Renaud
Capucon is a French violinist born (in Chambery) on January 27, 1976. He was discovered by conductor Claudio Abbado,
who was instrumental in encouraging his career, just as Arturo Toscanini
discovered Vasa Prihoda, Thomas Beecham discovered Albert Sammons, and Edouard
Colonne discovered Jacques Thibaud.
Capucon began studying the violin at age 4 at the music conservatory in
Chambery. He studied, between ages 12
and 19, with American violinist Veda Reynolds (in Europe.) At 14, he entered the National Conservatory
of Music and Dance in Paris from which he graduated at age 17. His main teacher there was Gerard Poulet. One of his other teachers was Thomas Brandis
(in Berlin.) Capucon briefly played in
the European Union Youth Orchestra and then was invited by Claudio Abbado to
serve as concertmaster (1998-2000) of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra (which
Abbado founded and conducted regularly.)
Capucon simultaneously began playing as a soloist and chamber musician and
quickly rose to stardom. He first soloed
with the Berlin Philharmonic on November 15, 2002, playing the Korngold
Concerto. He was 26 years old. His career has taken him around the world and
he has already performed with all of the major orchestras and played as soloist
or in recital in the best-known concert halls.
The only exception is the New York Philharmonic, with which I could not find
any record of an appearance. I cannot
guess as to the reason, but it does happen now and then – an instance of a
major artist who has never appeared with one or another of the major orchestras
or this or that major conductor. Although
he has over 20 CDs in his discography, his most important recording – as far as
I am concerned - is probably his recording of the Schumann concerto, a gem
which was unknown and un-played for many decades thanks to Joseph Joachim’s
negative opinion of it. Here is a
YouTube video of his performance of this concerto with the Chamber Orchestra of
Europe. As do most of today’s
violinists, Capucon plays lots of chamber music in recital and at quite a few
music festivals far and wide, including the Verbier, Lucerne, San Sebastian, Edinburgh,
and Tanglewood. Capucon has recorded for
the DG, Decca, EMI, TDK, and Virgin Classics labels. On May 25, 2009, Capucon was filmed playing
in the midst of metro commuters in Paris (line 6 of the metro but I don’t know
which station), unrecognized and unacknowledged by the passing crowd. Joshua Bell did a similar thing on January
12, 2007 in Washington D.C. with similar results. This reminds me of the doctor’s mother (or
father) who used the van Gogh portrait of their son (Dr. Felix Rey) to plug a
hole in their chicken coup. They had no
clue the painting was (or would later be) valuable. After
the piece was sold and discovered (20 years later), it was eventually brought
to a museum where it was appraised at several millions. Location can, and frequently does, make all
the difference in the world. Among Capucon’s
violins have been a Vuillaume, a Guadagnini, and the 1737 Panette Guarnerius,
previously owned by Isaac Stern.
Simone
Lamsma is a Dutch violinist and teacher born (in Leeuwarden, Netherlands –
about 70 miles northeast of Amsterdam) on October 5, 1985. Opinions vary, of course, but I think it is
no exaggeration to say she is among the top ten present-day violinists in the
world. As has been the case with
violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, there are few music critics who have resisted the
temptation to refer to her striking beauty in their reviews of her performances. From her photograph, you can see why. Lamsma’s recordings have already garnered
huge praise. Her tours have included
performances with chamber music ensembles around the world. Needless to say, Lamsma has performed with all
of the top orchestras in the Netherlands, including the best orchestra in the
world – the Royal Concertgebouw. She
began her violin studies at age 5 at the Northern College of Music. Soon thereafter, she enrolled at the Sweelink
Conservatory in Amsterdam and studied for a while with well-known violin
pedagogue Davina van Wely. In 1997, at age
11, she enrolled at the Yehudi Menuhin School in London, England. She also studied at the Royal Academy of
Music until 2004, the year she graduated, with Hu Kun in the same city. After that, she began studies with Maurice
Hasson at the Royal Academy as well. In
addition, Lamsma also participated in master classes with Yehudi Menuhin,
Zakhar Bron, Herman Krebbers, Julian Rachlin, and Zvi Zeitlin, among
others. By 2006, she had made her
recording debut which immediately earned the award for Instrumental and Chamber
Disc of the Month from Classic FM magazine.
She was 21 years old. She was
named an Associate at the Royal Academy of Music in 2011. From various sources I checked, it is evident
Lamsma loves violin competitions and has won a number of them beginning at a
very young age. Her tours have taken her
to China, the U.S., South America, and, of course, throughout Europe. She frequently collaborates with conductor
and former concert violinist Jaap van Zweden, one of her many champions. Her U.S. debut was in 2009 in Indianapolis
with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra.
Lamsma frequently collaborates with other major artists to perform
chamber music. A typical review reads
something like this: "… a terrific
account of Beethoven's Violin Concerto [was heard] with Simone Lamsma as the
sensational and glamorous soloist. Powerful in control, the young Dutch violinist
drew silvery meticulousness and burnished tone out of the Stradivarius, but it
was her sense of line and phrase that held her audience spellbound.” Another one: “Lamsma’s mix of high ardor and
collegial spirit is something to be treasured.”
