Daniel Garlitsky

Daniel Garlitsky is a Russian violinist, composer, arranger, singer, and teacher born (in Moscow) on September 8, 1982.  In addition to being a classical violinist, he is well-known for playing jazz violin in various jazz combos.  He is frequently seen playing with Duved Dunayevsky, jazz guitarist based in Paris, France, who hearkens back to the days and style of Django Reinhardt.  Some have said that Garlitsky specializes in old style jazz, referencing the days of Eddie South, Stephane Grapelli, and Joe Venutti, though that is a much too narrow description of his artist profile.  He does, however, dress in the style of the times of the old jazz players when he performs jazz concerts, saying that modern suits make him look “like a security agent.”  He says the fashion helps project the charm of the old era of jazz so it’s like part of the show, providing a suitable backdrop for the music itself.  Garlitsky’s playing has been described as “exciting, elegant, subtle, and majestic, displaying incredible precision, character, and a pure sound."  Here is a video of a well-known jazz song – Minor Swing – featuring Garlitsky’s improvisational skills.  Violin players reading this will note that his bow hold and his bowing style is very similar to that of Heifetz.  Garlitsky began his violin studies at age 6 with his father (Boris Garlitsky, a respected violinist in Russia who served as concertmaster of the London Philharmonic for a time) using the violin method book written by his (Daniel’s) grandfather, Mikhail Garlitsky, a violin study method book widely used in Russia which is based on the study of scales and arpeggios, something that Heifetz and Paganini highly valued.  He was soon thereafter enrolled at the Gnessin school for gifted children in Moscow, where he also studied piano.  At age 9 (1991), he moved to France with his family, where he began studies at the Lyon Conservatory.  In 1999, he became a student at the National Conservatory for Music and Dance, graduating three years later.  He then immediately began concertizing around Europe and sat in as concertmaster with various orchestras as well.  Here is a video from early in his career when he served as leader of a famous European chamber ensemble.  Garlitsky was also seriously interested in harmonic theory and composition and, in addition, studied early music performance practices.  While doing all this, he encountered the field of jazz and swing music in Paris.  Later, he was invited to teach at the Paris Conservatory, but I don’t know whether he still teaches there.  One source says that his career actually took a 180 degree turn and so he now devotes almost all his time to jazz gigs, composing, and arranging. He is the composer of several movie soundtracks and has arranged songs for pop stars. His itinerary has taken him on tour to the U.S., Europe, and Asia.  He plays a modern violin made for him by Jacques Fustier in 2003 although he also plays a Joseph Guarnerius (son of Andrea Guarnerius and father of the famous “del Gesu” Joseph Guarnerius) from an unknown year of construction.  Among Garlitsky’s teachers are Igor Volochine, Rainer Kussmaul, Matis Vaitsner, Pierre Aimard, and Glenn Dicterow.  

