2. WHY IS IMPROVISATION IMPORTANT FOR CLASSICALLY TRAINED STRING PLAYERS?
Many classically trained string players have a deep fear of improvisation. Rather than welcoming a chance to be free and express oneself, they are overwhelmed with the specter of wrong notes, mistakes, and ridicule. We have been subject to a set of rules based on mastering our instruments, with a clearly defined pedagogy. In our rapidly evolving musical world (2018) string players need to be able to find a voice that reflects our time. The emphasis is often “How well am I playing my instrument?” rather than “What am I expressing?” It’s true that technical standards of string playing are extremely high, but I feel often the personal content of a performance is forgotten, or at least becomes a very low priority. This is something professional string players need in their toolbox. Studying improvisation informs and energizes one’s approach to the classical repertoire.

3. HOW DOES ONE BEGIN LEARNING TO IMPROVISE?
By doing it- playing with someone who already improvises- and it may not be a string player! A pianist, guitarist, flutist, saxophonist, etc. etc. Find a friend, colleague who will spend time with you. It’s interesting that so many other instruments have improvisation as an expectation built in, unless you are a “classical-only” instrumentalist. Why should string playing be an exception? Of course, most bass players already live in the world of improvisation, to a greater or lesser degree.

There are many books available for self-study: Jamey Aebersold’s Jazz Improvisation series of over 100 volumes, Martin Norgaard’s Jazz and Gypsy Swing methods, and one of my favorites, Eugene Friesen’s “Improvisation for Classical Musicians”. However, a book alone can’t substitute for the process of learning from and with other humans in real time. When we study with a teacher, the oral (and aural) tradition of string playing is transmitted. Improvisation is part of that process, and studying with a string player who improvises is as important as studying with a teacher who teaches the standard repertoire.

4. WHAT ARE THE MAIN ELEMENTS OF IMPROVISATION?
To improvise in any style, a string player needs to quickly get beyond thinking only of one’s technique (How’s my bow hold? Did that shift work? and on and on). A good improviser is aware of the following elements:

• The melody
• The bass line
• The harmony (chord changes)
• The rhythmic language (the groove)

A good improviser is responsible for all these elements at the same time, and shapes one’s creation with real understanding, spontaneously. All solos have a beginning, middle and end, or in other words, an exposition, development and recapitulation.

Traditionally, string players are melodists- we are taught to shape a tune with great skill, coloring with the bow and vibrato and stretching the time with sophisticated rubato. As an improviser, in jazz and many other styles, rhythm and chords are much more important. I would say that playing with a consistent rhythm is the weakest aspect of many fine classical string player’s skill set. To be able to hang with the groove of a solid rhythm section is an entry-level skill, and goes far beyond simple metronome work. The rhythmic language of swing music is a beginning, then there are the polyrhythmic aspects of African, Latin American and Indian music influences which many of us find fascinating.

5. WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO IMPROVISATION?
My environment. The world I lived in in the late 1960s. I give much credit to the Beatles for creating that world. I grew up in Northern California, and there was a lot of social and political unrest. I felt the need to create something new in a changing world. Not being a serious cellist at the time, I taught myself guitar in order to play in a garage band with my friends. Those early teen years of pretending to be ‘cool’ in a band with my buddies, to be uninhibited, finding a way to release that teenage restlessness without critiquing or judging from adult, that was an incredible part of my growing up. Which included how to figure out music from the inside. I had the good fortune of living close enough to go to San Francisco with easy access to live concerts by the Grateful Dead and all the other local bands, as well as the Who, Eric Clapton, Ravi Shankar, Miles Davis, the list goes on. I always loved classical music, but creating my own in a small group was what I did in those teenage years.

When I went to college and started really pursuing the cello I saw the connection between playing in a string quartet and improvising in a band.
The communication is really the same. Except in a quartet you are playing the ideas of Beethoven, Debussy, Bartok, instead of your own. So I have to say I was an improviser first, in my formative years. It wasn’t until my early 20’s, when I found Margaret Rowell in Berkeley, that I became on track as a cellist. After that I studied with George Sopkin, founding member of the Fine Arts Quartet, in Milwaukee, one of the great quartet cellists. I remember him saying that when performing with his quartet was the best, it felt like improvising.

6. IS THERE A TRADITION OF STRING IMPROVISATION?
Of course- as long as there have been these instruments- 400 years! Improvisation is so important in Baroque music, and Classical period solo cadenzas give the soloist great room for personal ideas. My thinking is that as the art of composition became more developed and specific with regard to tempos, articulations, expressive markings, there became less room for musicians to add their own ideas, for better or worse. If you couple that with the increased pedagogical systemization of violin study especially, improvisation became less and less necessary to the skill set of a professional string player.

So from the 19th Century onward, where did the tradition go? I’d say in Europe it went underground- or at least into the folk music and Gypsy music genres. The violin is a deep part of Romany (Gypsy) culture, and everyone from Haydn to Brahms heard gypsy music, and referenced it in their works. In North America, improvisation grew out of the call and response of slave life in the African diaspora, which developed into what we call blues and jazz in the 20th Century. Many of the earliest African-American musical ensembles were string bands- banjo, violin, guitar, double bass. This music is rhythmic, syncopated, and improvisational.

When American jazz hit Europe in the early 20th Century, a fascinating synthesis occurred between jazz and gypsy music, personified by guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli. Improvised solos in the syncopated language of early swing style infused with the colors of Gypsy melodic and harmonic styles gave rise to Gypsy Jazz, or “Le Jazz Hot”.

In other forms of folk music, string playing keeps a strong tradition of improvising in what we call Bluegrass, another hybrid of British Isles folk tunes and North American jazz influences.

7. WHAT IS THE CONNECTION BETWEEN AUDIENCES AND IMPROVISING MUSICIANS?
For improvising musicians there is a strong collaborative energy, a spontaneous relationship with the audience. Improvisational music welcomes audience participation, a kind of call and response, often missing in classical performances, due to “respect for the composer.” I understand and respect the reason for this, but how often does a classical concert fall into the category of “church sermon sleepiness”? No performer wants that! Improvisation quickly establishes a symbiotic relationship with the audience, where performer and audience both benefit equally. How many classical performers complain of not having a connection with their audience? We all want the same connection, no matter what style we are performing. Music accesses all parts of the brain: the reflexes; the part that integrates the internal organs; our memories; our emotions; our balance; it even inhibits the flight-or-fight response allowing us momentarily escape from our stresses, to relax and experience higher mental states. Music truly soothes the savage beast.

8. WHAT IS CLAZZ?
CLAZZ is a unique festival designed to bridge the gap between jazz improvisation and classical string playing. The four-week festival in the medieval Tuscan hill town of Arcidosso is the brain child of the contemporary Swiss composer Thomas Fortmann, who was very active on the European popular music scene in the 70th and 80th, as well as the violinists Matt Pickart and Helmut Lipsky, based on the concept that improvisation is entirely compatible with being a professional string player or any other classical instrumentalist.

The first two weeks are a traditional chamber music festival featuring distinguished teachers and performers such as violinists Helmut Lipsky, Gwendolyn Masin and Mara Milkis and cellists Adam Liu, Michael Haber and Uri Vardi. This session features already an introductory course in improvisation and non-classical repertory, such as
Tango, Crossover Music, but also new contemporary music is already being integrated into the concert programs.

The Jazz session features improvising violinists Jeremy Cohen, Helmut Lipsky, violist Matt Pickart, and cellists Crispin Campbell and Andres Vera. Bridging the gap between Old World classicism and New World inventiveness, CLAZZ features concerts by faculty and students, private lessons, small ensemble coachings and a chance to focus on learning in the culturally rich environment of a timeless Italian village.

