Erich Gruenberg is an Austrian violinist and teacher born (in Vienna) on
October 12, 1924. Although he has
appeared as soloist with many orchestras around the world, he is primarily known
for his teaching at the Guildhall School of Music and the Royal Academy of
Music and his career as a concertmaster with various orchestras. He has lived in London for over 65 years –
since 1946. He began his studies as a
child in Vienna. From there, he
relocated to Jerusalem (Israel – known as Palestine at the time) in 1938 (one
source has it as 1939) where he studied at the Jerusalem Conservatory. Various sources state that he led the
Jerusalem-based Palestine Broadcasting Service Orchestra also known as the
Palestine Broadcasting Corporation Orchestra (presumably as concertmaster) from
1938 to 1945. This orchestra may have
been the precursor of the Jerusalem Symphony, not to be confused with the
Palestine Symphony Orchestra which was founded in 1936 and later became the
Israel Philharmonic. In 1946, he moved
to London – he was 22 years old. The
following year, he won the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition in
London and took off on a solo career after that. That was only the third year of the
competition and there was no monetary award in those days. Gruenberg later served on the jury of the
competition as well as juries in other violin competitions. He subsequently served as concertmaster of
the Stockholm Philharmonic from 1956 to 1958.
He was 32 years old. From 1962 to
1965, he was the concertmaster of the London Symphony. Finally, from 1972 to 1976, he was the
concertmaster of the Royal Philharmonic (London.) All the while, he continued
concertizing. His daughter Joanna, a
concert pianist, would sometimes accompany him on recital tours. Leonid Kogan and his daughter Nina also did
the same thing. Gruenberg also played
first violin in the London String Quartet for ten years - I do not know during
which years – and formed and led other chamber music ensembles during his
career. He has also premiered several
modern works and was the first to play the Britten violin concerto in
Russia. He has recorded on the EMI,
Decca, Chandos, Hyperion, and other labels.
The recording that is mentioned most frequently is his recording of all
Beethoven sonatas. His recording of the
Beethoven concerto on YouTube is here. Among
his violins have been a Carlo Bergonzi from 1737 (the Emiliani), which Dietmar
Machold sold for him in 1996, a Pietro Guarneri from 1704, and a 1731
Stradivarius which was stolen from him in late July of 1990 but recovered in
April, 1991 in Central America. That was
indeed rare because once a Stradivarius is stolen, it disappears forever
although there have been exceptions. One
such is the Gibson Stradivarius which was twice stolen from BronislawHuberman.
Pip Clarke is a British
violinist and teacher who, although concertizing all over the world, has been living in the
U.S. since 1990. She is known for
playing in a very Romantic and expressive manner and is frequently compared to
legendary violinists Ruggiero Ricci, Jascha Heifetz, and Tossy Spivakovsky. Her tone has been described as haunting and
her style as breathtakingly romantic, though that description might be far too
limiting. She also has in her repertoire
a work which is a particular favorite of mine – the Bruch second concerto in d
minor, which is seldom played nowadays.
Clarke is also one of only two violinists I know of who does not have a
website – Silvia Marcovici is the other.
She has appeared with over 70 orchestras in the U.S. alone and has appeared
in recital in the most important venues in Canada, Asia, and Europe. Clarke began her music studies on the piano
at age 5 (in Manchester, England) and her violin studies (with Ruth Parker) two
years later. For six years she studied
with Roger Raphael at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, then with Lydia
Mordkovitch (pupil of David Oistrakh) at the Royal Northern College of Music
and later still with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music in London. Her public debut was at age 16 at the South
Bank Center in London. She embarked on
her very busy career upon graduation and has been concertizing ever since. Clarke also appeared on British television
with English composer and conductor Michael Tippett. Her American debut took place on October 27,
2007 at Carnegie Hall with the Korngold concerto. Although her repertoire encompasses all of
the standard concertos, she is especially lauded by critics for her
interpretations of Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy, and the Walton, Korngold,
Goldmark, and Dvorak violin concertos.