Alexander Markov

Alexander Markov is a Russian (some would say American) violinist, composer, and teacher born (in Moscow) on January 24, 1963.  Although his repertoire is very extensive, he is best known for his performances (in concert, on CD, and DVD) of the 24 Paganini Caprices.  One YouTube video of his performance of the last Caprice has over 6 million views.  In fact, Markov’s playing of the pizzicato section of this Caprice sometimes leaves the audience so spellbound they interrupt the performance with rapturous, spontaneous applause – as the New York Times music critic recently explained it: “…the dazzling left-hand pizzicato variation drew a vigorous ovation midway through the work.”  Markov also plays a six-string electric violin in a rock band which he co-founded.  He co-wrote a unique rock concerto for his own use which he has had great success with.  I don’t think a commercial recording of this concerto is yet available.  Markov’s violin studies began at age 5.  His father (concert violinist Albert Markov) was his first (and most influential) teacher.  However, Markov was also enrolled at the famous Central Music School for gifted children, which is part of the Moscow (Tchaikovsky) Conservatory. There, he studied with the well-known violin pedagogue Felix Andrievsky.  (Andrievsky is now teaching at the Royal College of Music in London.)  By age 8 he had already appeared in public.  His family emigrated to the U. S. when he was 12.  They arrived in Vienna on September 11, 1975 and spent three months there before heading for the United States.  He continued studying with his father for many years.  At age 16, he made his Carnegie Hall debut in New York.  (Two sources state that he made his Carnegie Hall debut on October 9, 1983, at age 20.  He himself has said he made his debut at age 16.  The first was his debut with orchestra; the second was as soloist, in recital.)  At age 18, he began studying with Juilliard teacher Ivan Galamian.  Galamian died a few months afterward.  (Emanuel Vardi used to tell a joke that he killed Leopold Auer because Auer died a few months after Vardi began taking lessons with him.)  At age 19 (1982) Markov won second prize (most sources say the Gold Medal) at the famous Paganini Competition (Genoa, Italy) and five years later he received the Avery Fisher Career Grant.  As a result of his Paganini Competition award, he was granted the use of Paganini’s own 1743 Cannone Guarnerius for a recital performance.  (Other violinists who have played this famous violin are Leonid Kogan, Schlomo Mintz, Eugene Fodor, Salvatore Accardo, Maxim Vengerov, Gerard Poulet, Regina Carter, Anna Tifu, Dmitri Berlinsky, and Ruggiero Ricci.)  Markov’s concertizing has taken him to all corners of the world and to most of the world’s great concert halls and orchestras with top conductors on the podium.  As do most concert violinists, he also participates in music festivals far and wide.  He also frequently gives masterclasses all around the world.  He has recorded for the Erato and Warner Classics labels.  His recordings are easy to find on the internet.  Although he used to play a Guarnerius Del Gesu violin, Markov has been playing a 1970 Sergio Peresson violin for some time.  He recorded the 24 caprices on that violin.  I have heard it up close - it is indistinguishable from any Strad or Guarneri violin.  Here is a YouTube video of the Paganini Caprice number 5 with Markov using the original bowings.  The photo is courtesy of the Alexander Markov website. 

Johan Halvorsen

Johan Halvorsen was a Norwegian violinist, conductor, teacher, and composer born (in Drammen, Norway) on March 15, 1864.  He was the kind of violinist we do not encounter anymore.  We have lots of violinists who are also conductors and teachers – Joshua Bell, Pinchas Zukerman, Itzhak Perlman, Jaime Laredo, Maxim Vengerov, and Leonidas Kavakos quickly come to mind – but no violinist-composers.  Although he composed many other works, Halvorsen will probably remain immortal due to his having composed one of the staples of the cello-violin (or viola-violin) repertoire – the famous variations on a theme by Handel.  After having studied in Oslo and Stockholm, he began his career as a concertmaster in Norway (1885) and Scotland (1888.)  He began his studies at age seven.  Later on, his teachers were Jakob Lindberg (in Stockholm), Adolph Brodsky (in Russia), Adolf Becker (in Berlin), and Cesar Thomson (in Switzerland.)  In 1889, he was appointed professor of violin at the Helsinki Music Institute.  In 1893, he was appointed conductor of the Bergen (Norway) Philharmonic.  He was 29 year old.  In 1899, he was appointed conductor of the National Theater in Oslo.  By this time, he had established himself as one of the top musicians in Norway.  He remained at the National Theater until 1929, the year he retired.  During this period, he composed a lot of incidental music for plays as well as concert music.  The famous Passacaglia was composed in 1897 although he later revised it several times.  In 1909, he wrote a violin concerto (Opus 28) which he dedicated to Canadian violinist Kathleen Parlow.  After she premiered it (in the Netherlands) and played it a couple of times in Norway, the concerto was lost.  After that, it was believed to have been destroyed by Halvorsen although that was not the case.  In January of 2016, it was announced that the score had been discovered (by James Mason) among sheet music which had been donated to the University of Toronto many years before.  It had been misfiled.  The concerto will receive its 21^st century premiere in July of this year – in Norway.  The soloist will be Henning Kraggerud.  Johan Halvorsen died on December 4, 1935, at age 71. Here is a video of the Passacaglia.  

