SOUNDPOST

ETTER of the MONTH

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

I play in several amateur string quartets in the Chicago area, and of course the pandemic has sadly prevented us from meeting indoors over the past year.

Last summer and fall we played outdoors, with masks on and at a socially acceptable distance from each other. But the wind would play havoc with our scores, one time knocking my music stand over on my viola! And of course ambient noise, the distance from each other and the masks made communication between players difficult. Better than not playing at all, but hardly ideal.

Now, with the increasing availability of vaccines, we can look forward to the return of chamber music as it was meant to be played – indoors. I can’t wait!

LES JACOBSON Evanston, IL, US

PITCH IMPERFECT

Patricia Kopatchinskaja’s eccentric approach never fails to amaze and inspire me, but even I was surprised that she had taken on the lead role in a new recording of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire (Session Report, February). I played the piano in a performance of the work when I was at college many years ago, and the experience has stayed with me. Reading about Ms Kopatchinskaja’s experience of getting to grips with the sprechstimme technique I was reminded of the difficulties faced by the (very capable) vocalist in our student performance. But with plenty of time on my hands, and a little rusty German filed away somewhere at the back of my brain, I decided to have a go myself.

Patricia Kopatchinskaja (standing) in Pierrot Lunaire

Now, since this is strictly for my own amusement and not for public consumption, I’ve been taking a somewhat liberal approach to the pitches specified in Schoenberg’s score. But to anyone considering joining me in Ms Kopatchinskaja’s footsteps, I would like to share some words of encouragement I have discovered from doing a little of my own research. It seems even Schoenberg himself realised just how difficult (read: impossible) it was to hit all the notated pitches at the same time as getting the words out properly. When he included sprechstimme parts in later works (most famously in the 1947 cantata A Survivor from Warsaw), he indicated relative pitches and trusted the narrator to shape them into a convincing line. So just go with the flow!

SUSAN SHERMAN Orlando, FL, US

STAR QUALITY

It was rewarding to read Charlotte Smith’s interview with David Garrett (‘His Own Path’, April) in which he talked about his teenage years and decision to study at Juilliard, despite his spectacularly successful recording career having already begun. How extraordinary to give up performing concerts for a whole four years voluntarily, given the fickle nature of the business and knowing he might never regain his former status with the public. One hears so many tales of child prodigies being pushed to the limit by overbearing parents who force them to perform for as long as possible, as if their musical success is just waiting to fizzle out – and David’s story is an inspiration to all those young talents to respect their own judgement and not be pushed into a performing career they don’t feel comfortable with. Ray Chen is another who seems to have avoided being trapped in that kind of life – and both he and David are supremely confident in publicising themselves and their ‘brand image’. I wonder if this marks a return to the dominance of the ‘showman violinist’, once the domain of Sarasate and Kreisler, and even more likely given the number of live-streaming players who’ve sprung up in the past twelve months, all desperate to make themselves stand out online?

PAUL KAPUŚCIŃSKI Bielefeld, Germany

A gut string workshop in Markneukirchen, Germany

www.thestrad.com TOP 3 ONLINE POSTS

SINGING STRINGS

Going through the ‘Song of the gut string makers’ (April), I was intrigued by the line ‘Was A, was D, was Quinte sei / Bestimmt er klug hierbei.’ Why on earth would the E string be called the Quinte (‘fifth’)? Apparently it was a dialect term for the violin’s highest string, in French known as the ‘chanterelle’. It would seem that both ‘chanterelle’ and ‘Quinte’ derive from the Italian cantino, also meaning the top string. Sangsaite (‘singing string’) was another term commonly seen in German manuscripts.

The term ‘Quinte’ can also be found in 16th-century German lute music, also referring to the highest string, although confusingly, the Sangsaite here referred to the second highest. It is interesting that the old jargon was still in common parlance in Markneukirchen, centuries later.

DOUGAL CATCHPOLE Perth, UK

ONLINE COMMENT

An article by London Mozart Players violinist Victoria Sayles discussing the ongoing lack of diversity in professional orchestras resonated with many readers online bit.ly/3dEgZE1

MIKE BIELSKI Classical music is so expensive. The best young players are the ones whose parents have the most money and are willing to spend it on musical training. You will never solve the diversity problem until you solve the inequality problem.

AMELIA LÓPEZ It is interesting how media outlets amplify the ‘efforts’ of already privileged white musicians while completely ignoring the work that black musicians, indigenous musicians and musicians of colour are doing.

MICHAEL BENNETT The members of the UK’s National Youth Orchestra are disproportionately from the wealthiest places in the country.

1 How I warm up: Hilary Hahn bit.ly/38vTHyb

2 ‘I wasn’t even sure I if I wanted to play the violin any more’ – David Garrett (above) bit.ly/2O7nJRW

3 Maxim Vengerov’s daughter Lisa interrupts live masterclass bit.ly/31PE7Ke