What to play next?

May 19, 2009 at 01:29 AM ·

Greetings,

not your fault but here we go again on one of my prune free tub thumps.  because of tests,  grading et al,  we have evolved a musical world in which the second and thrd movement is never played.   Had composers known this was going to happen they would never have bbothered to write the two last movements and we could all have gone home earlier from our concerts.  This is mazingly prevelant at venerable music institutes too.  It is very serious because to actually,  really understand a cocnerto at a meaningful level one has to feel the relationship between all the movements and how they interact.  It is a very profound thing.  It is also a powerful discipline to master all thre emovements of a cocnerto. Very diffenret from just doing one.  So for me,  the coice is easy.  You shoudl learn one of the most beautioful pieces of msuci ever written.  The second movement of the Bach a minor cocnerto.

At the same time you might consde rthe following :

Thais Meditation.

Monti Czardaz.

Hejre Kati.

Dancla Variaitons on operatic airs no 1.

Mozart cocnero no 3 (but not with the Bach.

Greig sonata in c minor.

Cheers,

Buri

May 19, 2009 at 02:14 PM ·

Buri hit this one right on target...You shoudl learn one of the most beautioful pieces of msuci ever written.  The second movement of the Bach a minor cocnerto.

I loved it when first exposed to it and even more so now...very soulful and passionate...can really draw tone from your fiddle , improve intonation, all sorts of wonderful things. When I first studied the A mol, Isaac and I played together; good and bad with that idea. Nice to have such a partner and orchestral accompaniemnt but you also become a clone....Maybe that's not so bad; being Isaac's clone...IF ONLY

Nige aint so shabby either...but perhaps just a touch too fast

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HEQLLqUfgE&feature=related

May 19, 2009 at 06:24 PM ·

Thanks for your replys but I forgot to add that the winter 2007-2008 I played the whole concerto and just loved it! I nailed the 2nd mvt. and just adore playing it :)

May 19, 2009 at 08:27 PM ·

Greetings,

good.  That sort of narrowed it.   Perhaps

De Beriot - Scenes de ballet or concerto 9 (for a bit of whizz technique)

Wieniawski-  Legende (start getitng your double stopping up a level) 

Haydn g major concerto- not such a big tehcncial leap but sooo worth playing.

Viotti 23- a very good technical progression and a cocnerto that seems a litte squre sometimes but can -really- grow on you.

Suk four pieces-   especially Appasionato which has an excellent section for developing both long sustained bwoing (very long....) and facilty in the higher positions on the e string.

Martinu- five madrigal stanzas.   Works well worth knowing forma greta composer.  A differnt sound and approahc form what you have done so far.

Dvorak-  Four Romantic pieces

Lots of scales in double stops (use Drew`s book)

Cheers,

Buri

May 22, 2009 at 01:42 PM ·

Thanks for the suggestion Buri :-) I was wondering though..my teacher gave me the ntoes to Vocalise but I´m not really good with those really slow pieces and I find them boring but would it perhaps be ideal for me to play it? I don´t think it´s a tecnhical leap but I´ve not often done slow songs. What do you think?

May 22, 2009 at 08:59 PM ·

 Greetings,

to be frank,  if your teacher gave you a work to study you should either do it or discuss with him/her why you don`t feel good about it.   I can`t honestly say I would be to happy with one of my studnets asking what to do next here -after- I had given them a work.  Sorry I don`t know the situation but that`s my gut reaction.  IT@s  becoming the norm these days in many areas. The downside of technology.

Having said that I think you might possibly conside rposing yourslef some questions about the violin and the way you feel about it.  The violin is a melodic instrument and once you take away all the hair raising circus act pyrotechnics (also part of the magic)  what matter smost is to be ableto play a meoldy so beautifully that the lsitener wnats to weep.  You on the other hand, should not weep.  The player delivers the goods with skill and artistry and the music does the rest.  What kind of sound do you want to move peoplewith?    How often do you listen to the greta violinist of the past ?  Kreisler,  Elman,  Heifetz ,  Hassid,  Milstein.  The simplest little gems became moments of utter poignancy.  How are you going to begin working on the insturment in such a way that every note,  be it martele,  spiccato,  detache or whatever just sings (you can sing ugly too though....)

In his biography Milstein tellsof how he and the cellist Piatigorsky visited Rachmaninov and wnated ot pay homage so they began playing Vocalise tother.  A sleepy Racmaninov wandered into the room in his pyjamas and added the piano part. Little was said but it was clealry a very deep event for the thre eof them.

One reason praciticng slow movements can be boring is your mind is dead.   A good way to kepe the mind alive is work mentally on faster rythms as you draw longer bows and see how it effetcs the use of the ow.  It will certainly keep the underlying musicla tension going rather than just heairng a sustained pile of roadkill.  But basiclaly youhave to sing and listen to your singing and listen again and decide what you do a sa singer and then ask yourself how to do taht on the violin (hint-its the bow more thna the left hand) and then explore and try again.  And sing again.

Pruens are also good.

Cheers,

Buri

May 22, 2009 at 09:32 PM ·

"It will certainly keep the underlying musicla tension going rather than just heairng a sustained pile of roadkill"

Quote of the month to Buri.

I just coughed vegemite toast all over my keyboard. 

May 22, 2009 at 09:57 PM ·

Thanks for the replyu Buri. The point is though that my teacher gives me a lot of work and then he forgets that he gave me the work and never asks me to play and when I play it for him he sometimes says: Aahhh...skip that piece, because he´s found another one for me or prefers me to work on something else. So a lot of the time I end up with notes which I never really practise for my teacher. He just gives me them for myself so I can´t help but wonder whether it was just one of those times :)

May 23, 2009 at 07:58 AM ·

Greetings,

I was wondering if somehting like that was going on.   I personally wouldn`t want to take this any further in this context so can I leave you with this quesiton:  where do you think you need to go with what you described?

Cheers,

Buri