Towards a Performance History of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin: Preliminary Investigations (original) (raw)
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Performance Practice Review, 2009
Performance studies relying on sound recordings as evidence have often focused on establishing trends and conventions in various periods and repertoires. There is a growing consensus that the pre-1940s was an era of diversity while the second half of the twentieth century witnessed increasing homogeneity. 1 This tendency is usually explained to be the result cultural differences, such as national or regional violin schools or the influence of a particular teacher. 2 So far little attention has been paid to individual difference, whether in the early or the later half of the century or to differences in performance trends specific to particular repertoires. 3 Yet without a close scrutiny of artistic profiles it is difficult to move beyond the broad categories distinction is essential if musicologists of European concert music wish to argue, in the wake of the
The Accompaniment in "Unaccompanied" Bach: Interpreting the Sonatas and Partitas for Violin
2016
The greatest problem faced by most students making their first approach to Bach's compositions for unaccompanied cello or violin is not the formidable technical difficulty of the music or its density of contrapuntal and motivic detail. Rather it is the lack of a relevant knowledge base, of familiarity with the multiple musical styles and traditions from which Bach wove these uniquely allusive pieces. Not one string player in a hundred encountering this repertory for the first time, or even for the twentieth, knows the dance music of Lully, the oboe concertos of Albinoni, or the organ chaconnes and passacaglias of Pachelbel and Buxtehude. And therefore, regardless of their capabilities on their instrument or their theoretical understanding of harmony, formal analysis, and counterpoint, students confront this music in a stylistic vacuum that gives them no context, no deep familiarity with the musical vocabulary that Bach incorporated into these strange and challenging compositions.
This paper compares Nathan Milstein and Jasha Heifetz's commercial recordings of J. S. Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin. It focuses on individual difference to examine the possible impact of Auer's teaching, cultural trends and personal characteristics. I was originally published online in 2009 in Performance Practice Review 14, pp. 1-40: http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/ppr but now the Electronic journal's website link is now defunct so I've decided the post the paper here.
2019
Since around the middle of the 20th century, the baroque violin has been gradually rediscovered for use in early music performance. This research project is an investigation into the processes of developing and presenting new music for the baroque violin, drawing on my experience both as an early music baroque violinist and as a contemporary music modern violinist. This research project aims to uncover ways in which the baroque violin may be used to express 21st-century music. This is presented in three volumes: Volume 1, this Exegesis, outlines the processes and outcomes of the project; Volume 2, an online Catalogue, details techniques and approaches to the baroque violin, for composers and interpreters, that may be used in 21st-century music; and Volume 3, recordings of three Recitals, each programmed to reflect on the significant stages of the research project. The development of five new works for the baroque violin, written by Australian composers Jacob Abela, Biddy Connor, Vin...