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Influential Violinists

From Paul Reverter
Posted May 1, 2006 at 04:11 PM

Personally, I'd have to say that the greatest influence on my wanting to learn the violin was a recording (the Beethoven Concerto, Francescatti, Ormandy and the Philadelphia).

Greatest influence on the art of playing the violin? Two above all - Paganini and Heifetz.

I rest my case. I also rest my violin case.

Cordially, Sandy

Simon Fryer
Anne Shih
Jasper Wood
Elizabeth Lupton
Andrew Dawes
Philippe Djokic
Regis Pasquier

You like JB?????

IG

Your list is pretty Canadian. We're pretty blessed to have so many great artists here.

And yes, Preston....all Canadians are pretty in their own special way. ;)

I've heard that Mr. Kang got the job.

Sorry to get off the subject of this thread but......

And Sander,
I did not catch the end of the other thread:
"What do you think of Mozart?"

You stated:
"First of all, no scientific theory is ever "proven." What scientists accept as "the truth" or "reality" or "proven" is merely the best explanation at that time for the existing data. Science advances by finding better and better explanations that explain more of the data. The classic scientific experiment does not "prove" an hypothesis. What the experiment does is to disprove the other competing explanations as explaining the phenomena of the experiment. That leaves the "proven" hypothesis as the best remaining explanation."

I agree with you to a point.
With all due respect, it has been more than a 100 years since the birth of Existenialism. Since then, scientific knowledge (despite its ever changing nature) should be acknowledged in a whole new light with the advent of everything since early 20th century: Theory of Relativity, Atomic Age, Nuclear Age, Quantum Mechanics, String Theory which paved the way to Nanotechnology.
All of this progress is due in part to proven theories which are applicable in their use, and are & or have been marketed to the world.

I urge many who are Romantics at heart to dig further into the latest scientific discoveries of the last 20 years.
check out "Elegant Universe" by Brian Green.

If you truly are interested to know why Existentialism is or is not, you should read the latest scientific data available to us from the best minds of our time.
Todays science shows that there is harmony in the universe as it shows when the begining of time was and how it began. The only thing remains allusive, is why it began.

And in case you are wondering how we got on the subject in a thread about Mozart, it was something someone said:
" It's an existential universe in which one creates his own more comfortable universe."

To which I replied:

""Play It Again, Sam", Paramount Pictures, 1972
Mma Ramotswe had listened to a [BBC] World Service broadcast on her radio one day which had simply taken her breath away. It was about philosophers who called themselves existentialists and who, as far as Mma Ramotswe could ascertain, lived in France. These French people said that you should live in a way which made you feel real, and that the real thing to do was the right thing too. Mma Ramotswe had listened in astonishment. You did not have to go to France to meet existentialists, she reflected; there were many existentialists right here in Botswana. Note Mokoti, for example. She had been married to an existentialist herself, without even knowing it. Note, that selfish man who never once put himself out for another -- not even for his wife -- would have approved of existentialists, and they of him. It was very existentialist, perhaps, to go out to bars every night while your pregnant wife stayed at home, and even more existentialist to go off with girls -- young existentialist girls -- you met in bars. It was a good life being an existentialist, although not too good for all the other, nonexistentialist people around one."

Now back to the topic of the original post:)

Is it Anne Shih or Patricia Shih? I remember seeing Patricia Shih playing Paganini VC 1 - stunning playing and looks! What happened to Patricia?

Cheers - Lee

Patricia is Anne's sister. The whole Shih family is very musical and there's another sister, Connie who plays piano.

What I said in the previous Mozart thread was:

"It seems to me that the existentialists have spawned two camps: the "gloomy" existentialists and the "optimistic" existentialists. The gloomy ones say that nothing means anything, that therefore anything goes, and that the fundamental question in life is whether or not to continue it.
The optimistic ones seem to say that, yes, life has no inherent meaning, but that there is a depth and spirituality to existence and meaning is what we choose to make it, thereby giving human life infinite possibilities for creative meaning. This is what (I think) Nietzsche meant when he said (in his own cryptic style) that "the value of life cannot be estimated."

What all this has to do with Mozart, I don't know. Except that maybe Mozart (like Beethoven and Bach and Brahms and Bartok and other great composers whose names don't begin with a "B") were able to create out of the bland physics of musical sound a unique experience of the infinitely rich possibilities of meaning."

Always a pleasure. Sandy

So when someone (Brian) stated:

"there is no such thing as genius, only appealing to preference"

I in turn had to say:
"I would strongly disagree with that statement,
especially if you really dwell on it.

