We have thousands of human-written stories, discussions, interviews and reviews from today through the past 20+ years. Find them here:

Search the site Search

Exploring the doo doo

October 3, 2007 at 11:28 PM

Greetings,
I have to confess I have a mild fetish for seeking out relatively unknown works and giving them an airing. There are basically two reasons I am thinking of why such a neglect should occur:
1) Here in Japan one plays Humoresque, the Spring Sonata and Zigeunerweisen. Anything else is avant garde , risqué, de trop or apapian..
2) They are doggy doo doo.

Exploring this stuff requires a certain unfortunate exposure to canine discharge but every now and again an absolute gem turns up. One of my favorites is the violin sonata by Coleridge Taylor. When was the last time you heard that in a recital?
But I am really giving it a heartfelt endorsement not just because it is a very good work but also because I have found it to be an enormously valuable teaching piece. For a student who is around the Dvorak Sonatina/Accolay concerto level this work has some great stuff in it that provides a wonderful foretaste of `big` virtuoso playing. It’s full of interesting applications of very simple techniques. For example:
1) Extensive use of drones so the student is learning double stopping in a very musical context.
2) Many sustained passages that require a simple but well thought out division of bow. An excellent etude for bow division.
3) A reasonable number of small scale passages that require some speed but no awkward patterns or position changes.
4) A lot of singing melodies on the e string to develop tone without pressing. Again, no awkward intervals or accidentals.
5) A straightforward and very brief excursion high up the g string that recurs a few time to introduce this area of the violin sound to the student.
6) Very simple four part chords (like g major and minor) but combined in melodies. A greta introduction to this tehcnique.
7) A very entertaining and simple combination of left hand pizz and richochet in the last movement to introduce these effects to the student absolutely painlessly. Really fun. Not`I Palpiti…`
8) There is a beautiful recurring melody in 6ths in the last moveemnt which makes a perfect introduction to this kind of passage for the novice double stopper.

All in all, a thoroughly violinistic piece of utter charm which is comparable to Dvorak`s works and might just grab the interest of a jaded teenager who need something impressive with not too much heavy duty challenge. I’m going to play it at a few recitals over the next year to see how it comes across to people. If you want to take a look go to *

http://imslp.org/wiki/Violin_Sonata%2C_Op.28_%28Coleridge-Taylor%2C_Samuel%29

Another recommendation for you know who….
I grew up on Szeryngs recordings of the Bach accompanied sonatas which I have often felt are superior to his wonderful unaccompanied. A few years back I bought Podger and Pinnock and don’t recall liking them too much at the time. I’m not really into the authentic sound movement, but I put the disc on again last night and it just blew me away. This pair have incredible empathy, combining huge energy with moments of great stillness. I honestly felt I was in the middle of some kind of profound prayer as I listened in a pitch black room for an hour or so last night.
Mind blowing.
Cheers,
Buri

Fringe benefit of Samuel Coleridge Taylor is that he is of an African origin if anyone is looking for a piece by a minority composer.

Ihnsouk

Buri--that sounds amazing. I'm going to grab the music I hope--I have problems on that site for some reason? Locks browser, etc...

I will try though. But I'll probably work on it a little later. I'm getting ready to start learning a scale in three a week, and with everything else....

My arpeggios in two are sounding awesome.

Cool--I got it!
What sort of hands was the piano part written for?
Wow, thanks for introducing us the Coleridge-Taylor piece (both the piece and the composer!). Any chance you could post a recording, or is there one available?
Greetings,
Janet, not sure I quite get your question. You can see the piano part at the link. Its quite meaty!Needs a more advanced player
Cheers,
Buri
The piano part requires twelve fingers and a wide extention hope your pianist has these requirements.I am a reasonably accomplished pianist but I wouldn't be able to play all of the notes I'd have to make several executive decisions about what to leave out
Greetings,
darn. Janet, from your writing I had always assumed you had at least fourteen fingers.
Cheers,
Buri
Sorry to dissapoint you Buri just 10 well 9 1/2 really since I sliced the tendon in my little finger