All Playing articles – Page 3
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ArticleLife Lessons: David Harrington
The American violinist recalls the path that led him to found the genre-defying Kronos Quartet
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Premium ❘ FeatureConductorless orchestras: The leading edge
For those ensembles willing to take the plunge, performing without a conductor can lead to a greater sense of collaboration, fulfilment and, ultimately, responsibility. Jacqueline Vanasse hears from some of the string players involved in such groups
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Premium ❘ FeatureArco project: Evolution of a partnership
Six years ago, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire head of strings Louise Lansdown established a partnership with a music centre in Soweto to launch the Arco project, providing in-person and online lessons for South African string students. Here she reflects on the importance of the scheme and on how it has developed
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Premium ❘ FeatureCovid-19 and young musicians: What you make of it
The lockdowns of the pandemic were particularly challenging for young artists looking to make a name for themselves, but providing support along the way were a number of schemes that ramped up their efforts accordingly. And, as Charlotte Gardner finds, for those musicians willing to take the initiative, the opportunities ...
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Premium ❘ FeatureAbel Selaocoe: Uniting voice
South African cellist-singer-composer Abel Selaocoe’s genre-defying performances have earned him several recent awards and a recording contract with Warner Classics. Tom Stewart meets the Manchester-based musician following his powerful BBC Proms 2021 debut
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Premium ❘ FeatureBlack America: A race for change
Still now, in the 21st century, black people are inadequately represented within classical music. Pauline Harding talks to string players in America about lingering social oppression and what the wider community can do to bring about progress
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FocusBeethoven from a string player’s perspective
Top string players share their thoughts on Beethoven’s string repertoire. Spoiler: it’s not always smooth sailing
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Premium ❘ FeatureNupen and du Pré: Golden girl
Documentary maker Christopher Nupen made several groundbreaking films with Jacqueline du Pré. Here he shares his memories of the legendary British cellist who tragically died at the age of 42 after battling with multiple sclerosis
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Premium ❘ FeatureFemale violinists of 18th-century England: Portrait of a lady holding a violin
Taking a Regency portrait of an unknown violinist as his starting point, Kevin MacDonald investigates the lives and careers of Louise Gautherot and other female violinists of Georgian England
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Premium ❘ FeatureVilla-Lobos and the cello: A voice for Brazil
Heitor Villa-Lobos began his musical career as a cellist and wrote numerous works for the instrument, including the monumental Second Cello Concerto. However, his primary interest lay in promoting the folk traditions of his Brazilian homeland rather than advancing the cello’s virtuoso repertoire, writes Felipe Avellar de Aquino
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Premium ❘ FeatureJoseph White: Making history
Cuban-born violinist Joseph White’s 1875 debut with the Philharmonic Society of New York was both a triumph and enormously significant – as the orchestra’s first performance with a soloist of African descent. Yavet Boyadjiev explores the event itself and the circumstances surrounding it
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Premium ❘ FeatureEncores: Time to shine
Throughout much of the last century, technically showy encores by Paganini and Kreisler were standard fare for violinists, but in recent years players have moved away from the established virtuoso works to embrace everything from solo Bach to folk tunes and contemporary commissions. Charlotte Gardner talks to top players about ...
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Premium ❘ FeatureStrings and Piano: a sound balance
Producing a nuanced, well-balanced and blended combination of piano and strings can be a difficult performance feat to achieve. Pauline Harding talks to chamber musicians, soloists and teachers to discover some of their secrets
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Premium ❘ FeatureOrchestral Tricks: in plain sight
Gerald Elias has spent many years as a professional orchestral violinist – in the Boston SO and Utah Symphony – and has been music director of Salt Lake City’s Vivaldi by Candlelight chamber orchestra since 2004. Here he explores some of the universal challenges faced by orchestral string players which ...
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Premium ❘ FeatureChevalier de Saint-Georges: the remarkable revolutionary
Too long overlooked, the extraordinary life of 18th-century violinist and composer the Chevalier de Saint-Georges has once more been celebrated over the past 25 years. Yet his compositions remain unfairly neglected, writes Kevin MacDonald
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Premium ❘ FeatureTwo-fingered Tchaikovsky: Beating the odds
Despite losing the function of the third and fourth fingers of his left hand through focal dystonia and a shoulder injury, violinist Clayton Haslop was determined to continue playing. Here he shares his story
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Premium ❘ FeatureVieuxtemps cadenzas: Following the clues
The recent discovery of another cadenza to the first movement of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, likely by Vieuxtemps, sheds an interesting light on the early performance history of the work, writes Martin Wulfhorst
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Premium ❘ FeatureThe Spice of Life: Teaching different styles
Too often string teachers shy away from embracing styles outside the Western classical canon, but in doing so they’re ignoring a wealth of useful skills and techniques, not to mention repertoire, writes Julie Lyonn Lieberman
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Premium ❘ FeatureEnsemble Diderot: Hidden Gems
This month Ensemble Diderot releases The Berlin Album, the latest in its ‘cities’ recording series, juxtaposing works by established 17th- and 18th-century composers alongside those of lesser-known contemporaries. Ensemble founder and violinist Johannes Pramsohler speaks to Pwyll ap Siôn about why these works deserve greater attention
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn search of perfection: finding the right bow
Violinist and Metropolitan Opera concertmaster Benjamin Bowman has spent his entire playing career in search of ever more subtle and responsive bows. Here, he charts his journey to finding his ‘forever bow’, and advises string players on how they, too, can invest in this most important of assets
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