If you are to profess the meaning of success, you have to take into account the talent you possess.
Furthermore, your statement homogenizes the difference between an Einstein and a Ted Bundy.

There is a huge difference between genius and mere mortals. The IQ level alone distinguishes one from the other let alone everything else."
This is what led to the discussion on Existentialism.

Now back to the subject at hand................

I get the same through composers being a composer (well...so I call myself) myself.

Does anyone else get this feeling?

But look at the contradiction you just wrote. Any society where the people are happy is a better society.
I just began working with a virtual paraplegic who can grip with the finger s of her right hand and raise her left hand a little. We play duets as she strums the insturment rathe r like a Japanese koto. Is she happy. Yep. Is that helping to heal her in some senses. You bet. There is a whole field of music therapy out there just for starters.
In a more nebuluous sense music is not always about entertainment, as least as `entertainment` seems to be defined today. Tha way I see it people can make choices to do things of quality or they can train themselves to be morons by a steady diet of fast food, junk muzak and drugs. A society where people can still make choices, preserve their abilty to think and explore which includes art is better able to make decisions, create things, be less destructive and warlike, more democratic. People who have longer attention spans can remeber the lies and manipulations of the politicians better and can make more choices about how they choose to shape the world.
CHeers,
Buri

Your education has two gaping holes in it: philosophy and art. Philosophy itself helped to shape policy, prevailing thought, and even science itself. You are saying that scientists are merely the holder of test tubes.

I actually saw Patricia just recently, she is perfectly fine. She's been touring quite a bit and teaching quite a bit with her string quartet, the Borealis String Quartet. Google the quartet and you should find their website! She's most definetly still alive and playing! :D

Kelsey

Hold up a finger in front of your face and look at it with both eyes. now close the right eye. now the left. the right. the left.

On a similar note, I cam from frech tutoring today after school down to my car in the park behind the school. It was a lovely day and I was feeling very good which is unusual. Then I got to my car and noticed somebody had smashed the window in. I stood there for a second and just looked at it. Then I started picking up the glass. I looked and saw nothing was stolen, just a case of vandalism. We are imposed upon by people every day whether we like it or not. If we like it then it makes us feel good if we dont then we feel bad. It's not choice but preference, which is influenced by many things.

In A Clockwork Orange the main character found great joy in casing harm to other people. It made me realize to read that book ( and other things besides ) there is no truth that we could possible fathom, it is only our perception. if there is a glass on a table with water in it half way, is it half full or empty? If good things make you feel good, then you are accepted by the majority. However, bad things can make people feel good also. Does that make them wrong if they want to do it as much as they do? It does to the people who thing good is right. But if the person doesnt know any better, then his way is right.

If I sit and scratch away at the violin, having no point and no direction I am standing still, like a lake. However, obviously lakes can exsist and they are useful to people. However, people who write and play music with purpose are rivers, connectons of people. Doesnt purpose seem to overrule contentness? Of course not! Nothing is a definate! You preceive that mozart is a genius, I preceive there is no such thing as genius. We are just all wondering around preceiving different things, creating our own truths to live in. But obviously there must be common bonds between these worlds, that is where dictionaries come from and rules. I shouldnt have said music doesnt have a purpose, I should have said nothing has a purpose, only a wanting to exist and in some cases succeede.

Yes I know I did it again not making much sense, but what I'm trying to get across is, yes I do sound like I'm an idiot, and maybe I am. I'll be the first person to admit to how slow I am. ( i hereby admit my slowness ) But, what's really to say my slowness isnt a form of fastness? If you can awnser this without quoting from a dictionary (without first proving why a dictionary should even exist, and without saying it should to give people direction because I know people need direction to exist in a world that needs people to direct )

Also, I don't think a scientist is a person holding a test tube, I think that scientists are very smart people and they make great strides to better peoples lives. I am myself wanting to study ecology to better environment.

Is murder right because someone has a preference for murder? What about rape?

If scientists make great strides to better people's lives, aren't they hurting other people's lives who derive pleasure from the pain of others? Which should they do?

Does saying that all truth is relative and each person's individual truth is equal make it morally wrong to believe that there is truth and purpose which exists independent and irregardless of what people believe? Is this first statement of relativism, then, a moral statement of absolute truth in and of itself?

Does our perception of things change their true nature? Is a 6 year old child playing Twinkle a better violinist than Hiefetz because I perceive him to be?

Is it possible that the statement that there is no truth is true?