9. IS JAZZ THE ONLY FORM OF IMPROVISATION?
Not at all. Almost all forms of “art music” have improvisation as an integral aspect. Indian music has no repertoire, only ragas and talas. Arabic music is loaded with melodic ornamentation. Latin American music such as Tango, Samba, Bossa Nova and Choro is rife with opportunities to improvise. The CLAZZ Jazz Session provides the opportunity to familiarize oneself with a variety of these styles and languages.

10. WHAT IS THE DIRECTION OF IMPROVISATION MOVING FORWARD?
Improvisation uses what’s available in our culture, and since every form of music in the world is available with a few clicks on the internet, we now have no limits. To me, the action, the interest in music is always in the edges of styles, the rubbing shoulders of different cultures and traditions.
Improvisation gives musicians a chance to explore whatever intrigues them, captures their imagination. The most exciting music is what happens live with an audience. From the CLAZZ web page comes the quote from Jascha Heifetz: “I have discovered three things which know no geographical borders: classical music, American jazz, and applause as the sign of the public’s favor.” This kind of says it all!

Crispin Campbell’s musical style reflects his individuality. In a typical performance he makes seamless transitions from Bach to Frank Zappa to Django Reinhardt, earning him the label: “A musician who defies categories.”

Crispin is involved with the the developing art of improvisation for string players. He is a member of the CLAZZ International Music Festival in Tuscany, Italy, whose purpose is to incorporate improvisation into the life of classical string players. Campbell’s latest improvisational efforts involve concerts with his own group, and with Eugene Friesen (cellist at Berklee College of Music), violinist Jeremy Cohen (Quartet San Francisco), violinist Helmut Lipsky (Montreal Conservatory), the Neptune Quartet and fiddler Jeremy Kittle, among others. He continues to perform chamber music with his Interlochen colleagues.

Campbell is a faculty member at Interlochen Arts Academy. A student of Margaret Rowell (Berkeley, CA) and George Sopkin (Fine Arts Quartet), he is well known as a performer and teacher throughout North and South America. He teaches at the annual Interlochen Cello institute in June, and has taught at the NHSMI summer program at Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois, and many other summer programs. He is also a frequent guest artist for the Fundacion Batuta, a national music program based in Bogota, Colombia. He was the founder and Artistic Director of the Manitou Music Festival in Michigan, a chamber music and jazz festival. His recordings with the Neptune Quartet and Christian Matjias have been featured on NPR’s “All Things Considered”.

The post 10 Questions about Improvisation and Clazz Music Festival appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

Hans Jensen interviewed Joel Quarrington last summer during his stay at the Young Artists Institute organized by The National Arts Center.

String Visions: Two years ago, I heard your recording “Brothers in Brahms” and was so impressed with your ability to overcome all technical limitations of the Bass and just have the music come out in the most beautiful natural musical way. Now, a few years later with this new recording – “An Die Musik” – nothing could be more appropriate to use as a title. “An Die Music (To Music)” is one of the best-known songs by Schubert, so it’s fitting that this album should be all Schubert music. It’s greatness and popularity are generally attributed to its harmonic simplicity, sweeping melody, and a strong bass line that effectively underpins the vocals.

Gerald Moore played the accompaniment of “An die Musik” at the end of his farewell concert in London in 1967. During that concert, he had accompanied three of the singers with whom he was long associated: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Victoria de los Angeles, and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. But what’s fascinating is that he chose to play the accompaniment alone. It’s also the music that opens your recording, and you play it in such a simple and beautiful way that just absolutely captures the essence of the music. Knowing you, it’s definitely not your farewell recording.

What inspired you for this Schubert recording? What was the inspiration behind it?

Joel Quarrington: Well, I think I’m like a lot of other bassists and cellists in that I’ve spent so many years working on the Arpeggione Sonata. I’ve worked on it for over 40 years. And, I think I’m starting to get somewhere with it. It’s quite a tough piece. It’s very difficult.

String Visions: Yes, it is the same for the cello!

Joel Quarrington: But I have to say honestly… I probably worked on that more than anything else, and I am happy with some of my results with it. I love playing with the pianist David Jalbert.

String Visions: The collaborator on your CD?

Joel Quarrington: Yeah. He’s a professor of piano here in the School of Music at the University of Ottawa. He’s an absolutely wonderful young artist. He also did the Brahms recording with me. He’s a concert artist in his own right. I first heard him I think five years ago when he put out a recording of the Goldberg Variations. I heard it on the radio before buying it. It’s beautiful and really something special.

String Visions: So, radio might be the perfect way to meet?

Joel Quarrington: Yes. After that I got in touch with him and asked if we could play some pieces together. We did a performance of the Arpeggione Sonata at the University of Ottawa. It was a great relationship right away so I said: “Oh, we should record the Schubert!”

String Visions: What was it that really made you want to make a whole recording with Schubert’s music?

Joel Quarrington: You actually want to know?

String Visions: Yes, tell us the real reason behind this.

Joel Quarrington: I have a recording of Schubert’s piano sonatas by Paul Lewis

String Visions: Oh yes, he is a wonderful pianist.

Joel Quarrington: He’s wonderful for sure, and I drive around listening to that recording all the time because it’s so peaceful. You know, I get road rage when I drive…

String Visions: Oh no are you kidding me [laughs]…

Joel Quarrington: …except if I listen to that, then I can stay cool.

String Visions: That’s a great idea!

Joel Quarrington: Yeah. I don’t do stupid things in the car [laughs]. Time doesn’t seem to pass when I listen to it. One day I thought: “wouldn’t that be great to make a peaceful, Zen recording just with Schubert’s music.”

String Visions: I really like how the recording starts with “An die Musik,” then “Du bist die Ruh”, and then the Arpeggione sonata.

Joel Quarrington: Yes we didn’t want to make it just about the Arpeggione. We wanted all these beautiful songs to weave the whole recording together. And then, the Sonatina at the very end is like a light throwaway thing.

String Visions: Did you transcribe the Sonatina yourself?

Joel Quarrington: No, I’m using the Goltermann arrangement of it for cello, and it’s nice because I do it in the same register as the cello.

String Visions: Yes, it is so great the way you can move around on the bass. Hardly any cellists can even do it like that. It’s just fantastic. Additionally, you have this warm vocal quality on the bass that’s really so touching and beautiful.

Joel Quarrington: Thank you.

String Visions: Going back some years what was [learning music] like when you grew up? I think you started music school in Toronto when you were 13?

Joel Quarrington: Yes, but I really started playing music when I was 7. I played a lot of music with my brothers, but I played by ear and it was a good amount of folk music.

String Visions: Was that on the bass?

Joel Quarrington: No, no, no. On many other instruments. I could play guitar, piano, and a little banjo. In fact, the only instrument I didn’t play was the bass.

String Visions: That’s fantastic; the absolutely best way to start learning music. Really knowing and feeling music in your heart, body, and soul before starting to study your favorite instrument.

Joel Quarrington: Yes, you see we were three brothers and we played all this stuff together by ear. My oldest brother was also teaching us to sing in three-part harmony and accompany ourselves, and that’s what we were doing. Then after a while my brother started to bring home a double bass from the high school. He would play it and sounded very good.

String Visions: So, it was your brother playing the Bass. But how did you start the bass?

Joel Quarrington: When I was 12 years old I was put into a string class and they said, “Choose your instrument.” I had skipped a bunch of grades so I was very short, just 3 feet tall, and I said I wanted to play the bass because then I could be the one bringing home the bass on the weekends.

String Visions: And being the one in charge of laying down the bass line.

Joel Quarrington: Yes exactly, but I had to convince the teacher even though I was so small that I really wanted to play the bass

String Visions: So in the beginning it was still folk music?

Joel Quarrington: Yes, and a lot of jazz. My father was a great jazz player he played the trumpet and he actually tried to make a living as a jazz trumpeter. In fact, all the men on his side of the family, starting with his grandfather, were all working musicians of Toronto. They would all play in the movie theaters where they were playing light classics and popular music.

