Special rendition
Just before 11h yestermorn, the BBC played Silent Night by a composer whose skills excelled in the use of the propensity of violas to play in unison with themselves. Alfred Schnittke was a master of the improbable and novel, even taking into account the built in weakness of the tuning system of the instrument. Viola players are well known for overcoming the stiffness of the tuning pegs in their instruments by applying wax rather than chalk to their stems. They are also one of the boldest and most brash of musicians, outdoing even the infamous ‘bonists, in their ability to overcome what may appear to the untrained ear to be a mistake. In a word they are the toreadors of the musical world.
On the BBC playlist it was item 17. You would have had to wait nearly two hours to hear this exceptional piece of violistic virtuosity, or scroll forward to 1:54, just after the adverts, which just like June 4th, are not there. At the time of posting it would have only been available for a further 29 days, so you had had to be quick…to listen, but now that the 29 days have expired all that remains for you is this faint and feinting echo of the performances of that day.
As always, Coco must apologise for any inaccuracies, or deviations from the facts of the matter, but one must not let the facts get in the way of a good story, as every viola player knows, and secondly, to the two excellent musicians for any misrepresentation of their performance. Coco should add that the instrument – it is actually a violin that is being played in this performance, demonstrating even more the extraordinary ability of the performer, which approaches that of Mike Yarwood, to be able on that most well-behaved of instruments, to imitate one of the most incorrigible.
Essential Classics – Georgia Mann – BBC Sounds
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