Masterclass: Steven Tenenbom, Schumann Märchenbilder

Steven Tenenbom

The American viola soloist, chamber musician, and teacher explores how to find your own sense of character and flow in the first two contrasting pieces. From March 2019

This composition is a personal favourite of mine. It’s also great to teach: not only is it beautiful, but its strong characters help to unlock students’ imaginations.

I first studied it with Milton Thomas, who in the 1940s went to France, met Pablo Casals in exile and spent much time working with him. Thomas later taught viola to Jascha Heifetz’s violin students in Los Angeles, and he would go to Heifetz’s house to play chamber music. He was always thinking about vivid imagery in music, which I found very inspiring. This was a perfect piece for him to introduce to me…

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