NEWS IN BRIEF

Editorís letter
Johannes Moser isn’t afraid to challenge both himself

Contributors
CATHY ELLIOTT (Books, page 89 ) juggles playing

SOUNDPOST
Letters, emails, online comments

Seeing the wood for the trees
News and events from around the world this month

NEWS IN BRIEF
Foundation launched to renovate Antonio Stradivari’s house bit.ly/3hrBLJ5

OBITUARIES
JAAKKO KUUSISTO Violinist, conductor and composer Jaakko Kuusisto

Lost for words
PREMIERE of the MONTH

COMPETITIONS
1 Bryan Cheng 1 Canadian cellist Bryan Cheng,

Straight to the point
The vertical endpin that promises better balance and motion

Life lessons
The US violinist recalls childhood travels and discusses the challenges of a young soloist’s life

In the footsteps of masters
As well as a rich selection of concerts and masterclasses, the Philharmonie de Paris’ tenth String Quartet Biennale included its first ever lutherie competition, as Mélissa Lesnie reports

SURROUNDED BY SOUND
The German–Canadian cellist Johannes Moser embraces experimentation. He talks to Peter Quantrill about channelling his inner Jimi Hendrix and exploring the sound of the electric cello which, alongside the conventional cello, features in his latest recordings for Platoon

A question of dates
For centuries, historians have tried to settle on a definitive birthdate for Tyrolean luthier Jacob Stainer. Heinz Noflatscher explains how we now have an upper limit for his birth year – and why researchers were foxed by the elegant handwriting of the master

A MEETING AT THE CROSSROADS
For violinist Rachel Podger and pianist Christopher Glynn, recording Beethoven’s violin sonatas, which occupy the stormy transitional period between Classicism and Romanticism, brought together their disparate musical specialisms, as they tell Harry White

TWO OF A KIND
With the demand for massproduced German instruments skyrocketing in the 1920s, enterprising makers sent family members to America to represent them. Clifford Hall explores the careers and legacies of Andrew Schroetter and Heinrich Roth

MUSIC IN OTHER LANDS
In 2019, American five-string fiddler Casey Driessen and his family took off around the world for nine months for his music-sharing project Otherlands: A Global Music Exploration. In a tantalising snapshot of his journey, often into the musical unknown, he recalls meeting and playing with some of the great regional music masters in seven diverse countries

ENRICO CATENAR
A close look at the work of great and unusual makers

Using Baker-style mechanics on a double bass
How to fit these brass pegs, gears and tuners, as used by English bass makers in times gone by

LUTHIER RAINER W. LEONHARDT
A peek into lutherie workshops around the world

In tune with the types
Luthiers often examine a musician’s way of playing before setting to work on their instrument. David Leonard Wiedmer explains why it can be helpful to categorise players into two different ‘types’

GRIEG VIOLIN SONATA NO.2 IN G MAJOR
To bring out all the joy, innocence and darkness in this first movement, it is essential to understand its combined roots in classical composition and Norwegian folk music, explains Eldbjørg Hemsing

Speaking with the bow
How to use language, vowels, consonants and inflection to colour and shape every phrase

CONCERTS
Your monthly critical round-up of performances, recordings and publications

RECORDINGS
COURTESY JENNIFER KLOETZEL BACH Solo Partitas: no.1 in

BOOKS
Jascha Heifetz in South Africa: Insights from 1932

From the ARCHIVE
FROM THE STRAD 1902 APRIL VOL.12 NO.144

IN THE NEXT ISSUE
Viktoria Mullova The Russian violinist discusses her

CHRISTINE HOOCK
Mišek’s Double Bass Sonata no.2 has been by the German bassist’s side throughout her career – and helped to create a lot of friendships along the way