And another: “Her sound is full of energy and refreshing.” Here is a YouTube video of one performance
and here is another. Among other violins,
she has played a (Ferdinand) Gagliano (1773), a Carlo Tononi (1709), and the
Habeneck Strad from 1734, but her current violin is the Chanot Stradivarius (aka
the Braga Stradivarius) of 1718 (or 1681 or 1726 – sources differ.) It has been loaned to her by an anonymous
benefactor. The violin is reportedly
protected by a (Dimitri) Musafia violin case, one of the best violin cases
available. The Chanot Stradivarius is
rather unique in that it has no corners and has been described as guitar-shaped
although it is definitely not guitar-shaped.
The Chanot was purchased by Joshua Bell in 1987 and subsequently
sold. It is said to have been featured
in the 1998 movie The Red Violin.
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Back in 1989 or 1990, a couple of violinists from the New York Philharmonic (Richard and Fiona Simon) took the IRS to court over some deductions which had been disallowed. That case, which they won in U.S. Tax Court in 1994, firmly established that a violinist is lawfully entitled to depreciate the cost of his instrument (over a number of years), be it a humble Roth, a copy of a Strad, or a Guarnerius, even if the instrument is actually appreciating in value. In any number of metropolitan orchestras around the country, a typical violinist can spend $5 or $10 thousand on a violin. In a major orchestra, the norm is closer to $100,000. In a world class orchestra, perhaps $200,000 violins are not all that rare. (I know five violinists in our own orchestra who own very pricy violins.) Of course, if you’re a concert violinist, you don’t own your violin, you borrow it. But if you can afford to, it would be wise to buy a new, expensive violin every five years or so just to be able to take the allowable depreciation against your earnings. When you hear that so-and-so recently fell in love with a new Guadagnini or a new Stradivarius (or what-have-you) and just had to have it, this might be part of the reason.
Joshua Bell (Joshua David Bell) is an American violinist born on December 9, 1967 (Perlman was 21 years old.) He is easily one of the most popular concert violinists currently on the scene. Bell began lessons at the age of four. Later on, he studied with Josef Gingold at Indiana University (Jacobs School of Music) from which he graduated in 1989. However, by 1985, he had already made his Carnegie Hall debut. Bell is best known for his soundtrack recording of the violin music on the 1998 film, The Red Violin. He is also known for having taken part in an experiment conducted by the Washington Post two or three years ago in which he played incognito at a D.C. metro station for which he collected about $40 from passersby. Bell has taught at the Royal Academy (London), MIT, and Indiana University. There is lots of information about him on the internet as well as videos on the YouTube and MySpace websites. He has also recorded most of the standard violin repertoire. He customarily wears informal attire for his concerts, as do Nigel Kennedy and Stefan Jackiw. He plays the 1713 Gibson Ex-Huberman Stradivarius, a notoriously famous violin, which, so far, has been stolen (and recovered) twice.
Joshua Bell is an American violinist born on December 9, 1967. Bell began violin lessons at the age of four. Later on, he studied with Joseph Gingold at Indiana University (Jacobs School of Music), from which he graduated in 1989. However, by 1985, he had already made his Carnegie Hall (New York City) debut. He is best known for his soundtrack recording of the violin music on the film The Red Violin. Bell has taught at the Royal Academy of Music (London), MIT, and Indiana University. There is lots of information about him on the internet as well as videos on YouTube and on MySpace websites. He has also recorded most of the standard violin repertoire. I believe his latest is the Vivaldi Four Seasons. It's an interesting rendition, to say the least. Bell plays the Gibson-ex-Huberman Stradivarius (1713 - a notoriously famous violin.) I have a photo of it somewhere. I'll post it later, if I remember to do so.
A-E: Salvatore Accardo, Khachatur Almazian, Frank Almond, Janine Andrade, Adele Anthony, Matthieu Arama, Cecylia Arzewski, Michele Auclair, Felix Ayo, David Ballesteros, Alexander Barantschik, Rachel Barton, Lisa Batiashvili, Remy Baudet, Corina Belcea, Monte Belknap, Joshua Bell, Margareta Benkova, Dmitry Berlinsky, Vera Beths, Fabio Biondi, Kolja Blacher, Emanuel Borok, Norbert Brainin, Guy Braunstein, Iona Brown, Adolf Busch, James Buswell, Alfredo Campoli, Serena Canin, Andres Cardenes, Giuliano Carmignola, Jonathan Carney, Corey Cerovsek, Martin Chalifour, Sarah Chang, Stephanie Chase, Robert Chen, Kyung Wha Chung, James Clark, Lucy van Dael, John Dalley, Carlos Damas, Ellen De Pasquale, Philippe Descamps, Lindsay Deutsch, Glenn Dicterow, Erika Dobosiewicz, Rafael Druian, Edward Dusinberre, Christiane Edinger, James Ehnes, Evgenia Epshtein, Vesko Eschkenazy,
