BOOKS

Jascha Heifetz in South Africa: Insights from 1932

Michael Brittan

320PP ISBN 9781576473535 PENDRAGON PRESS $48

It could be interesting to have a ‘bow-by-bow’ account of a Heifetz tour, but this book leaves me feeling frustrated. The author, a South African violinist and engineer based in America, keeps going off-piste and dragging in extraneous waffle, so that his main subject is often submerged.

You have to wade through a lot of Heifetz guff: he is the only violinist I can think of whose fans feel a constant need to elbow you in the ribs and tell you how wonderful he was. Michael Brittan is clearly a paid-up member of the fraternity. Chapter 1, ‘The Violinist of the Century’, gives us a dozen pages of this stuff. Chapter 2 is headed ‘The Super-Virtuoso from Vilna’ and the word ‘genius’ is routinely trotted out for Heifetz, ‘the musical God astride the Olympian peak unleashing bolts of electricity from his technical arsenal’. After a while, one feels like saying (adapting Rosenthal’s quip about a fellow pianist): ‘Yes, he was good, but he was no Heifetz.’

Billed as ‘The King of Violinists’, Heifetz slotted his sole SA visit, with pianist Isidor Achron, into his fourth round-the-world tour. Starting in Cape Town on 1 June 1932, owing to the success of his two recitals he had to give three further concerts in that city, including his only appearance with orchestra, at which he played the Beethoven Concerto. By 20 July he had given 20 concerts in 9 cities, including 6 in Johannesburg. One Durban recital was cancelled owing to Achron’s indisposition.

Heifetz got consistently good reviews and, despite the long-distance travelling, was a good sport, socialising, dancing, playing tennis and table tennis, and making contact with Jewish organisations. His wife was not with him but the local impresario Alex Cherniavsky of the well-known Odessa musical family – whose bureau organised the tour with African Consolidated Theatres – got brother Leo Cherniavsky to shepherd the two artists round the country.

Brittan seems incapable of following a chronological thread, jumping about within chapters; and surely Chapter 6, ‘South Africa in 1932’, should follow Chapter 7, ‘The Arts and Music in South Africa’, although each contains material that would better suit the other. A whole chapter is devoted to Heifetz’s interpretation of the Beethoven Concerto, which some including myself find lacking in spirituality.

Heifetz with Leo Cherniavsky and Isidor Achron in 1932

COURTESY MICHAEL BRITTAN

The book is lavishly illustrated, but often with pictures of musicians Brittan happened to snap after a concert, such as Rostropovich, Kogan and Oistrakh, who have as much to do with Heifetz in 1932 as I do. Brittan tries to psychoanalyse the later, complex – and often disagreeable – Heifetz; and again, this kind of thing is outside his remit.

He is on safer ground when trying to contextualise Heifetz the Lithuanian emigrant: his own family went to SA from Russia. The picture he paints of the state of culture in SA at the time of the tour – and previous tours by other eminent musicians – is a valid one, but he diffuses it by carrying the story forward into the post-war apartheid era, nothing to do with Heifetz. He also insists on bringing himself into the narrative, in the modern American style.

A distinctly mixed bag, then. But those who collect books on Heifetz – and I have quite a few myself – should find enough new material here to interest them. One definite plus is that an index is provided.

TULLY POTTER

Unconditional Teaching Paul Harris

64PP ISBN 9780571542174 FABER MUSIC £9.99

Unconditional Teaching is the latest in the Improve Your Teaching! series of books by Paul Harris. Written in a kind, non-judgemental way, this slim volume invites teachers to consider what subconscious ‘conditions’ they might be bringing to the learning environment. Having helped us to identify them, the author gently nudges us to see how these conditions could stand in the way of effective learning and teaching, and he encourages us to think about ways to adjust our mindsets to manage or remove them from our teaching.

The author addresses many seemingly reasonable ‘conditions’, such as a teacher’s expectations about attitude, practice and progress, and then shows how adopting a different approach, without these conditions at the heart, can allow lessons to proceed positively whether or not the conditions have been met. And the book highlights the need for teachers to think about and value each student without ever labelling, comparing or categorising them.

At its most basic level, the book’s message is fairly simple: be kind and encouraging, no matter what. As teachers, we need to accept each student and every teaching situation exactly as it presents itself, rather than inwardly sighing and rolling our eyes because Johnny has forgotten his scale book for the third week running, or because the music room isn’t free and the Year 2 group violin lessons are in the PE cupboard yet again. And no matter how far into our teaching careers we are, I don’t think any of us can ever hear too many reminders of the fact that ‘whatever our student did, it is always possible to find a positive and constructive response to move the lesson forward.’

This book would be as useful to those who are new to instrumental teaching as to veteran teachers looking for a booster or some holiday reading on professional development. The reader is constantly challenged to think and reflect on the thoughts behind their teaching, but always in a gentle and positive way. Although some weighty topics are considered, the information in the book is divided into manageable chunks, and (a small but very welcome point for this reader) the footnotes are located in the margin next to the text, which makes them quick and easy to read and refer to. As well as all the philosophy, the book contains a certain amount of practical advice on topics such as how to deal with disrespectful students, and how to use questioning to help students form a positive attitude towards scales.

It’s worth noting that although the content is thought-provoking and well-written, the price is a little on the high side for such a short read. There are frequent references throughout the book to the author’s other volumes in the series, particularly Simultaneous Learning, which I must confess I haven’t (yet) read. Although the ‘simultaneous learning’ approach is briefly outlined near the end of the text, a big bumper book combining all of these short books into one rather more substantial work would, I’m sure, be a welcome and useful addition to any music teacher’s library.

CELIA COBB

An Auditioning Double Bassist’s Tool Kit Jon McCullough-Benner

155PP ISBN 9798557926553 MCCULLOUGH-BENNER $29.95

An Auditioning Double Bassist’s Tool Kit does what it says on the cover – it provides ‘Bowings, Fingerings and Useful Tips for Standard Audition Repertoire’. In a lockdown project Jon McCullough-Benner, a bassist and tutor at the Chicago College of Performing Arts, has chosen standard works by Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Verdi, Strauss and Mahler, and provided the reader with a guide to practising the extracts while also pointing out the common pitfalls when performing them.

A useful lockdown project from bassist Jon McCullough-Benner

Each excerpt appears twice. The first version is comprehensively fingered using a systematic fingering scheme that includes indications of when to open and close an E string extension gate. The second version is without fingering but uses dotted hairpins to indicate the musical shaping. Between the two versions are a plethora of ideas for how to practise each extract to give it rhythmic stability, to make sure each note has a good start to it, and to ensure coordination. Players are advised about bow placement and a target tempo; they are encouraged to use looping in their practice, and to record themselves and listen back.

This is just the book if you have done lots of auditions and are needing inspiration for new ways to tackle old problems, or if you are daunted by the idea of an orchestral audition – or, indeed, if you are fresh out of college and feeling somewhat alone preparing for your first audition. A second edition is reportedly on its way.

CATHY ELLIOTT