‘It’s a real partnership’: Rachel Podger on her violin and bow

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This is an excerpt from The Strad August 2024 feature, ’Violinist Rachel Podger: Music from every angle’. Read the full article here

‘I only have one instrument, a Pesarini [or Pazarini, or Pesarinius] made in Genoa in 1739, which I absolutely adore. It’s been my constant companion since 1996, so I know it very well. Depending on how deep I go into the string I can get a beautiful dark tone or something that’s much lighter and more silvery. Although it’s quite a rich instrument, there’s a lovely Baroque woodiness to its sound that I really love.

‘Although my violin has a slightly longer tailpiece than something made in, say, the 1680s, the set-up is Baroque and its sound is relatively small. It’s a very good instrument so the sound will carry, but I don’t want to press too hard or try to get it to give more than it wants to. It’s perfect for somewhere like Wigmore Hall, but if I’m doing a concerto with a bigger band or playing with a louder piano, such as an Érard, I’ll borrow a different violin, often from the Royal Academy of Music. It’s one of the perks of being on the staff there! I played the 1718 “Maurin” Stradivari in 2021 on my Beethoven sonatas disc, for example, and others including a Guarneri when I was playing the Biber “Mystery” (Rosary) Sonatas and needed several instruments to accommodate all the scordatura.

‘With any violin you’ve got to find the right bow. It’s a real partnership. You’re looking for something that feels alive and as if it’s an extension of your arm, like my René-William Groppe copy of a French bow from 1720. Some feel more like a pencil, dead to the touch, while others are a bit too lively, like they’re about to shoot through the roof. Often you just get an inkling that the combination is just going to work. You can feel straight away that you’ve found the right one.’

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