Violinist Rachel Lee Priday performs Paul Wiancko’s ‘Waterworks’

Violinist Rachel Lee Priday performs Waterworks by cellist and composer Paul Wiancko. 

The work will feature on Priday’s upcoming album with pianist David Kaplan Fluid Dynamics, out on Orchid Classics on 23 August. The album is inspired by oceanographer Georgy Manucharyan’s study of fluid dynamics and ocean currents, and combines music with stunning visuals.

Waterworks draws inspiration from the violence and energy of a whirling red vortex, it spins along in a ’joyfully mechanical’ circling figuration, often in double stops, sometimes in sudden and unexpected new directions.

Wiancko composed his piece as a freestanding entity, and the video was then cut to fit. ’Something about the rapid changes/alterations/additions to the constant energy of the vortex speaks to my music well,’ he observes. ’And the red dye brings in some interesting notes of drama/science/violence.’

The album features world-premiere recordings by Gabriella Smith, Cristina Spinei, Timo Andres, Leilehua Lanzilotti, Christopher Cerrone and Wiancko.

Playing

In The Best of Technique you’ll discover the top playing tips of the world’s leading string players and teachers. It’s packed full of exercises for students, plus examples from the standard repertoire to show you how to integrate the technique into your playing.

Teaching

The Strad’s Masterclass series brings together the finest string players with some of the greatest string works ever written. Always one of our most popular sections, Masterclass has been an invaluable aid to aspiring soloists, chamber musicians and string teachers since the 1990s.

Calendars

American collector David L. Fulton amassed one of the 20th century’s finest collections of stringed instruments. This year’s calendar pays tribute to some of these priceless treasures, including Yehudi Menuhin’s celebrated ‘Lord Wilton’ Guarneri, the Carlo Bergonzi once played by Fritz Kreisler, and four instruments by Antonio Stradivari.