August 2010

V.com weekend vote: What is your favorite violin piece?

August 20, 2010 07:17

I've always wanted to ask this very simple question in the weekend vote, but the question didn't lend itself to the polling software format! So, since I'm waiting for new polling software, here's the question of the week, and please answer in the comment section:

What is your favorite piece on the violin? And if you have hundreds of "favorite" pieces (I do), narrow it down to one: What is your favorite piece right at this moment? The first that comes to mind, don't think too hard.

For me, I'd have to say at the moment it's the Ravel Sonata, probably because I just played it, and because I also have a recording of it in my car, in which I'm currently spending a lot of time, driving from Florida back to California! (It's a 2006 recording of Latvian sisters Baiba and Lauma Skride, also has some Schubert and Beethoven. Very nicely played). I enjoy where the Ravel takes me, the scattered but uplifted thoughts in the first movement, the slide-y "Blues" of the second and the wild ride that is the last movement.

What is your favorite piece at the moment?

50 replies | Archive link

V.com weekend vote: Which of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas do you find most challenging?

August 6, 2010 19:32

Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin remain some of the most beautiful and cleverly composed pieces in the violin repertoire, but I must say that some of them are a lot more accessible than others.

What do I mean by accessible? Well, there's technically accessible, musically accessible and emotionally accessible. For example, while the Chaconne from the D minor Partita may be technically difficult, I do find it quite accessible emotionally and musically. I find the Preludio from the E major Partita to be accessible in all ways. A number of the fugues are accessible and musically, but they are a serious challenge technically, and emotionally, they seem a little distant.

I was thinking about this issue of accessibility today while practicing the B minor Partita (aka the one with the "Doubles.") A friend of mine who is an expert -- and a natural -- in Baroque music told me once that the B minor is the most "inaccessible" of them all, emotionally and even musically. I've avoided playing it since college but have taken it on this year. It has some definite technical challenges, but more than that, I still find it to be emotionally elusive, though beautiful. I'm hoping it reveals more of its mysteries, this go-around!

I'd like to ask you which of Bach's S and P's you find to be the most challenging, and why? Please vote in the poll and then describe the challenges below.

poll by twiigs.com

8 replies | Archive link

More entries: July 2010

August 2010

V.com weekend vote: What is your favorite violin piece?

V.com weekend vote: Which of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas do you find most challenging?

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