String Visions: Then, how did you end up going to the conservatory?

Joel Quarrington: Well, because the string class teacher thought that I had a lot of potential on the bass and said that I should go study this guy Tom Monohan, who was the principal bass player in the Toronto Symphony. I went to a summer music camp, and one day they brought up all the principal string players from the Toronto Symphony and so there I met Tom Monohan. And he was a very impressive guy. He weighed about 400 pounds, chain-smoked, wore sunglasses, and was very intimidating. He wanted us just to do long tones, and he would just snap his fingers. We were trying to do like eight beats per bow just playing a slow scale. He chain-smoked unfiltered cigarettes so his voice was very low and raspy. We just couldn’t understand him.

String Visions: But snapping he could! And that was something you could all understand [laughs].

Joel Quarrington: Yes, and there I was, like 3 feet tall. My hair went all the way down to my shoulders…

String Visions: So you were a Beatles fan?

Joel Quarrington: That’s right. So, at any rate, I went back to school and I said, “Well, I think he would be a good teacher.” So, although he didn’t usually teach people my age, I started with him when I turned 13.

String Visions: That must have been the beginning of your interest in playing the classical bass. And, now for almost 30 years you’ve been the principal bass player of so many ensembles including: the Canadian Opera, the Toronto Symphony, and now the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Two years ago you were the principal bass in the London Symphony Orchestra.

Joel Quarrington: Correct.

String Visions: Fortunately for the Canadians here and for us when we are here in Ottawa in the summertime, you came back to Canada. I think you are a true Canadian, so you belong here.

This is the first part of the Interview with Joel Quarrington the other parts will follow here on String Visions over the next few weeks.

Born in Toronto, Joel Quarrington began his formal studies of the double bass when he was thirteen. Upon graduation from the University of Toronto, he was awarded the “Eaton Scholarship” as the school’s most outstanding graduate. Joel is a winner of the Geneva International Competition and the CBC Talent Competition, and has made solo appearances across Canada, the United States, Europe and China. Joel teaches in the summers at the Orford Arts Centre in Quebec’s beautiful Eastern Townships where his master classes have attracted players from around the world. He also teaches at the University of Ottawa and at the Royal Academy of Music in London where he is a “Visiting Artist”. You can learn more about him on his website at https://joelquarrington.com/.

Joel Quarrington will be performing at two upcoming events:

1. Northwestern University Master Class (February 6th) and Recital (February 7th)

• Master Class at Northwestern University McClintock Hall 4:30-6:30 February 6.
• Wednesday, February 7, 7:30 p.m.
• Galvin Recital Hall, $8/5
• https://artscircle.northwestern.edu/music/joel-quarrington-double-bass

2. Recital in New York

• Baruch Performing Arts Center
• 25th Street between 3rd and Lexington Avenues
• New York NY United States
• March 27, 2018
• 7:30pm

The post Interview with Joel Quarrington appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

I ask a broad range of questions in any given lesson, from the most general to the most detailed. At the onset I usually ask the student what he/she has prepared, so I know how to pace myself accordingly for the hour-long lesson. Some students bring a great deal of repertoire and technical work to a lesson, and some bring just one item. Knowing that at the beginning of the lesson helps me allocate appropriate chunks of time for each item.

If the student plans to start the lesson with a scale I will ask “what issues are you going to focus on while playing the scale?” and hope for an answer that includes specifics such as tone production, smooth bow and string changes, left-hand organization, correct shifting, etc. After the scale is played I would ask “is there anything in the scale you just played that you feel needs improvement?” The student might say “I did not like my sound”, after which I would ask “did you feel your sound was perhaps forced at times, or that it did not have a core, or consistency throughout all registers?” I try and guide the student through some detailed detective work, so when the scale is played again there is a heightened sense of awareness and focus. If the sound was the issue, then we would work on bow speed, arm weight, and bow location (sounding point). If the sound improves, I ask the student to tell me why exactly the sound got better. I want the student to become aware when he/she does something well, and to also know the reason(s) when something does not sound good. The student is more likely to practice better and duplicate good results obtained if he/she has a clear understanding of what causes a problem and what the solution is.

If the student might not have been happy with his/her shifting in the scale, I would ask “what specifically was not good about your shifting? Did the left hand travel too fast during the shifts? Did you have too much pressure on the left hand while you shifted”? I would then have the student try shifting slower and lighter, so he/she can hear and feel the difference.

If the student was not happy with the legato playing aspect in the scale, I would ask about string crossing preparation and/or bow changes. Where those prepared in advance, or did they happen abruptly? Were they done with the fingers or the entire arm? I would then have the student play the scale again and try all possible ways of crossing from one string to another (whole arm, or with the wrist, or only with the fingers). When the student tries various ways of crossing strings it usually becomes clear right away which option produces the best results.

If the student brings a Popper etude to the lesson I first ask “why do you think Popper wrote this etude? What lesson(s) is he trying to teach us through this particular etude, or what skills can be developed by working on this etude?” Let’s suppose the student brought etude No.1 by Popper to the lesson. I would first ask “what bow stroke makes sense to use in this etude, and how do we get it? Is it with a firm right arm, or loose wrist and fingers? Clearly off the string or more of a light brush stroke?” I would then have the student try to find through experimentation the most appropriate bow stroke for this particular
etude. If the student is not getting a good sound I would likely ask about bow placement: is the student playing too close to the bridge, or too much on the fingerboard? Is the student playing too far from the frog to have a good control of the off-the-string bow stroke? These kinds of pointed questions help
guide the student toward solutions, and put the onus on the student for finding answers through trial and error under my guidance.

When the student is about to play a repertoire item such us a movement from a concerto, I would first ask “what did you focus on when you worked on this concerto?” or “what steps or stages did you go through when you practiced this concerto?” These kinds of questions will usually produce answers that are quite specific, such as “I first worked slowly on intonation, then on my shifts, then on the kind of sounds and colors I want to have throughout this work, and then on musical architecture and character, etc.” The aim is once again to make the student more focused and productive in practice sessions, with a clear idea of what issues are to be addressed and how. Knowing that I will ask questions week after week makes the student much more aware of what he/she is doing in the practice room.

Aside from their playing, I ask students about performances they heard, or recordings they listened to. If they liked a particular interpretation of a work they listened to, why did they like it? Was it because it was full of character? And what made the performance so effective? In what ways did the performer make the performance appealing, convincing? How did the performer create a good, projecting tone? Was the performance strict in terms of tempo, or imaginative in regard to the use of rubato? By asking this kind of questions I find that the students develop an ability for critical listening when they attend a concert, and are better able to absorb details that they can later experiment with in their practice sessions.

I find that this type of approach stimulates the minds of students to a higher degree than a more traditional approach where the teacher simply gives advice on various issues without placing much responsibility on the student for problem solving.

The post A Teacher’s Perspective: Asking Questions to Promote Self-Sufficiency in Students appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

Ovation Press recently published CelloMind, a two-part, pedagogical method book that has been written to help musicians understand HOW intonation works and, more importantly, WHY it works the way it does.

CelloMind was created by two highly respected cello teachers. Hans Jørgen Jensen has earned a place among the world’s elite teachers, and his former student Minna Rose Chung has been successfully implementing his method with students of her own for nearly 20 years. Together, they identify the elusive concepts behind great intonation and left-hand technique. Their clear explanations and helpful exercises will immediately improve your playing and boost your expressive abilities.

Purchase of the book includes exclusive access to an online resource portal with supplemental videos and audio.

Visit the CelloMind website to learn more and purchase the book.

Read the full press release.

The post Engage Your CelloMind! New Book from Hans Jensen and Minna Rose Chung appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

String Visions: Richard, it’s great to see you. Congratulations on your upcoming album of Bach’s Six Cello Suites. That is a wonderful achievement. Remind me, how old were you when you recorded the suites?