Ruben Gonzalez

Ruben Gonzalez (Ruben De Artagnan Gonzalez) is an Argentinian (most people would say American) violinist, composer, teacher, and conductor born (in Viale, Argentina) on May 4, 1939.  He is best known for having been the concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony from 1986 to 1996.  He is also known for having played the Kreisler Bergonzi violin.  Fritz Kreisler played that instrument for about ten years (1939 to 1949.)  A usually reliable source says that Kreisler used the instrument after he gave up his Guarnerius to the Library of Congress but that is obviously not true since Kreisler gave up his Guarnerius in 1952.  From Kreisler, the (Carlo) Bergonzi went to Angel Reyes (in 1949) then to Itzhak Perlman then to Ruben Gonzalez then to a collector.  According to one source, it is now in the hands of violinist Guro Hagen, though it is not owned by her.  Gonzalez studied with Osvaldo Pessina in Argentina and then with other teachers in Europe who are not exactly household names.  In 1965, Gonzalez won the top prize in a well-known competition in Barcelona, Spain.  He then played in an ensemble in Italy from which he returned to Buenos Aires, Argentina to begin his career as an orchestral player.  From Argentina, he went to Hamburg, Germany where he was concertmaster with the North German Radio Orchestra.  Returning to the U.S., he joined the Minnesota Orchestra as associate concertmaster in 1977.  From 1981 to 1986 he was concertmaster of the Houston Symphony.  In 1986, George Solti named him concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony – actually, one of two concertmasters, in the style of most German orchestras.  Among other schools, Gonzalez has taught at Rice University in Texas.  Here is a very popular video on YouTube in which Gonzalez is at the very end of the Dvorak concerto when something totally unexpected happens.  Gonzalez continues to play but he now devotes most of his time to conducting and composition.  

Jascha Heifetz quote

"I occasionally play works by contemporary composers and for two reasons: First, to discourage the composer from writing any more and, secondly, to remind myself how much I appreciate Beethoven." - Jascha Heifetz, violinist  

I'm pretty sure Heifetz said this half-jestingly. The serious half is what bothers me, although I might have said this myself.  

Giovanni Giornovichi

Giovanni Giornovichi (Ivan Mane Jarnović) was a Croatian violinist, composer, and teacher born (in Palermo, Italy) on October 26, 1747.  He was a virtuoso violinist who was very well-known in his lifetime though completely forgotten today.  I would never have heard of him had it not been for the short blog about George Bridgetower which I wrote immediately preceding this blog.  He was one of Bridgetower’s teachers in England.  One source states that his full name (i.e. first and last name) - other than in the birth certificate for a daughter born in London in 1795 - did not appear in any document or program during his lifetime, not even in his published works.  The first reference work to actually publish his first name was published in 1840.  Another oddity about him is that his surname appears to have had at least nine different spellings.  Perhaps he purposely desired to be known – or publicize himself - by a single name, such as other artists have since then, including Midori, Liberace, Houdini, Prince, and Madonna.  Who knows?  It is believed that he studied with Antonio Lolli in Italy and that his ancestry derived from Dubrovnik, Croatia.  It is documented that he made a very successful debut in Paris on March 25, 1773 – he was 25 years old.  His playing was described as being brilliant, amazing, and elegant.  Subsequently, his appearances all over Europe (but especially in England and France) received great acclaim.  Among the cities he toured and played in were London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Warsaw, Stockholm, and St Petersburg.  He also shared the stage with musicians who are now legendary, including Joseph Haydn.  It is known that from 1779 to 1783 he worked for a member of the aristocracy in Prussia.  From 1883 to 1886 he was employed by Empress Catherine II of Russia.  From 1790 until 1796 he lived in England.  He took to touring again from 1797 to 1802.  Then he moved permanently to St Petersburg where he died (while playing billiards) on November 23, 1804, at age 57.  He composed over 70 works, 22 violin concertos among them – music which is now almost never played.  Nonetheless, the Starling Chamber Orchestra can be heard in three of the concertos at Instant Encore’s website here.  They have recorded three CDs featuring Giornovichi’s violin concertos.

