Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Life and color in Violin interpretation

By Mark Strings


Every real violinist has some peculiarities while playing.

Yet more than mannerisms are wanted to impress an audience. Life and colour in interpretation are the true strategies of great art. And beauty of interpretation depends, firstly, on range of color.

Violin technique is, in fact , only secondary. Irrespective of how well played a composition be, its performance must have colour, nuance, movement, life! Each emotional mood of the moment must be fully expressed, and if it is its appeal is sure.

Of course the purely mechanical has to be dominated by the creative personality of the player. Yet violin technique is also an important part of interpretation: knowing precisely how long to hold a bow, the most fragile inflections of its force on the strings. After all it is simply about the quality of the instrument and about violin price.

There has to be perfect sympathies also with the composer's thought; his spirit must stand behind the character of the artist. In the case of certain famous compositions, like the Beethoven concerto, for example, this is so well established that the artist, and never the composer, is held responsible if it is not well played.

But too comprehensive a conformity to 'tradition ' in playing can also be an extreme.

Absolute pitch the 1st essential of an ideal technique

"What is the fundamental of a perfected violin technique?" is a natural query.

"Absolute pitch, first of all," many answer promptly.

"Many a violinist plays a difficult passage, sounding every note; and yet it sounds untuned.

The first and 2nd movements of the Beethoven concerto have no double-stops; yet they are extremely difficult to play.

Why? Because they call for absolute pitch: they've got to be played in perfect tune so that each tone stands out in all its fullness and clarity like a rock in the ocean. And without a basic control over pitch such a master work will always be beyond the violinist's reach.

Many a player has the facility; but without perfect intonation he can never accomplish the highest perfection. On the other hand, any one who can play a single phrase in unconditional pitch has the 1st and great necessary.

Few artists, not barring some of the best, play with wonderful intonation. Its control depends firstly on the ear.

And a delicate ear finds differences and shading; it bids the violinist play a trifle sharper, a trifle flatter, according to the general harmonic colour of the accompaniment; it leads him to see a difference, when the harmonic atmosphere demands it, between a C sharp in the key of E major and a D flat in the same key.




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