And I thought no one would figure that out! I'm brushing my teeth now...seriously ;-)

>Is murder right because someone has a preference for murder?

Curiously, anyone Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment" is about just that...

Why I am saying this, I don't know.

Cheers!

You didn't answer my questions...=) But here's another one -

The concept that all those things are "concepts of our social nature" and nothing more - is that in and of itself a concept of our social nature and therefore equally invalid? Or is it part of a deeper truth about our social nature?

Christian -
Yeah, Dostoyevsky asks and answers the question way better than I ever could hope to. Unfortunately, he does it in about a thousand pages. I always get depressed when reading him...but that's because he describes human character as it really is. It's a great work, IMHO.

Violinists who influenced me - Jascha Heifetz: I remember listening to my "Best of Heifetz" CD from RCA Gold Label (I think?) when I was very young. His third movement of Tchaikovsky always got my heart racing. Gil Shaham is an incredible talent and an incredible person (from what I've seen of him, anyway) - I've always looked up to his playing and humble character.

Hitler wanted to extinguish all Jews of Europe not because of preference. Reality is that he murdered 6 million, is a fact. My uncle's whole family died in Auschwitz. He was the sole survivor with a number on his arm.

Ted Bundy chose to kill not because of prefernece.
These were their precalculated choices in life and in their conviction. Perhaps however deranged they were, they were still their convictions.

People dying now in Darfur, not because of preference.

Einstein for example chose his direction also not because of preference but his conviction.

There is a difference, and it is based on moral and ethical issues.
Yes it is true, that for artists, most of whom would rather romanticize rather than search for scientific truths, because much of what we do comes from metaphysical inspiration, joy, pain, suffering etc. Perhaps it is why many artists associate or dabble with Existentialism.

It is not relative as to distinguish between acts of kindness and acts of violence.Those are very clear boundaries that are very real (not relative at all). Just as there is a plus and a minus that repell each other in magnetic terms, there is GOOD and BAD.

We make choices in life. Like in architecture, if you are off by an inch, the structure could be compromised. Those are real terms.

In music too, composers make choices: follow traditional devices of structure, form, harmony or not. Follow your heart or not etc. But there are traditional devices and the langauge which they use to write down things that can be played by us the musicians and listened to by the audience.

As musicians we re-create the composers intentions and try to get to the truism of the given script. That is why it is important for us to study Music History, Theory, etc. to understand the time composers lived in, their specific style of writing utilizing the expressive means of the time etc.

It is why some have become so interested in performing with authentic instruments when it comes to Baroque.

All of these things are choices we make in our lives.

Prefernce can be left for what brand of coffee or cereal you like.
Or if you prefer Blonde or other :)

P.S. someone want to start a separate philosophy thread??

PS - Ilya, you're spelling my name wrong! S-i-d-n-e-y is the boy way to spell it!

Thanks for your heartfelt sympathy.
But that was only one half of the story.
My mom's father was killed by the Nazis when they entered Odessa, he was "burned at stake". Her two older brothers died fighting the Nazis. And she lost her mother to cancer before WWII when she was 7 years old.

This is why I say, that people make choices in life.
These choices should be based on moral desicions not on metaphysics or preferences.
Metaphysics is good for creative process, and preferences are excellent too, to choose what brand of soap you want etc.

Especially in this case being that the topic is influential violinists, the reason they are and or have been influential is because of their contribution to us. They reached the zenith of their expression, because they reached the ultimate in excellence in their craft. And to do that, one has to have an idea of what the standards are and discern/discriminate between what is good & what is bad.

Sydney...still in Heidelberg? Did you happen to attend the Julia Fischer concert last Sunday but one, in the "Alte Sauna" ???

Tschüss, Hansjürgen

Sydney...still in Heidelberg? Did you happen to attend the Julia Fischer concert last Sunday but one, in the "Alte Sauna" ???

Tschüss, Hansjürgen

I ma nto knonw fro my s[ellign

IF

I saw "Raskolnikov's house" today...there is a plaque on it. I think this would mark the only instance (besides Sherlock Holmes and God) where a fictional character is commemorated with a plaque

IG

Sherlock doesn't exist? What a simpleton.

Gennady,
Oh....my.....God.

Sydney,
I toooootally agree about admiring a male violinist/footballer/whatever. I've had to dodge a lot of rude comments in my day.

Hans,
"razz" is a bit like 'deride", but in a friendly, teasing sort of way. :)

I doubt that someone like Jeffrey Dahmer, a notorious serial killer and cannibal considered his actions morally correct. Dahmer confessed readily and went to trial pleading guilty but insane.