Reviewing a recent CD release, a well-known critic said: “She blazes
impetuously with plenty of dash and brio...she’s no mere purveyor of bland,
unruffled, unengaged precision.” Of her
first CD release, Musical Opinion (the oldest classical music journal in
England) wrote that it included “one of the most compelling accounts on record
of Chausson’s Poeme.” One of her most
recent recordings is of Lee Actor’s brilliant and unabashedly romantic violin
concerto, a work commissioned especially for her. You can listen to it here. As almost all concert artists now do today,
Clarke participates in music festivals far and wide, including the well-known
Ravinia Music Festival near Chicago.
Clarke also gives master classes in the U.S. and Europe. In recital and in recordings, her
accompanists have usually been pianists Sandra Rivers (accompanist of Sarah
Chang as well), Scott Holshouser, and (composer-pianist) Marcelo Cessena. Clarke has played violins by Joseph
Guarnerius and Matteo Goffriller, but her present violin is a modern (1983)
violin by Sergio Peresson. Other
musicians who own or have owned Peresson’s instruments include Yehudi Menuhin,
Pinchas Zukerman, Isaac Stern, Norman Carol, Jaime Laredo, Eugene Fodor, Ivan
Galamian, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Jaqueline du Pre. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while,
you might recall that Peresson was a Philadelphia violin maker (luthier) whose
instruments were in so much demand, he had to stop taking orders for violins in
1982. As far as I know, their sound is
indistinguishable from the very best Stradivarius or Guarnerius violins.
Nigel Kennedy is an English violinist born on December 28, 1956 (Perlman was 10 years old.) He was born on the same day as Josef Hassid, though 33 years later. He studied with Yehudi Menuhin and Dorothy DeLay (Juilliard.) He is famous for wearing a funny outfit on stage, his funny haircut, and his very slow rendition of the Brahms violin concerto. He has been recording since 1984 and has recorded most of the standard violin repertory in addition to some jazz music. A few critics have said that his classical playing style lacks discipline, insight, and finesse, although that opinion is really open to question.
Frank Bridge was an English violinist and composer born on February 26, 1879 (Brahms was 46 years old.) From 1899 until 1903, he studied at the Royal College of Music. He played the viola in a number of string quartets before going into composition. He also taught privately. He wrote a considerable amount of chamber music, now played mostly in England. He is also famous for something called the Bridge chord which is simply a Major seventh chord with a flat nine and major thirteenth thrown in – nothing unusual. There are numerous recordings of his music available. Bridge died in January, 1941.
Yfrah Neaman was a British violinist and an eminent teacher born on this day (February 13) in 1923. Although he was born in Lebanon, he studied at the Paris Conservatory with Jacques Thibaud, from which he graduated at age 14, and then settled in London where he continued his studies with Carl Flesch and then Flesch’s pupil, Max Rostal. His unplanned debut was in 1944 in London with the London Symphony. He taught at the Guildhall School of Music from 1958 until 2003 and was artistic director of the Carl Flesch Competition. His influence and reputation as a teacher was spread far and wide. There are numerous recordings of his playing some modern violin concertos by seldom-heard composers. He died in January, 2003.
Iona Brown (Elizabeth Iona Brown) was an English violinist and conductor born on January 7, 1941 (Heifetz was 40 years old and would live another 46 years.) Her early studies were in London with Hugh Maguire. She later studied with Henryk Szeryng as well. From 1963 to 1966, Brown was a member of the Philharmonia Orchestra and played in the Cremona String Quartet. In 1964, she joined the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and became a soloist and director in 1974. There are many recordings of her playing with this orchestra. She left the Academy in 1980. In 1981, Brown was appointed artistic director of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. She also served as music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra from 1987 to 1992. In 1998, Brown gave up the violin entirely (due to problems with arthritis) and dedicated herself to conducting. She died on June 5, 2004 at age 63.