Richard Narroway: Twenty-four.

String Visions: Twenty-four, that’s right. I think many would agree it’s quite amazing that you made a recording of the Bach Suites at such a young age. Most people wait till they’re older, because they never feel that they can quite do it the right way.

Richard Narroway: Honestly, I felt that it was probably as good a time as ever. I had been playing them and studying them fanatically for years, and I wanted to cement my interpretation while my ideas were still fresh in my mind. Besides, there’s never going to be a “right” way to play this music, so why wait?

That being said, when you look at all the great artists—Peter Wispelwey, Anner Bylsma, Yo Yo Ma, Janos Starker and so on—they all recorded the Bach suites several times – two, three, four times. It’s amazing to hear how much their ideas change over time. Even Glenn Gould’s interpretation of the Goldberg Variations is drastically different between his earlier and later recordings. Just because I record it now doesn’t mean it’s set in stone forever. I mean, I guess in a way it is, but I very much hope to record it again in 10 or 15 years time. It will be really interesting to see how my interpretation changes in that period.

I think the wonderful thing about this music is that it’s always changing. The legendary Pablo Casals said that, for him, Bach’s music is never the same, but rather something new to be experienced each day. That’s definitely the case for me too. It never feels the same from one day to the next. Our interpretations are always going to change as we change and grow as people.

String Visions: Yes, I know what you mean—music is always changing. It also changes depending on who you play for and how the audience reacts. When you’re in a big space, for instance, I feel that the audience often influences the interpretation. Do you agree with that or have you experienced that when you played the Bach suites?

Richard Narroway: Absolutely. I’ve been fortunate enough to play this music in many unusual spaces and for all kinds of different people. I’ve played it in churches, hospitals, I’ve played for Parkinson’s sufferers, students, general music lovers, all kinds of different communities. All of these people of course interact and respond to the music in different ways, and as a performer I try to be flexible and sensitive enough to respond to the atmosphere of the room and to the feedback I am receiving. For example I am not going to play the same way in a quiet hospital room as I do in a large concert hall.

But there was one common trend I found with most of my audiences, and that was a sense of peace and meditation. Many people find these suites to be very soothing and therapeutic. It was amazing to see how an entire hospital ward can be transformed into a place of calm and beauty at the sound of Bach. Or how Parkinson’s sufferers are able to find a sense of peace in their motions when they move to this music. Of course some audiences, particularly younger kids, may not be responsive at all. They can get fidgety or bored if I don’t keep their attention. That is a whole other challenge. But in any case I find that I am always responding to the audience that’s in front of me. That’s the whole point, I think—to share. And the more interactive it can be, the more meaningful. That’s the beauty of making music.

String Visions: Yes I agree. I think it is also interesting how we tend to play differently for a live audience than we do for a studio recording. You were touring Australia for 30 days before you recorded this album. How did that impact the recording process?

Richard Narroway: That was a tough thing, actually. I was performing this music day and night for 30 days and because of that I started to feel really comfortable on stage. But on the other hand I wasn’t getting much practice time at all. On top of all the traveling and workshops and masterclasses, there was just no time. Whenever I was lucky enough to find a small window of time to practice, the whole process felt kind of foreign to me, almost like I was out of shape! And that made me realize that performing and practicing, as activities, don’t always engage the same mind space. It was a strange phenomenon, because I would go on stage and everything would feel fine, like the music was ingrained in my muscle memory, but then I’d go and practice and it was clear that I hadn’t worked on certain things in a while. I think we really have to practice practicing, too!

When I started recording the suites, I had to try to tap into this mindset as if I was playing for people and sharing music with people, because I think you definitely play differently when you’re in front of an audience as opposed to just a microphone.

String Visions: That’s right.

Richard Narroway: The microphone is so objective and impersonal. It can be kind of…it can make you a little uptight, actually. It certainly did for me during the first few days recording, until I was able to tap into that frame of mind that made it seem more like I was sharing the music with an actual audience.

String Visions: So did you record the suites consecutively from 1-6 or did you jump around?

Richard Narroway: No, I jumped around. I started with Suite 2 just because on that particular day I felt like it would be the most comfortable one, and it would allow me to feel the space and resonance of the room. And then I jumped around, one suite per day. I might have done 2, 3, 6…actually I have no idea what order I did it in. But some of the suites were definitely easier to record than others. For a few of them I just played through the entire suite twice and that was all that we needed. I think that’s pretty much what we did with 1, 2 and perhaps 3. Before doing any smaller patch work in individual movements I tried to play each suite from start to finish without stopping, as a kind of “base take,” which would also allow for a sense of continuity between movements. I don’t like it when each movement feels so separated. Of course it wasn’t so simple with all the suites. Some of them required many takes of small segments. Suites 4 and 6 were definitely the more challenging ones to record. I remember Suite 6 in particular being really difficult on the day of recording. I hadn’t had time to practice that one in a while. I’d been performing it a lot, but I hadn’t done some serious woodshedding for several weeks. So when it came time to record, it was an exhausting experience as I had to keep doing takes over such silly errors. Even now when I listen back to it, I’m not entirely satisfied with small things here and there, but I mean, what can you do? That’s the nature of recording—it documents how we play at a specific time on a specific day, no matter what the circumstances.

If I could do it again, I would actually try to allocate eight days to record the full album, so one suite per day and then two buffer days where I can go back and do bits and pieces again, which I didn’t make time for with this particular recording. This time I had to do it all in six days, one suite per day, and that was really exhausting just trying to keep focused and maintain enough stamina throughout the day. When you’re sitting in front of a microphone for several hours at a time, it is easy to get sloppy. That’s just how it goes.

String Visions: Yes, it’s hard.

Richard Narroway: You don’t have the adrenaline you get in performance situations to keep you energized.

String Visions: That’s right. It can be very difficult. Did your relationship with the music evolve over the course of the 30-day tour?

Richard Narroway: Absolutely, particularly my relationship with the dance and rhythmic elements in the suites. Before this tour I had never played in a situation where people actually had to dance to the music, but during this tour I got to collaborate with several Dance for Parkinson’s workshops. In these sessions I had to play in a way that provided enough of a sense of rhythm and pulse for these people to dance to, which really changed my whole approach to some of the movements. I remember the bourrées from the third and fourth suites worked really well in those sessions, as did some of the gigues. When I got on stage again, I started really trying to incorporate this feeling of dance. It made the music so much more alive, so much more joyful, and even more engaging to perform and to listen to, I think.

Throughout the tour I also tried to find new ways to create variety in repeats. There’s nothing worse than taking a repeat and playing everything exactly the same way. So I tried to find ways to change things—add ornaments, create inflections, bring out different voices and things like that. As an audience member, listening to three hours of the same kind of music can in itself be an exhausting experience, so we must do what we can to make the music feel spontaneous and alive.

String Visions: So when you were preparing for the tour I remember you talked about the Aboriginal “Walkabout,” and how it inspired you to go on a walkabout of your own. What is a walkabout in the aboriginal culture?

Richard Narroway: The walkabout is traditionally a rite of passage for young indigenous Australians. They venture into the wilderness for months at a time, tracing the paths of their ancestors and forming a closer relationship with their surrounding landscapes. It’s basically an important spiritual journey of maturation going into adulthood.

String Visions: So that happens at what age?

Richard Narroway: It’s in your teen years when you go into adulthood.

String Visions: How long do they stay out in the wilderness?

Richard Narroway: Up to six months, I heard.

String Visions: Each person alone?

Richard Narroway: Yeah, that’s the point, they have to go alone. The whole philosophy behind it is that they don’t see Australia in terms of its geography. They don’t think of maps and distances and things like that. They feel spiritually connected to the land and so this journey is to help them discover these connections and learn about themselves in the process. It’s like a spiritual journey of self-discovery.

