The Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music is Singapore’s premier music institution, always having a full roster of internationally renowned artists visiting the institution to give recitals and public masterclasses.
This round, the Conservatory has had the opportunity to invite acclaimed Korean-American violinist Jennifer Koh to come and give a public masterclass with 3 very talented students from the violin department. The lineup of pieces for performance are 2 standard pieces and one lesser-known work:
Violin concerto no. 1 in D Major, Niccolo Paganini (Cadenza: Emile Sauret)
Andante from Sonata no. 2, J.S. Bach
Violin concerto no. 2, Shostakovich
Jennifer is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, the top medallist of the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition in 1994 and a recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1995.
She made her professional debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 11 with the Paganini violin concerto no. 1.
(image: Cedille records)
The Devil’s Concerto
Written as his 6th Opus, Paganini originally intended for this concerto be played in E flat Major, only possible by tuning all the strings on the violin half a step up (essentially making it the opposite of Baroque tuning which is a step down). The concerto is considered to be one of the major ‘big’ violin concertos on par with the likes of Brahms and Beethoven. Although the orchestration is very sparse, most of the demands are focused onto the solo violin, making it incredibly exhausting to play. Adding final layer of difficulty is to play the customary cadenza written by Emile Sauret which in itself is just as difficult (if not, much worse) than the concerto itself. Attempting the concerto was Masters violin student Zou Meng who is also a candidate for the upcoming ‘Premio Paganini’ competition of which the concerto is a compulsory requirement for the final round.
(Zou Meng performing the entire 1st movement)
(image of the 9th page of the concerto)
The concerto itself exercises a huge technical demand on left-hand and right hand difficulties for the violin, but more so on the left hand than the right. Paganini had Marfan syndrome which is a connective tissue disorder of the body. This disorder blessed him with disproportionately longer fingers than the average person, enabling to tackle his own compositions’ difficulties with no hindrance.
For Zou Meng, it was almost as if this concerto was his daily morning ritual, bleeding full of virtuoso showmanship and brilliance.
On the other hand, Jennifer has already championed the work when she was 11 years old with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra so it would be natural to assume she knows the work well enough. There was only barely half the allotted time left for Zou Meng’s masterclass slot so Jennifer only picked out the lyrical passages of the concerto to work with Meng.
(image of the masterclass excerpts)
Jennifer’s main criticism for Meng was that his playing was perhaps too showy, and not with a clear direction of phrasing.
As a teacher once put it, Paganini is like ‘the circus meets Italian Opera.’ These 4 bars partly display Paganini’s influence of the Italian Bel Canto style.
Meng was navigating the virtuoso aspect of this writing but in a consistently strong fashion, which prompted Jennifer to challenge him on finding which notes to set high and low points to allow space for more dramatic flourishes like a real opera.
It was not enough to just master the huge leaps and runs with constant practice, one must be able to let the technique serve the music.
As the cliché saying goes: one must be able to tell a story with the music.
The ‘Himalayas’ of Violin music
Known to every professional violinist as some of the greatest solo music written for the violin, the 6 Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin by Bach stand the test of time as the most perfect and hardest music to master on the instrument.
In stark contrast to Paganini’s 24 Caprices for solo violin which are incredibly dazzling, the Sonatas and Partitas represent mastery of harmony and counterpoint and serve as the bedrock of establishing the violin’s capabilities as a solo instrument. Where Paganini pushed the violin to its technical limits, Bach wrote simultaneously for multiple voices within a constraint of keeping all of them harmonically dependent on each other.
Presenting the slow Andante movement from Sonata no. 2 was 3rd year Bachelor’s student Chien Hsin.
(3rd Year Chien Hsin working with Jennifer)
(Andante from Sonata no. 2)
This movement is in the key of C Major, which makes it the relative major key of the 2nd sonata written in A minor.
Compared to the technical difficulties of Paganini, this movement seems much easier for the left hand. But the challenge comes in how Bach is writing the voicing: the violinist needs to perform this movement as if 2 separate violins are playing separate parts.
The surprise was hearing Hsin not do the intended repeats that Bach had written in, which resulted in a much shorter performance than intended.
Notwithstanding the truncated performance, one of Jennifer’s tips to Hsin was to separate the movement into 2 distinct voices: one high and one low.
In a short demonstration, Jennifer used her violin to play with Hsin in alternating roles of high and low voices. The higher pitches would make for a more continuous melody, always flowing while the lower pitches make for a slightly detached yet constantly pulsing accompaniment.
After hearing both voices separately, it allowed for Hsin to have a slightly clearer picture on how to bow the movement and it began to sound more organic. To this point, Jennifer said to integrate hearing and practicing both voices simultaneously into the playing of the movement.
(Jennifer in a demonstration with Hsin)
Jennifer also noted for Hsin not to approach this music with a romantic touch as all violinists arguably are the biggest champions of Romantic era music. A certain level of restraint must be observed to focus more on the harmonic progression and the purity of the music, especially for Bach.
Coming from an accomplished violinist who has been one of the rare few to attempt ALL six unaccompanied works in one concert at the prestigious Kennedy Center and is also well known for her interpretations of Bach, this is golden advice for a budding young violinist.