Feuermann Archives

Schools of Cello Playing: Russia and Armenia

Reprinted with permission from Interlude. Karl Davidov Another important school of cello playing was developed in Russia, founded by the brilliant cellist and composer Karl Davidov. Named the “Czar of Cellists” by none other than the composer Tchaikovsky, Davidov was born in Russia, (now Latvia), in 1838. Soon after his birth the family moved to Moscow. Davidov showed great musical talent at a very young age, but his father, a doctor and amateur violinist, insisted Karl not only study cello and piano, but also mathematics. Davidov completed his mathematics degree at St. Petersburg University before he focused on music as a career. Davidov’s first cello lessons were with Henrich Schmidt in Moscow and then Karl Schuberth in St Petersburg. Davidov, whose intentions were to become a composer, had [...]

By Janet Horvath|2024-07-05T20:10:52-04:00March 18th, 2022|Categories: Historical|Tags: Hanus Wihan, Pablo Casals, Friedrich Grützmacher, Alexander Wierzbilowicz, Bernard Greenhouse, Julius Klengel, Alfred von Glehn, Gregor Piatigorsky, Janet Horvath, Joseph Joachim, Feuermann, Karl Davidov, Fournier, David Soyer, Russian School, Enesco, Diran Alexanian, Armenian School, Raya Garbusova, Hugo Becker, Davidov Cello Concerto, Mischa Schneider, Antonio Janigro, Franco-Belgian School, Carl Fuchs, German School, Leo Stern, Schools of Cello Playing|

Cello Classics: An Interview with Sebastian Comberti (June, 2002)

Interview by Selma Gokcen SG: What led to the creation of the label Cello Classics? SC: A number of different things all coming together at the same time. At the bottom of it all is my interest in finding repertoire that hasn't been played before, which I imagine is common to nearly every cellist. In particular, for many years now, I have been trying to work out where the origins of the 19th century sonata actually lie. We are led to believe that the cello and piano sonata began with Beethoven, as if he suddenly decided to compose the Opus 5. There must have been other previous examples. In the course of my research, I frequently talked to Keith Harvey and discovered that he had similar interests. His own music [...]

By Selma Gokcen|2021-11-08T13:25:37-05:00October 29th, 2021|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, Artistic Vision, Performance, Repertoire|Tags: recording, Feuermann, Record Label, Cello Repertoire, Underplayed Repertoire, Ysaye|

Conversation with Aldo Parisot (May, 2001)

Interview by Tim Janof Long acknowledged as one of the world's master cellists, Aldo Parisot has led the career of a complete artist —as concert soloist, chamber musician, recitalist, and teacher. He has been heard with the major orchestras of the world, including Berlin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Rio, Munich, Warsaw, Chicago, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, etc. under the batons of such eminent conductors as Stokowski, Barbirolli, Bernstein, Mehta, Monteux, Paray, Carvalho, Sawallisch, Hindemith, and Villa-Lobos. As an artist seeking to expand his instrument's repertoire, Mr. Parisot has premiered numerous works for the cello, written especially for him by such composers as Carmago Guarnieri, Quincy Porter, Alvin Etler, Claudio Santoro, Joan Panetti, Yehudi Wyner, and Villa-Lobos, whose Cello Concerto No. 2 (written for and dedicated to him) was premiered by Mr. [...]

By Tim Janof|2023-03-13T23:04:01-04:00August 5th, 2019|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, Interviews|Tags: Barber, Tim Janoff, Internet Cello Society, ICS, Starker, Parisot, cello ensemble, Aldo, Feuermann, Yale, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Brazil, interview, Hindemith, premiere|

Emanuel Feuermann and the Art of Phrasing — by Brinton Averil Smith

There has been a long-running debate in the string-playing world regarding the 'Golden Age' of string playing, generally considered to span the 1920s to the 1960s. While many today are happy to listen to and model their playing on more contemporary players, there has been a persistent argument made that the players of that era—Heifetz, Feuermann, Kreisler, Oistrach, Casals, and numerous others—played in a different way than more recent players. It is easy to dismiss this argument as the eternal 'nothing is as good as it used to be' meme and, when painted with too broad a brush, such generalizations quickly fall apart. The string players of that era were, after all, a group of vividly different players with different approaches—as are today's players. Yet when one begins to examine [...]

By Brinton Smith|2024-04-23T16:22:29-04:00May 18th, 2018|Categories: Artistic Vision, Self Discovery|Tags: practicing, Technique, Habits, legato, Feuermann, Casals, bow, vibrato, phrasing|

Phrasing and Meter — by Robert Battey

Today’s ruminations have to do with musical phrasing. As a music critic for the Washington Post, I'm regularly attending concerts of all kinds. That, plus a lot of chamber music coaching, leads me to ruminate on this subject often. The ability to produce clear phrasing is just as important as having good rhythm or intonation, but a lot of folks don’t do it well, or as well as they think. Remember, in grade school, when we had to take turns reading aloud from the book? And how some kids were flat, with little inflection and the same pause between every word, while with others it came out sounding like natural speech? To a certain extent it’s the same with music, sometimes even at the professional level. It’s often been remarked that the [...]

By Robert Battey|2018-09-13T03:22:28-04:00December 15th, 2013|Categories: Performance|Tags: alignment, stunning effect, Bach Cello Suites, vibrato, great artists, performer, stylistic conventions, slurs, cello, great composers, melody, text, Yo-Yo Ma, cellobello, intelligent artist, Rostropovich, Washington Post, bar lines, Awareness, interpreter, recordings, youtube, Beethoven’s “Archduke” Trio, intonation, interpretive decisions, studying, Brahms Double Concerto, musical phrasing, metrical organization, Feuermann, Capucon, phrasing, musical critic, Battey, complexity, conservatory, phrase lengths, robert, counting, powerful, resolution, dissonance, communication, score-study, accents, Bach, focused listening|

The Eyes Have It (Part 1) — by Selma Gokcen

One of the most valuable indicators of well-functioning coordination is eye movement. I have noticed for a long time now that there are different types of gaze in musicians. The "well-trained" musician of today often exhibits what I call blinkered attention, the result of years of too much effortful practice. The strain around the eyes is visible and often accompanied by laboured breathing. Caught by inward feelings and sensations, this musician is "concentrating." In the words of my Alexander teacher, the original meaning of concentration used to be: to relate a set of factors to a central point. It has been increasingly misused in our educational system to encourage the shutting out of everything else out to focus on a single thing. Concentration therefore as a useful aim has been [...]

By Selma Gokcen|2017-10-09T02:04:27-04:00October 22nd, 2011|Categories: Playing Healthy, Self Discovery|Tags: music, Gokcen, Awareness, concentration, relationships, Selma, practicing, attention, communication, seeing, Coordination, effort, exploration, Feuermann, Casals, Listening, Heifetz, cello, relaxation, strain, cellobello, Alexander Technique|