String Visions: But it’s not only spiritual, it’s also practical because if they’re out there by themselves they have to survive.

Richard Narroway: Yes, I guess it’s kind of like the ultimate survival challenge. They’re learning how to survive and be adults. But for Indigenous Australians it is much more than that. It’s even more so about the inner journey for them, I think.

String Visions: Fascinating. So you came up with the word, “Bachabout” in the lead up to your tour. In what way did you relate those two terms?

Richard Narroway: Well, I was very drawn to this whole idea of a spiritual journey, so I came up with the word “Bachabout” as a way to describe my own journey around Australia. My goal was to perform the suites all around the country, engaging with many different communities along the way, in an effort to form a closer relationship with the music. It was kind of a cool concept going into it and I’ve hung on to that idea ever since.

String Visions: I think it’s a great concept. In a way, the Bachabout is also for you a spiritual journey into Bach’s music.

Richard Narroway: Absolutely.

String Visions: And it also has to do with growing as a person and evolving with the music, so I can see the connections between the two.

Richard Narroway: Right exactly.

String Visions: Can you talk a little about your approach to the Bach Suites?

Richard Narroway: Well, that’s an interesting question because of course, even now when I listen to how I played it two years ago, I wouldn’t necessarily make some of the same decisions that I did back then. But, I mean, that’s just the nature of recording. And as I mentioned before, that’s the beauty of this music—it never quite feels the same from one day to the next.

But in terms of general approach, when I recorded it I used a modern cello and modern bow, which is of course quite distant from Bach’s own sound world, but I did my best to try to balance this setup with a thorough understanding of Baroque style. So in the lead-up to the tour, I was immersing myself in treatises and books and performance manuals from Bach’s time and I was trying to figure out how I could apply those concepts within a modern setup. I don’t think it’s a black or white thing. It’s not as simple as choosing to perform with total commitment to historical performance practice, with gut strings, low tuning and so on, or just forgetting all about it. I think there’s plenty of room to be able to combine an understanding of historical principles with current trends in modern performance practice.

So that’s the kind of thing I’m trying to do. I have thought a lot about sound production, phrasing, vibrato usage, slurring nuances, ornaments, tempo, characters of the different dances, and things like that. I think in the end the most important thing is that the spirit of the music comes to life, which is more often a matter of phrasing, character and attention to harmony, than of specific issues of Baroque tuning and style.

String Visions: Yes, I completely agree. What about your personal connection to the Bach Suites. How do you identify with this music?

Richard Narroway: From a young age I’ve always felt a special affinity to Bach’s style of writing. I think it’s something to do with the spiritual quality of his music, which I relate to, as well as the intellectuality of his music. There’s a great balance between the two. I’ve always loved his mastery of counterpoint and the harmonic richness that is central to his writing.

When I was young I played The Well-Tempered Clavier, so maybe it’s in my blood somehow. I don’t know…I think for some reason, more than any other composer, I’ve always found that when I perform Bach it’s just so immensely gratifying. Maybe it’s something to do with the fact that it’s so soothing on the spirit. The thing is, when I’m playing a Brahms sonata or Rachmaninoff or something like that, I’m very deliberately trying to tell a story to the audience, but when I’m playing Bach it’s much more just about objective truths. It’s about love, it’s about death, it’s about tragedy, joy, and so on. So I guess in a way it is very cleansing to play, very meditative. If you can tap into that—sometimes it doesn’t go so well though—but if you can tap into that frame of experience, it’s really spiritually gratifying, and that’s perhaps why I relate to it so deeply.

String Visions: Yes I agree. When Goethe, the famous poet from Germany, heard The Well-Tempered Clavier for the first time, he said, and I might be paraphrasing, but he said something like, “In the consciousness of God before he created the universe was the harmony of Bach.” When he heard this music he just felt it had an incredible connection with the universe somehow. Now, I have always felt that too, and that’s what you’re talking about—this spirituality that has nothing to do with a specific religion. It’s like an incredible connection to something that’s much bigger than we are and that lifts us out of ourselves. I can totally relate to that.

Richard Narroway: Yeah, it’s a higher plane of existence for sure. The author Alain de Botton said something along those lines about how Bach’s music seems to be about devotion to a perfect ideal, something higher, beyond us. For him, Bach’s music shows what a belief in God must feel like, even if one doesn’t believe in God.

String Visions: Yeah, a higher plane of existence. It transports you into that realm, then you come back to yourself afterwards and then everything seems different and perhaps easier to comprehend. It has a spiritual cleansing effect, somehow.

Richard Narroway: Exactly.

String Visions: Can you give us a brief overview of how you prepared for the tour and the recordings?

Richard Narroway: So two years before the tour I did a complete recital of the six suites at Northwestern. That was kind of the first step of the journey, I think.

String Visions: When was that?

Richard Narroway: That was my senior year at Northwestern, in 2013.

String Visions: Oh that’s right.

Richard Narroway: Then while I was at Juilliard doing my master’s, Bach was kind of on the back-burner because I was focusing on other things. But whenever I did have time I would go back and refine my interpretative ideas. I took a class on Bach’s solo string works, which was really informative, and influenced my approach a great deal. I think the biggest thing it changed was my understanding of the notion of rhetoric. I started thinking a lot about articulation and how to enunciate subject lines and bring out certain voices with the bow. This also helped me organize my bow usage so that I wasn’t always using a ton of bow speed, but staying closer to the frog for much of the detailed work. That was kind of an important part in the process. I also listened a lot to different artists like Andras Schiff, Murray Perahia, and Isabelle Faust, to name a few, and learnt a lot from their own ideas of voicing and phrasing and so on. Listening to these different artists also made me realize that there are so many varied approaches out there, and yet this music still somehow comes to life. It reveals new things with each approach. I think that is a true testament to the genius of the music—that it can still reveal its secrets through so many different interpretations.

Towards the final stages in the lead-up to the tour, I had a couple months where I just focused exclusively on Bach. I practiced the suites a great deal and studied the harmonies and bass lines at the piano. It’s amazing how much practice time you can save when you spend some time at the piano—it really helps to form a clear conception of the harmonic journey of the piece. Mental practice was also hugely important, particularly while I was on tour with such limited practice time. Memorization wasn’t too much of a hassle since I had played them a great deal in the past.

About a month prior to the tour I did a concert at the Kalamazoo Bach Festival where I performed Suites 1, 4 and 6. That was pretty much my only chance to air out the music before I went, and then most of my performing experience with the suites was during the actual tour itself. And since I was playing them pretty much every day for 30 days, I grew closer to the music than I had ever before. It was really a life-changing experience.

String Visions: Fascinating. It’s truly exciting that you have this product out now. When is the album officially released?

Richard Narroway: September 22. You can pre-order it now on Amazon!

Audio Samples on Soundcloud:

The post Richard Narroway and his Bach Six Cello Suites Recording appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

String Visions: I very much like your recording of the Weinberg Violin sonatas that you recorded on the Naxos label together with pianist Tatiana Goncharova, it’s a fabulous, high level of playing and you make the music come out with such power; it’s delightful listening to that recording.

Grigory Kalinovsky: Thank you.

String Visions: I think Weinberg’s music should really be enjoyed so much more by everybody. People have to know more about his music.

Grigory Kalinovsky: I agree. It’s very, very good music on many levels.

String Visions: Did you know about his music for a long time?

Grigory Kalinovsky: Well, I had two connections to him. One is, as many Soviet composers, he wrote film scores, and so practically every Russian kid knew his music from the Russian animated shorts about Winnie the Pooh.

String Visions: I see Winnie the Pooh. Weinberg composed more than 40 works for opera, film and theater.

Grigory Kalinovsky: For film and theater- Yes. Also, my father was an opera singer and performed in his opera, The Madonna and the Soldier, and the premiere was actually reviewed by Shostakovich where he mentions my father.

String Visions: Wow, that’s fantastic. What’s your father’s name?