Dahmer was arrested and a media explosion hit Milwaukee. No one had even had a clue a serial killer was at work until his arrest. Dahmer confessed readily and went to trial pleading guilty but insane. The trial was stock full of gruesome details of cannibalism and necrophilia, with police and the defense attorney telling of how Dahmer drilled holes in some of his victims heads and poured acid into their skulls while they were still alive. He wanted zombies that could not resist and could not leave him.
.......................................................
Thanks for the title but I would rather decline the offer thank you very much........

Hmm, this reminds me of the Platonic dialogue, Meno. Socrates concludes that no one knowingly wants what is bad because no one wants to be unhappy...

Kelsey - There are some girl Sidneys, but if you look in a names book Sydney is listed under girl names and Sidney is listed under boy names.

What an interesting discussion! Sorry about your family, Gennady.

I said if the events you described hadn't happened, philosophy would still be more than just an intellectual issue to you, because of firsthand experiences.

Now getting back on topic:

come to think of it, the other violinists other than Heifetz, Kreisler and Milstein, that influenced me most are: David Oistrakh, Gidon Kremer, Leonid Kogan, Michael Rabin, Pinchas Zukerman, Itzhak Perlman and young Isaac Stern.

That is impossible given that he is the Emperor, President Elect and chairman of that society.

most influential violinists in my life were
zena miller (my first teacher, rest in peace), david zafer, jan swoboda, jeff martin (my first private teacher), ezra atsmon, zoltan remenyi, and my best friend sarah.

i know none of these players are particularly famous but they have influenced me more than any of the well-known players have.

most influential on recordings was henryk szeryng. he was and still is my all-time favourite violinist.

I'm assuming Jan Swoboda is probably the mother of Marcin Swoboda and Mateusz (sp?)Swoboda? They are such a talented and fun family!

the fact that we are debating if something is fact or not obviously means it isnt fact. But that also means it could be. But that means it cant...

the awnser? NO ONE KNOWS-therefore it can not exsist.

It can not exsist on a real level. Sure the grass is green and the sky blue...to people who are not colorblind.

However, rules and preferences and morals are here to make sure there is not pure utter chaos...and in that there actually is...

btw, what is the best recording of Bach Partita in E major-preludio? Well, what are some good ones. I'm trying to get the end ready for a try out for the Saint Louis Youth SYmphony and the way I play the end...plainly...sucks. I learn better by listening.

Michael.

When people 500 years ago debated if the world was flat or round, it did not change the fact that the world was really round despite the fact that many thought it wasn't.

If there are things that are beyond comprehension, it does not mean that they do not exist. It only confirms our limited understanding of the vastness of the many possibilities out there in the universe.

Romanticizing about it and applying Existentialist twists does not solve the unknown. It only makes a nice play on words etc.

Read Kant and Kierkegaard.

The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene

Quantumelectrodynamics (QED) by R. Feinmann

S. Hawking's - A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes.

Also, "Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman," an autobiographical set of stories by Dick Feynman. Covers his Los Alamos days, childhood, how to get ants to leave the cupboard without killing them...and much much more!

Philosophy - all of the above are great. To that I would add Nietzche, especially the later works like the Genealogy of Morals, Beyond Good and Evil and Ecce Homo.

Cheers!

My favorite books which I learn from would be-

A Clockwork Orange-Anthony Burgees
Catcher in the Rye-Salinger
Of Human Bondage-Maugham

There is more but I cant think of them right now, I am very tired I've been practicing the Bach pretty much non-stop which of course has its ups and downs.

I have to repeat that genius is not a matter of preference.
It is absolutely the wrong word and the wrong approach of looking at its definition (genius).

One is either born a genius or not.
You cannot choose or prefer to be a genius.

A good book to look into : "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand (philosophy of Objectivism)

And yes, there are individuals who choose & or prefer to be a legend/genius in their own mind.
Nevertheless that is is a whole other issue.

You have to consider:
defining creative genius: “Individuals credited with creative ideas or products that have left a large impression on a particular domain of intellectual or aesthetic activity.”

Genius is also eminence in one’s field.
How is eminence achieved? Through the public acclaim, affirmed over time, that one has done something very important that has left a “large impression on a particular domain of intellectual or aesthetic activity."

This is why I brought examples of Mozart and Einstein in our previous discussion.

Again, your word "preference" is more appropriate for choosing things like what brand of shampoo or cereal to use etc. but absolutely not for defining genius.

........................................................

Heifetz, Kreisler, Oistrakh, Kremer

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