Fleximusic

OK. Listen carefully ladies and gentlemen. I found this new site which produces music editing and writing software. Its name is FLEXIMUSIC. You'll know how to find it on the WEB I'm sure. (Fleximusic.com) I am about to try its software because I like writing music. I will then compare it to the other programs I have. You know what those are - Sibelius, Cakewalk, Finale, etc.. Now, you'll be able to write music to rival the works of Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Vivaldi, Stravinsky, and maybe even Bernstein. Or, if not, you'll have fun trying.

Staying Power

Have you heard Achron's violin concerto? No? Neither have I. How about Krenek's violin concerto? Sivori's? Molique's? Reed's? Well, it's ok. These are not works that have entered the standard repertoire. They probably never will. I will list here a few composers who have written concertos for the violin which have been popular for a brief time then completely dropped out of sight and out of earshot. Who determines the staying power in a work? The performers? No. The composers? No. The critics? No. It is the public - the audience. From the Vivaldi concertos to the Sibelius, it has always been the public that demands to hear a work again, and again. It is also the public that chooses to forget a work. A majority of works are neglected, but for good reason. Some are brought back by well-meaning performers but they don't stay. They have no staying power. Even if the works are recorded and promoted to the nth degree, if the public does not embrace a work, it will be forgotten. The violin concerto repertoire is comprised of approximately 30 concertos - the war horses. Some (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Paganini, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Lalo, Bruch, Sibelius) are played more often than others, but all 30 of them are played year in and year out. The neglected ones are perhaps played five times then completely forgotten forever. For instance, have you ever heard the concertos by Achron, Aitken, Arensky, Arutunian, Atterberg, Baillot, Bennet, Bliss, Britten, Clement, Collins, DeBeriot, Delius, Egge, Gabaidulina, Ginastera, Goldmark, Halffter, Hubay, Krenek, Laderman, Larsson, Lees, Lipinski, Marteau, Massenet, Maw, Molique, Ogermann, Ott, Panufnik, Pfitzner, Previn, Rautaavara, Reed, Reger, Remenyi, Richter, Rode, Rosenman, Sauret, Secunda, Schnittke, Sivori, Spalding, Svendsen, Szeryng, Tower, Wiren, Yardumian, Ysaye, or Zimbalist? If you hear any of them once, you will probably not feel compelled to hear them again. Take my word. 

Violin Concertos

Assuming that the world has produced at least 7000 composers since the craft was first taken seriously by someone (we do not know who.) Then further assuming that at least ten percent of these men and women produced at least one violin concerto, that would give us 700 violin concertos from which to choose. When considering that the bulk of the concertos being performed today were written by no more than twenty composers - Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Paganini, Mendelssohn, Spohr, Wieniawski, Brahms, Bruch, Vieuxtemps, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Saint Saenz, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Shostakovitch, Korngold, Barber - that leaves the rest (680) of these 700 composers out altogether. We hear the same concertos over and over and over and over and over and over and over again...especially when it comes to the Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Bruch, Sibelius, and Tchaikovsky concertos. Why?

Christian Sinding

Christian August Sinding was a Norwegian violinist and composer born in 1856. He first studied music in Oslo then went to Leipzig, Germany, where he studied at the conservatory. In 1920 he came to the U.S. to teach composition at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester (New York.) He wrote a large number of short piano pieces and songs, one of which he is best remembered for (Rustles of Spring, 1896.) Sinding later spent much of his life in Germany. He also wrote a suite for violin which Heifetz used to play often. Among his larger works are three symphonies, three violin concertos, a piano concerto, choral works, and an opera (The Holy Mountain, 1914). For political reasons, his music is seldom heard today, even in his native Norway. Sinding died in 1941.