Grigory Kalinovsky: Mikhail Kalinovsky. Michael.

String Visions: That sounds very exciting. Was Weinberg alive at that time?

Grigory Kalinovsky: At that time, yes. He passed away in ’96, so that was after we already moved to America.

String Visions: Reading about Weinberg, it’s very clear that in Russia the really great musicians really knew that his music was fantastic, but somehow the regime had suppressed it especially under Stalin.

Grigory Kalinovsky: Well, it wasn’t suppressed to begin with but he also wasn’t very much recognized by the establishment. That also allowed Weinberg to stay off the KGB radar for a while, though he was finally arrested and spent three months in jail, until Stalin’s death resulted in his release. There was a period of about 20 years afterwards when his music was performed quite a lot, but then during the final two decades of his life he again lost popularity among the younger musicians, and was unfortunately almost forgotten towards the end of his life.

String Visions: Then there’s also stories that his father-in-law was killed by Stalin. Is that true…?

Grigory Kalinovsky: Right. Yes!

String Visions: Do we really know that for sure?

Grigory Kalinovsky: Yes, that’s pretty much an established fact. Solomon Mikhoels was assassinated on Stalin’s order. And that is why Weinberg was arrested as well.

String Visions: But I read that they made it look like an accident?

Grigory Kalinovsky: Yes, they made it look like a “hit-and-run” accident.

String Visions: Lets talk about Weinberg’s background: He was born in Poland and of Jewish heritage?

Grigory Kalinovsky: Right.

String Visions: Then when he went to Russia, his family stayed back and his parents and sister died in a concentration camp.

Grigory Kalinovsky: Yes, he was 19. He had just graduated from Warsaw Conservatory as a pianist, and so when the Nazis came, he fled on foot with his sister, but as they were walking through the woods at night the sister got scared and turned back home, while he made it on foot all the way to Belarus, to Minsk, and so he was the only one from his family who survived.

String Visions: I think that was in 1939 or something like that?

Grigory Kalinovsky: Yes.

String Visions: Shostakovich played an important role in his life – do you know how they were introduced to each other?

Grigory Kalinovsky: After a few months in Minsk, as the Germans advanced, he was evacuated to Tashkent, which was a popular evacuation destination for artists and musicians, and that’s where he met Shostakovich, who became his friend and mentor.

String Visions: Oh, I see. When listening to Weinbergs music Shostakovich’s inspiration can be felt.

Grigory Kalinovsky: Oh, for sure.

String Visions: When did you first start to play his violin sonatas?

Grigory Kalinovsky: Well, we had the idea for this recording I think in 2009, and that’s where we started looking at the pieces. Naxos was interested, and so we got the contract to record them. We learned and recorded all of the sonatas through 2010, but then there were some unforeseen personal and technical difficulties, which resulted in the final production being finished only in 2016.

String Visions: Yes making a recording of a number of works is always very difficult. listening to this recording there is such a coherency between the way you perform it and how all the pieces evolve. How would you evaluate the sonatas, do you feel that the violin sonatas are conected?

Grigory Kalinovsky: Well, it’s interesting because there is definitely evolvement. Although you have to remember that the first five sonatas were written within a decade.

String Visions: Oh, I see. It’s not like there’s three periods of Beethoven’s music.

Grigory Kalinovsky: Right, exactly. Having said that though, there is definite development in how he wrote and in the mastery of writing. For sure, the fifth sonata, which was the last one to be written during that period, is probably the greatest masterpiece. The Sixth Sonata was written much later in 1982 and actually, judging by what I know, it wasn’t even seen by any violinist because it was found in the composer’s archive in manuscript when we already started working on the project. And so it was typeset for us by Peermusic publishers…

String Visions: Oh, so the sixth sonata was not available before?

Grigory Kalinovsky: No. We were informed by Peermusic – the publishers of Weinberg’s works – that they discovered this sonata, and so we added it to the project. Peermusic typeset it for us quickly, which made it easier to learn, though we had to make some editorial decisions, since the piece was never published, and the manuscript contained obvious errors, such as wrong number of beats in a bar, or chords that are unplayable on violin.

String Visions: That sounds exciting!

Grigory Kalinovsky: Probably number five is the most masterful work, the largest in scale. But I wouldn’t say that this diminishes from any of the other works. Sonata Four to me is completely otherworldly. It’s phenomenal music. They all have their own sonority and atmosphere, and at the same time, going through post production and listening to the whole set together, I came to appreciate that there is definitely an overall aura that connects them. Even with hearing a little bit of Prokofiev here and a little bit of Shostakovich there, you can hear Weinberg’s own voice in every bar of every piece.

String Visions: Yes his music is very powerful. Many of his compositions including symphonies and of course operas were influenced by war and also Jewish folk music. He says himself, I quote, “Many of my works are related to the theme of war. This was not my own choice. It was dedicated by my fate, by the tragic fate of my relatives. I regard it as my moral duty to write about the war, about the horrors that befell mankind in our century, the last century.”

Grigory Kalinovsky: Yes, that’s very clear. I would say especially the fourth sonata is incredibly dark and deep music.

String Visions: But the sixth sonata I think was written in memory of his mother.

Grigory Kalinovsky: Right, and it’s probably I would say the most tragic of them all. Even though it’s a single movement piece that’s six minutes long. It starts with a 90-second violin solo, and it actually took me a while to kind of come up with an image for that opening because it’s just running eighth notes. It sounds like a clock, and I finally realized that’s what you hear when you lie awake at night and you hear all the clocks in the house going at the same time.

String Visions: What horrible experiences people had to go through. You can also imagine a young man, 19 years of age, escaping away from a situation, and then later knowing that his parents and sister died in such horrible circumstance. It must just be something that was buried deep in his soul, Yes those events should stay deep in all of our souls. We can never forget that.

Grigory Kalinovsky: Yes. And the piece is quite violent in a way but it’s also extremely lonely. You can hear his pain and loneliness through the whole piece even in the most loud and violent moments.

String Visions: And I think it was written 14 years before his death.

Grigory Kalinovsky: Yes.

Grigory Kalinovsky: As for Jewish overtones, they are definitely present this music, especially in the finale of the third sonata, but not openly so, much less so than the finale of the Shostakovich piano trio, for example.

String Visions: Yes that is very clear.

Grigory Kalinovsky: Here it’s much more subtle but it’s definitely there. And also in the Sonatina, which was written in 1948 as a reaction to the regime – there was a big wave of anti-contemporary… sentiment

String Visions: Oh, that’s when everybody was told to compose…music for the people

Grigory Kalinovsky: Right, to write “for the people”. So he wrote this violin sonatina, and actually it’s not “sonatina” because of length – it’s not that short—I think it’s only a sonatina because it’s lighter in character. By length, it’s as long as some of his sonatas. But it’s definitely more fun, lighter. And there is a funny sort of a combination of Arabic and Jewish character in the second movement.

String Visions: I did not notice that when listening

Grigory Kalinovsky: Well, when the piano solo starts, followed by the violin, the opening phrases sound almost Scheherezade-like, and then all of a sudden you get these clearly Jewish gestures.

String Visions: That is very important how music can manage to connect cultures and form positive relations between different cultures.

Grigory Kalinovsky: Of course.

String Visions: What are other distinguishing features in these violin sonatas?

Grigory Kalinovsky: Well, besides compositional language, in a few sonatas there are things that at least I personally haven’t seen in any other piece for an equal partnership, like a violin-piano sonata. For example, a very long violin solo or a really long piano solo. Shostakovich sonata has that to some extent in the finale, which is passacaglia form, and one of the variations is for piano solo, while one is for violin solo, but they are both quite compact. Weinberg, on the other hand, starts his fourth sonata with incredibly beautiful and very long piano solo introduction, which could belong in a piano solo piece – in fact, hearing the opening, you could assume you were listening to a sonata for piano. Also in the fifth sonata has a huge piano solo in the middle of the last movement – basically a complete stand-alone fugue.

