, Dimitri Murrath, vla, Yeeun Heo, vc Conservatorium Theatre, Griffith University, Southbank Brisbane, May 13, 2024

The Esmé Quartet has garnered numerous prestigious awards and in 2018 won the First Prize and four special prizes at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition.

Whilst exhibiting exceptional ensemble qualities, the Esmé Quartet’s Musica Viva concert in Brisbane was slightly unusual. In her introduction, lead violinist Wonhee Bae described the program as “all being early works” of the composers and they were “quiet to very wild”. Indeed, the

by ADELE OHKI

Augustin Hadelich, violin, SSO directed by Simone Young Sydney Opera House, 7thAugust 2024

The Mendelssohn Violin Concerto is one of the most beloved and renowned works in the violin repertoire, requiring exceptional skill to fully realize its expression. Witnessing Augustin Hadelich, one of our generation’s most outstanding violinists, perform this piece was particularly thrilling. Hadelich, known for his phenomenal technique, insightful interpretations, and exquisite tone, instantly captivated the audience with his rich, velvety sound and quick vibrato, perfectly matching the urgency and pace of the phrasing. Many intimate moments in the concerto featured a fascinating dialogue between the soloist and orchestra, reminiscent of chamber music. Hadelich‘s mastery of left-hand technique and shifting was remarkable, inspiring admiration in any aspiring young violinist of today.

Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony is a monumental fourmovement work, showcasing the architectural rigor typical of his music. The expansive opening movement begins almost imperceptibly, moving through contrasting sections of heroic grandeur and delicate nature-inspired imagery. This is followed by a lively scherzo filled with titanic, almost boisterous laughter. The symphony then transitions to the longest Adagio ever composed at the time, full of profound emotional depth. The finale masterfully weaves together the diverse elements of the earlier movements, creating a powerful conclusion. The Sydney Symphony Orchestra delivered this Bruckner masterpiece with remarkable stamina and resolve. The performance was highlighted by a robust celli and bass section, a powerful brass section featuring Wagner tubas, and a timpanist whose soloistic stage presence occasionally stole the spotlight. The energetic performance elicited huge and prolonged applause from a highly responsive and packed audience for a mid-week concert.

Adele Ohki

AUSTA

AUSTRALIAN STRINGS ASSOCIATION LTD

ABN 72 010 228 789

PO Box 187, East Brunswick VIC 3057

Tel: +61 439 885 754

www.austa.asn.au

Patrons

Simon Fischer

Barry Green

Donald Hazelwood OBE, AO

Eduard Melkus

Elizabeth Morgan AM Graham Wood OAM

Patricia Pollett

Robin Wilson

Howard Penny

Past Patrons

John Curro AM, MBE

Frank Callaway AO, CMG, OBE

Richard Gill AO

Yehudi Menuhin, OM, KBE

Sheila Nelson

Robert Pikler OBE

William Primrose CBE

Max Rostal

Jan Sedivka AM

Board of Directors

National President

Nicole Strohfeldt president@austa.asn.au

National Secretary

Cara Taggart secretary@austa.asn.au

National Treasurer

Lubino Fernandes austatreasurer@austa.asn.au ACT

Jennifer Higgs act@austa.asn.au

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Goetz Richter nswpresident@austa.asn.au

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Amy Phillips qld@austa.asn.au SA

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TAS

David Sanzone dsviolinist@gmail.com

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Andrew Schellhorn austavicpresident@austa.asn.au

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Rupert Guenther wapresident@austa.asn.au

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Philip Carrington p.carrington@austa.asn.au

Loreta Fin l.fin@austa.asn.au

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Elizabeth Morgan AM e.morgan@austa.asn.au

Gwyn Roberts g.roberts@ austa.asn.au

Stephen Chin s.chin@ austa.asn.au

Andrew Patrick a.patrick@ austa.asn.au

Helen Tuckey helenvla@bigpond.com

James de Rozario james.derozario@xavier.vic.edu.au

Mission Statement

AUSTA is an association of teachers, players and makers of bowed string instruments which promotes excellence in all aspects of performance, teaching, composing, conducting and string instrument making. AUSTA inspires and supports the string community and facilitates communication at local, national and international levels.

Administration

National Treasurer

Lubino Fernandes austatreasurer@austa.asn.au

National Administrator

Emily Dittman admin@austa.asn.au

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Stephen Chin chin@everythingstring.com

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Saward Dawson Accountants

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McLean Delmo Bentleys

Stringendo

Publications Manager

Nicole Strohfeldt publicationsmanager@austa.asn.au

National Journal Editor

Susan Pierotti stringendo@austa.asn.au

National Reviews Editor

Mary Nemet reviews@austa.asn.au

National Advertising Manager

Vacant advertising@austa.asn.au

Design

LBB Design

Tel: 0403 065 496 louise@bodal.com.au

Editorial

Stringendo is the national journal of the Australian Strings Association Ltd and is published twice a year by the Australian Strings Association Ltd.

It reflects and represents the objectives outlined in the Memorandum and Articles of the Association. It is not the intention of Stringendo to promote any particular person or product. The ideas and opinions expressed in this journal are not necessarily those of AUSTA. Permission to reprint articles from this journal must be obtained in writing and the proper credit given.

April Issue 2025

Contribution Deadline: 31 January 2025

Advertising Deadline: 21 February 2025

Contributors and advertisers, please enter these dates in your Forward Planner now.

Stringendo

Guidelines For Contributors & Advertisers

AUSTA Publications

Responsibility for production of AUSTA national publications rests with the National Editorial Board. The Board produces two journal editions of Stringendo each calendar year, containing a mixture of contributed material, invited articles, news, reviews and short commentaries. The Board welcomes contributions from its readers, but inclusion of material in its publications is the sole prerogative of the Editor. Please note the following guidelines.

Advertising Rates And Artwork Requirements

Please contact the Advertising Manager: advertising@austa.asn.au or the National Editor: stringendo@austa.asn.au for all information regarding advertising. For artwork requirements please contact Louise Booth on 0403 065 496 or louise@bodal.com.au

Contributions

All contributions should be sent to the National Editor.

Types of contributions sought:

1. Information and brief news items

2. Major articles likely to be of interest to members (1350 words)

3. Scholarly articles (2000 words)

4. Reviews/reports of conferences, seminars, workshops, etc., offering thoughtful and reflective accounts of personal experiences (700 words)

5. Reviews of new string music, publications, recordings and concerts

6. Viewpoints expressing personal opinion (max. 550 words)

Authors of major articles must provide an electronic copy in Word format by email to the Editor: stringendo@austa.asn.au. Authors should include a two-sentence biography of themselves.

Articles should be in straightforward, concise English.

Photographs, musical examples and other illustrated material must be sharply in focus and may be submitted in colour or black and white sent electronically as a tif, jpg or pdf file.

Permission and sources for all images have been sought and acknowledged where possible. If the copyright owner is known but idenitified in the magazine, please contact the Editor immediately.

Copyright belongs to the author. However, the Editor reserves the right to first publication of any written material. The Editor reserves the right to edit submissions in the interests of clarity and available space. No material will be returned to the contributor, whether published or not.

For further information, please contact the National Editor - stringendo@austa.asn.au