Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A German violinist, child prodigy described as the Shirley Temple of classical music, now one of the greats.
On the island
Eight records
Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 (Beginning of the First Movement)
Yehudi Menuhin, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Wilhelm Furtwängler
I remember his recording as the first one I heard in Violin, that's Mendelson Concerto with Fort Wangler, Beginning of the First Movement.
Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major
That's connected with Karian because on Karjan's seventieth birthday there was a big T V show in Paris... That was the first time I heard Ostorovich live playing.
Romeo and Juliet (The Funeral of Juliet)
I have a special affinity now to Prokofiev. Rostorovich lived together with Prokofiev a long time and I studied with him together the Weiling Concerto of Prokofiev... And that's the funeral of the Ballet Suite Romeo and Juliet.
After I heard Laurence Olivier speaking Shakespeare, I should have completely Different and much closer... Understanding... to it, yes.
Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 (First Movement)
Because for me she is one, still one of the greatest violinists and she died very, very early, at a very young age, in a airplane.
Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55 'Eroica' (First Movement)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
I especially love his new recordings of all Beethoven symphonies and I've chosen the Eroica first movement.
War Requiem, Op. 66 (Agnus Dei)
I met him last year in Olparo and... Maltings... invited me to play a gala concert for him... And I should like to have his next recording the War Requiem by Benjamin Britton, the Agnus Day, sung by Peter Pierce.
Chorale Prelude 'Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ', BWV 639
A final choice that of course will be something of Bach, that will be Dino Lipati, who died at the age of thirty three in a horrible illness... And he set standards which, you know, still are unreachable.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:30What kind of background did you come from? Were your parents musical?
No, there was nobody in in history of our family musician. My father is journalist and now editor and my mother is just just mother.
Presenter asks
4:36How did your parents protect you from the pressures and the interests that came in on you at that very early age?
No, there are two sides in this moment... I had school dispense. That means I I never went to school... But of course I didn't lose so much time sitting five or six hours every morning and then playing while in two hours and then the whole day is finished... So I had just private lessons two or three hours a day, and I had a very free time... Just not playing in public, not playing more than two or three very small and nice more or less family concerts a year.
Presenter asks
8:05How important is the relationship that you've had these many years now with Herbert von Karajan?
You know, of course he is the musician with the most importance in my life, because after this concert in Salzburg... everything was open for me... But to have played with Karian is, you know, just like a mark. I mean, everybody knows that you have a certain level. So it's not necessary to lose your time and your strength playing with bad orchestras and, you know, being disappointed and maybe losing love also of music a little bit.
The keepsakes
The book
Daniel Defoe
To be honest, I think it's a little bit uh too cruel to take the Archipelago Gulag with me, so I for practical reasons I will take the Robinson cruiser... in Roberto Cruz you just, you know, read what you have to do to to escape to make your li life nice.
Presenter asks
10:09Have you ever worked with a conductor that you've disliked, that you've fought because of an artistic interpretation?
You know, the problem is the moment a musician tries to push himself in the light and completely forgets the composition, there is trouble coming. And I had once a not very nice situation with the conductor... We tried in free rehearsal to come together... But uh he really wanted, you know, to break everything, and so I couldn't take responsibility for the public, for the orchestra and for Sibelios, and I cancelled the concert.
Presenter asks
16:31How do you mentally prepare for a concert?
Yes. You know, most important thing is that you have a strong imagination. Because what you want to do and what you do after all and what the public feels, you know, that's a three different steps... The most important thing is your imagination. It's it's like hypnotic. You must come on stage and from the first moment on really... Eat the public. Just like a lion, yes.
“I always had the feeling that I would hurt the violin, and so I had a very close relationship to the instrument immediately.”
“He's always crazy about perfection, about reaching something else. He's never stopped.”
“I think the most important... Side on preparing something is thinking about it. Just always have a mental contact.”
“The most... Power-taking thing on the concert is your mental work. Because if you lose one phrase, you know, the whole movement is gone already.”