String Visions: Yes He was also a very fine pianist.

Grigory Kalinovsky: Yes, this was his initial education. He graduated as a pianist from the Warsaw Conservatory. Also, I would say technically not easy music to play by any means.

String Visions: As a pianist did he have an understanding for the violin?

Grigory Kalinovsky: I think he did but I think he didn’t care, kind of like Brahms. Brahms didn’t write comfortably for any instrument – music was more important than playability. Weinberg’s violin writing is especially difficult for intonation, because the harmonies change constantly and the music constantly switches between different registers, and very uncomfortable registers at that. One or the hardest things for me learning these pieces was actually to find the notes, because the ear had to get used to all the harmonic changes.

String Visions: Yes Weinberg’s music is a very unusual, harmonic language…

Grigory Kalinovsky: Right. Even though it’s very tonal music it is also very complex.

String Visions: But listening to your recording, one doesn’t hear that it is difficult. it sounds very convincing.

Grigory Kalinovsky: Thank you! Also I remember Tatiana complaining that he wrote in such a way that made it very awkward for the piano as well, often having left hand all the way in the bass and right hand all the way in the treble. This makes very powerful musical effect, but very difficult to actually perform.

String Visions: It’s also clear that you have played a lot together with Tatiana.

Grigory Kalinovsky: Oh, for sure. Yeah, we’ve been playing together for 25 years.

String Visions: Yes that’s very obvious because there is such a harmony in the playing, and how you relate so naturally to each other. It’s beautiful.

Grigory Kalinovsky: Thank you.

The post Interview with Grigory Kalinovsky appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

1. Ovation Press: You have made some wonderful transcriptions for cello and guitar – so far Ovation Press has published eight of them. Over the years Ovation and other publishers published many of your cello transcriptions, but it is particularly interesting that you also made guitar transcriptions of complete Bach’s Cello Suites, Violin Sonatas and Partitas plus Flute Partita – all of them published by Chanterelle Verlag (Mel Bay in the U.S.). You must really have a passion for transcribing! When did you start this activity?

Valter Dešpalj: I started quite early. I was still a young budding cellist, surrounded by violinists in the family. My father, my elder brother and sister… they all played violin. My ears were overwhelmed with the beautiful violin repertoire, and naturally, I was jealous. I would play on my cello fragments of violin pieces that were not difficult, which amused rest of the family. Soon I started to make transcriptions, the simple ones at the beginning. My first serious attempt in this direction was to transcribe Telemann’s Concerto in E major for violin, viola da gamba and figured bass into a Double Concerto for violin, cello, strings and continuo. That went pretty well – my sister and I played it in public several times and consequently recorded it for Croatian Radio.

2. Ovation Press: What inspired you to begin making transcriptions for cello and guitar?

Valter Dešpalj: Although I always had this special affinity towards guitar, direct inspiration actually came from Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata. I was intrigued how would it sound with guitar. But I also had a concept: I wanted to play cello and guitar recitals in beautiful venues with beautiful acoustics but not very good pianos (or no pianos at all). I was convinced that such presentation would be attractive and innovative, for back in the seventies cello and guitar duo was rarely heard. I teamed up with Darko Petrinjak, an excellent young guitarist from Zagreb who also helped me with transcriptions. Besides the Arpeggione, which was backbone of our program, there were also sonatas by Vivaldi and Boccherini, plus Moses Fantasy by Paganini. It was a wonderful experience to play recitals along the beautiful Croatian Adriatic Coast and the islands. Settings were romantic and the audiences very enthusiastic – one couldn’t ask for more. The highlight of our tour was recital at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival.

Soon Darko went to London to study at the Royal Academy for several years, whereas I continued to play my transcriptions all over Europe with different guitarists. Returning to Zagreb, Darko started to teach at the Zagreb Music Academy. Thanks to him and to his former student István Römer who also became a professor, the guitar scene in Croatia became incredibly vibrant and guitar class at the Academy became recognized as one of the best in Europe. This environment was very inspiring for me. Making the transcriptions for cello and guitar became for me an exciting challenge, something like solving a fascinating crossword puzzle. Having Darko and István around was a great feeling – they gave me many valuable advices which helped my work immensely.

3. Ovation Press: When making transcriptions, what are some of the aspects you have to take into consideration, regarding the registers and balance of the two instruments?

Valter Dešpalj: The balance is the most sensitive issue, due to different sound production of the two instruments. Preferably, their registers should be kept apart so that the guitar would not be overwhelmed by the bow. “Good news” is that cello can pizz and that two instruments have both, deeper and higher registers. That creates possibilities of a livelier interaction, giving the guitar a chance to take over the main material and to project better. This is something that rarely happens with standard duos of violin or flute with guitar where the guitar mostly accompanies.

Naturally, good balance to a great degree depends on the performer. Cellist must keep in mind that it is the guitar that is the partner, and not a piano. On the other hand, guitarist should, whenever necessary, make an effort to produce a big sound without forcing. (This reminds me a little bit of the problem that cellist and pianist encounter when playing, for instance, the last movement of the Brahms E minor Sonata.) It takes some experience to come on terms with balance. A practical tip: whenever possible, a cellist should use a more mellow sounding instrument for recitals with guitar. It does help a lot.

4. Ovation Press: What criteria did you use for selecting the works that you transcribed?

Valter Dešpalj: Selecting a work is another important issue. I would never consider a work that does not have the right character and adequate technical suitability for this duo combination. The “Arpeggione” Sonata is a perfect example of a work that virtually invites a transcription. The keys of A minor and E major are ideal for sonority of the guitar. The piano part is technically and musically very compatible with the nature of guitar. I felt that the version for my duo could even enhance intimate character of the music. So, with great enthusiasm, I spent many hours working on this Sonata. My job was to choose registers and to eliminate notes from the original piano part that were not essential and would only put a burden on the guitar. I also had to make a few modifications to improve the sound.

5. Ovation Press: How did you fare in other works?

Valter Dešpalj: Very well. I particularly like to transcribe Boccherini Sonatas. I did so far three of them. Guitar is definitely a good medium for Boccherini’s style, and it is no wonder that he composed several quintets for guitar and string quartet. Working on these Sonatas was in fact something like realizing figured bass. In the original version the solo cello was accompanied by a second cello or double bass. The higher register was left blank, which opened for me a nice playground. The keys were friendly: A major and G major. I had freedom to fill the harmonies based on the bass part and to use different figurations and imitations that would make the guitar part more important. Of course, together with freedom goes responsibility, so I had to be careful not to get carried away.

With the miniatures by Chopin, Leoncavallo, Offenbach, Gershwin and others, my work was rather simple because the roles of the two instruments were standard: the cello has the melody, and the guitar the typical accompanying patterns. However, in Gershwin’s Prelude No. 2 things went “upside down”: the pizzicato accompaniment went to the cello and the guitar took the lead. (A digression happened in the short middle section of the piece – there things went “back to normal”.) More substantial in the length and complexity were for example Mendelssohn’s Song without Words and Granados’ Intermezzo. These two pieces I sometimes played within the program and sometimes as encores.

6. Ovation Press: Can you tell us something about the duo you had with István Römer on the guitar?

Valter Dešpalj: István was one of the best students in Darko Petrinjak’s class. He won two very prestigious competitions: Segovia (Palma de Mallorca) and Viña del Mar (Chile). Hi is really a “no nonsense” interpreter, has a flawless technique and a big, warm sound rarely heard on guitar. Collaborating with him compelled me to transcribe works which would suit a “duo sonata“ concept, such as Corelli’s XII Violin Sonata (La Follia), Mozart’s Piano Sonata, K.331 (with Rondo alla Turca) and Schubert’s Violin Sonata D384. We enjoyed taking turns in playing main material. Sharing variations in La follia and in the 1st movement of K.331 was especially suitable in this case. After gaining enough experience with Corelli and Mozart we made a CD issued by Croatia Records where those two works were featured. I am very pleased that Ovation Press plans to publish them, along with Boccherini Sonatas.

