SOUNDPOST

Letters, emails, online comments

LETTER of the MONTH

FAKE IT ’TIL YOU MAKE IT

Better no note than the wrong note?

In response to online editor Davina Shum’s blog on orchestral faking (bit.ly/3pptqu2), I believe that Oscar Shumsky actually taught a course on faking. Under the proper circumstances, faking is perfectly acceptable, provided the player’s conscience can deal with it, as mine can. If your sense of honesty and honour can’t deal with it, then practise your heart out on passages that will never be heard, whether in a hall or in the studio. In a section of 22 or 26 fiddles (perhaps fewer), one can fake even delicately transparent Mozart and Beethoven passages, although this would be uncalled for since all that stuff is pretty easy to play. If you are further back than the second desk you can get away with it, but anywhere nearer the conductor is an invitation to be dismissed, especially if the conductor happens to be an ex-string player. I encourage everyone to learn to fake, but only when necessary. Choose wisely. It is better to fake intelligently and stay in rhythm than to try to play every note and mess things up. This is where a thorough knowledge of harmony pays off. If you do it well, not even your stand partner will know.

JAIME HERRERA El Paso, TX, US

NO ONE’S PERFECT

ORCHESTRA PHOTO ALEX SCHRÖDER. DEGO PHOTO DAVIDE CERATI

I was interested to read the views of Francesca Dego (below) on performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto no.4 (Masterclass, January 2022), in particular her comment: ‘Too often violinists seem to be walking on eggshells when they play Mozart, because they have been told so many rules about what they can and cannot do that they only learn to follow instructions, instead of feeling the music for themselves.’ The focus on fear was prevalent in the 1960s and 70s, much more than the current ‘anything goes’ adventurism that one sees in the younger generation of string players. In my experience, though, there are pupils afflicted by ‘perfect Mozart syndrome’, which derives from a belief in the composer and his pure musical environment. My instinct to soften this fear is simply to play joyfully and with ‘colourful’ intonation, as I was once taught by Nathan Milstein: beginning notes senza vibrato if indicating sadness, then growing the vibrato to show happiness.

ELISABETH MATESKY Chicago, IL, US

NOT SO EASY

I have mixed feelings about The Strad ’s recent piece on stand-up comedy and live classical music performance (Opinion, February 2022). As much as I respect all performers, stand-up comedians included, I find the comparison between comedian and highly trained classical musician difficult to swallow. Consequently, the article’s general argument didn’t pack as much of a punch as I would have hoped.

As a performer myself, I know first-hand the difficulty of changing one’s interpretation while on stage. Often, and unsurprisingly, the interpretation will have been practised repeatedly pre-performance. This is not because we wish to exclude spontaneity, but purely because technical difficulties can be helped when the surrounding musical interpretation has already been established. That said, this ‘technique-oriented’ way of thinking could be the problem. Perhaps the ‘acceptance of technical failures on the part of the performer’, as the author says, is something to be embraced if we truly want to cherish the art of live performance.

HARRIET WHITLEY York, UK

PRIDE OF SCOTLAND

GERGIEV PHOTO HIROYUKI ITO. BENEDETTI PHOTO FRANZ GALO

It was amazing and heart-warming to read the news that violinist Nicola Benedetti has been named director designate of the Edinburgh International Festival and will be taking up the post in October 2022 (bit.ly/3446dpP). Amazing, first of all, that Nicky will be the first woman in the position, but I wonder how many people will realise, incredibly, that she will also be the first Scot to pick up the reins of Scotland’s premier cultural event!

Given that the festival was initiated by the Austrian-born Rudolf Bing in 1947, one could say it’s always been conceived as a multicultural extravaganza, but since he was then followed by a succession of British impresarios, one Australian (Jonathan Mills) and most recently an Irishman (Fergus Linehan), the addition of some homegrown Scottish talent is certainly long overdue. Most intriguingly, Nicky will be the first working musician to assume the role and will have to fit in the full-time job of scheduling and booking guest artists two years in advance, even while keeping up her busy touring schedule and running the Benedetti Baroque Orchestra among many other strings to her bow. Her progress will be watched with great interest!

JAMIE GLETHEROW Perth, UK