Young Canadian cellist Stéphane Tétreault just learned that he will now have the privilege to play on a Stradivarius, the “Paganini, Countess of Stainlein”, owned until he passed away on May 13 by Bernard Greenhouse, venerable member of the Beaux-Arts Trio.
The instrument was sold by Reuning & Son Violins to a patroness of the arts from Montreal, who whishes to remain anonymous, for a little over 6 millions dollars.
“I am immensely touched and humbled to have been chosen to play an instrument that was cherished for so many years by Bernard Greenhouse, who has always had my great respect and admiration,” Tétreault stated in a press release.
The 18-year-old cellist studies at Université de Montréal with Yuli Turovsky. He will give a recital on February 4, at 2:30 p.m., at Théâtre Outremont. The concert will be recorded by Espace musique and available on the Internet from March 2 on at www.radio-canada.ca/revelations.
January seems to be a rather cruel month for music lovers. After Alexis Weissenberg (on January 8), Gustav Leonhardt has left us a week ago (on January 16), at 83. Harpsichordist, conductor, teacher (several of today’s greatest harpsichordists have studied with him, including Dom André Laberge and Geneviève Soly), he was constantly aiming for excellence, but didn’t like being put forward. A strong believer that music should come from the inside and didn’t need to be transmitted through extravagant gestures, he stated: “The audience can climax, not the performer. He doesn’t have time for this.”
The Opéra de Montréal’s third production of the season is Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore. Leonora will be played by Hiromi Omura (who got rave reviews for her portrayal of Madama Butterfly in 2008, also heard in Simon Boccanegra in 2010) and the title role by Korean tenor Dongwon Shin. Canadian baritone Gregory Dahl,mezzo-soprano Laura Brioli and bass Ernesto Morillo will also be heard, as well as Gaétan Sauvageau, Karine Boucher, Riccardo Iannello and Jean-Michel Richer (the latter three are members of Atelier lyrique). The premiere is tomorrow night and shows will also be held on January 24, 26 and 28.
Do you know Il Trovatore? But, of course, even without knowing it, as this video demonstrates.
There is no doubt about it, the Stradivarii are still a very hot topic. Have scientists finally discover the mysterious “secret” behing their exceptional qualities? Not really… Indeed, a recent study by French acoustician Claudia Fritz, from Université Paris-VI, hints that the instruments may not be as wonderful as everyone seems to think. During the 2010 edition of the Indianapolis International Violin Competition, she led a blind test with 21 very high level violinists: several competitors of course, as well as some experts and a couple of experienced instrumentalists. Throughout the process, participants wore welder’s glasses to mask any distinct caracteristics of the instrument and the room was filled with perfume so that the typical old wood scent wouldn’t be able to influence the violinists’ answers.
The study was two-folded. First, participants were invited to play, in a random order, on three modern violins made by famous luthiers, two Stradivarii and one Guarnerius del Gesu. Afterwards, they indicated which instrument they would bring home with them. Secondly, two violins were shown and they simply had to find which one of the two was the 18th century one. Here, most failed miserably and, when came time to pick “their” instrument, only 8 out of the 21 picked one of the three “famous” ones. The instrument which appealed to most was a modern one and the one least chosen was… a Strad circa 1700.
When the study was published, early this month, many detractors stated that it was ridiculous to consider “taming” an instrument in a hotel room, in a few short minutes and that the qualities of an instrument would be revealed much later on. It so happens that I recently spoke with violist Antoine Tamestit who explained to me that the encounter he had with his Strad was far from love at first sight, that he considered on several occasions givin g it back to the Habisreutinger Foundation and that it took him more than a year before he developed a close connection with the instrument!
One thing is for certain: these mystical instruments have not revealed yet quite yet…
I finally saw The King’s Speech last week. Yes, I know, everyone has seen it several times, got a copy of the DVD for Christmas, critics have hailed the film, and why would I wait so long to see it? I must admit, when everyone seems enthusiastic about something, I’m generally more cautious about attending. Well, in this case, I was more than pleased with the film, led by two remarkable actors, Colin Firth and Goeffrey Rush, and supported by some very beautiful photography.
It was also most interesting to examine how classical music was woven into the narrative structure. Mozart’s overture to Nozze di Figaro is used as background - or rather drowning – music when Bertie, not yet king, records a monologue from Hamlet for Lionel and excerpts from the sublime Clarinet Concerto accompany the speech therapy montage. Beethoven shows up twice as well, with excerpts from the slow movement of the “Emperor” Concerto but especially with the Allegretto of this Seventh Symphony, used when King George makes his first wartime speech, adding density and emotion to the moment. I must admit that the night after I saw the film, that particular music haunted me several times…