7. Ovation Press: Of all the guitar transcriptions you have done for Ovation Press are there some that are especially close to your heart, or that awaken special memories from performing them?

Valter Dešpalj: Yes, there are. The Arpeggione Sonata, for instance. For me, playing it with guitarists was not only a great enjoyment but also a valuable experience. Hearing a subtle and delicate guitar accompaniment, which emphasized intimate character of the music, inspired me to explore and discover some more refined nuances on the cello, nuances that could better match the sound of the guitar and ensure a good balance between the two instruments.

Another one was Granados’ Intermezzo from the opera Goyescas. I premiered my transcription with the famous American guitarist David Starobin at Bargemusic in New York. The setting and atmosphere was pure magic: the glass wall was on the back of the stage, so in twilight the audience saw the performers and the beautiful skyline of Manhattan at the same time. And I saw Jacqueline Onassis in the first raw, right in front of me. In my mind, I was dedicating my performance to her.

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8. Ovation Press: Can you tell us about the Ommagio A Bellini composed by your brother Pavle Dešpalj?

Valter Dešpalj: There is a small family story about this Ommagio. My father, who was a very versatile musician, had a passion to learn how to play different instruments. He was in his mid-60s when he decided it was time for him to learn how to play guitar. My brother Pavle, a composer and a violinist, heard him practice a simple etude by Ferdinando Carulli, a guitar virtuoso and contemporary of Vincenzo Bellini. That inspired Pavle to compose a melody for violin in style of Bellini, using Carulli’s etude as an accompaniment. Soon a violin and guitar duo was heard in our house. I embraced the melody and gave it a title – Omaggio a Bellini. I was 14 years old at the time. Many years after, I performed the Dvořák Concerto in Catania, the city where Bellini was born and where he is worshiped. I wanted to pay him a tribute, so I played the Omaggio as an encore, accompanied by the orchestra’s harpist. After the concert a gentlemen approached me, introducing himself as the music critic and a Bellini specialist. He exclaimed with excitement: “I know Bellini’s music thoroughly and don’t understand how could it happen that I never came across this beautiful aria by his! Where did you find it?” Hearing that, I laughed, realizing that the only word he heard me say while announcing my encore was – Bellini!

The post Interview with Valter Dešpalj about his Transcriptions for Cello and Guitar, published by Ovation Press appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

Please note: These scores are only available for purchase by customers located outside of the USA.

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About Gershwin's Prelude No. 2 for Cello and Guitar

The second of the Three Preludes is one of Gershwin’s most famous piano works. It is a prime example of how jazz influenced American classical music in the early 20th century. Having been arranged for various solo instruments and ensembles, it’s only fitting that we add to the repertoire with something a little more… unusual: cello and guitar.

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About Gershwin's “Summertime” for Cello and Voice

“Summertime,” the aria from Porgy and Bess, is one of THE standards in jazz. But while its famed melody and lyrics are often delivered via the accompaniment of a piano, orchestra, or small ensemble, we and Mr. Dešpalj saw nothing wrong with that role being assumed by a lone cello.

About the Editor – Valter Dešpalj

Valter Dešpalj is professor of cello at music academies in Zagreb and Liechtenstein. A graduate from the Juilliard School (where he studied cello under Leonard Rose and chamber music with Felix Galimir and the Juilliard Quartet), he also took master classes with P. Casals, P. Fournier and A. Navarra, and did two years of postgraduate study with G. Kozolupova at the Moscow Conservatory.

Mr. Dešpalj has performed all over the world, including performances at festivals in Gstaad, Lockenhaus, Kuhmo and Dubrovnik, also in some of the most prestigious concert halls, such as Carnegie Hall, Royal Festival Hall in London, Sydney Opera House, Amsterdam′s Concertgebouw, Moscow Conservatory Hall etc. Besides teaching in Zagreb and Liechtenstein, he has also been a guest professor at the conservatories in The Hague, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Graz (University of Music), editor of cello music with major music publishers, and member of judging panels at the most prestigious international competitions including Tchaikovsky (Moscow), Bach (Leipzig), Lutoslawski (Warsaw) and ARD (Munich) competitions.

Learn more about Valter Dešpalj and his arrangements at Ovation Press. You can also read an interview with Dešpalj on our blog Ovation Press String Visions.

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The post Two Gershwin Masterpieces on Cello appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

Richard Birchall and Cellophony have produced some exciting arrangements for cello ensemble, many of which have been recorded on their acclaimed album Vibrez. Ovation Press is proud to release another arrangement from the album, Wagner's Prelude from Tristan & Isolde.

About Wagner's Prelude from Tristan & Isolde for Cello Octet

The Prelude to Wagner’s monumental opera Tristan & Isolde is a classic of orchestral writing; much is made of the ‘Tristan chord’ at the start – but what everybody really looks forward to (as with any piece of music, of course) is the luscious cello tune that comes a bit later… so why not have all the other parts played by cellos too? The Tristan Prelude has become Cellophony’s signature piece.

About the Editor – Richard Birchall

Richard Birchall, a versatile cellist, composer, arranger, and lyricist. As a member of the Philharmonia Orchestra he performs regularly in the great concert halls of the world. Mr. Birchall is also a founding member of Cellophony Cello Octet, an ensemble of eight cellists that have performed throughout the UK, Europe, and Asia. He has composed music for Cellophony, other ensembles, and individual artists. He has completed numerous transcriptions for Cellophony’s core repertoire, and also produced commissioned arrangements for numerous other ensembles. In recent years Mr. Birchall has turned increasingly to original composition: his piece Mirrors was written for Cellophony. In addition, Birchall and Cellophony released their debut album Vibrez to great critical acclaim in 2015.

Learn more about Richard Birchall and his arrangements at Ovation Press. You can also check our exclusive interview with Mr. Birchall.

All of these scores are available for download exclusively at Ovation Press. If you want to be kept updated on the latest scores from Ovation Press, be sure to join our mailing list!

The post The Famous Tristan & Isolde Prelude… on Eight Celli! appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

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About Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G minor Op. 23, No. 5 for Violin Solo

In the summer of 1993 I had the idea to transcribe Rachmaninoff's Prelude in g minor. I already knew the fantastic original version as performed by Alexis Weissenberg, Sviatoslav Richter or the master himself on Ampico Piano-roll. I was fascinated by that masterpiece and set about to bring it to one left hand and a bow with the incredible virtuosic playing of Ruggiero Ricci always in my mind…
–Ernst Schliephake

About the Editor – Ernst Schliephake

Ernst Schliephake was born May 23, 1962. After beginning violin lessons at the age of five, at just seven years old he already won his first competition. In 1973 he started playing the clarinet as his second instrument. Schliephake studied violin at Music Academy Detmold from 1979 to 1985 and served as the assistant to his professor Mr. Lukas David from 1983 to 1985. It was during this time that he also played the clarinet in concert with violinist Tibor Varga, performing the Brahms Clarinet Quintet 14 times.

In 1981 Schliephake played in a master class for Ruggiero Ricci, beginning a long friendship and collaboration that continued up to his passing on August 5th, 2012.

Schliephake has served as a violinist in the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra and since 1989 has been the associate concertmaster of the Munich Symphony Orchestra. He has also edited numerous works for G. Henle Verlag.

Learn more about Ernst Schliephake and his arrangements at Ovation Press.

All of these scores are available for download exclusively at Ovation Press. If you want to be kept updated on the latest scores from Ovation Press, be sure to join our mailing list!

The post A Rachmaninoff Masterpiece on Violin – G minor Op. 23, No. 5 appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.