Announcing the Virtuoso Violin Tour...

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Oop North

Forgive the brief flurry of blog posts... I have only a few minutes to catch up before the next concert this afternoon! I was hoping to blog this week's concerts, but with eleven (yes, eleven!) performances in five days (the vast majority of which are recitals rather than outreach events), and an almost complete lack of Wifi or even mobile coverage here in Yorkshire, I seem to have been somewhat thwarted. Globalization does have its upside... Starbucks Harrogate is an oasis of Wifi-ness in a seemingly unconnected region...

Never fear though... Live Music Now concerts do have a habit of being full of surprises, and I will tell you all about it later in the week....

In the meantime, for those of you in Cambridge and London, do join Daniel and I this Sunday at 8pm (Cambridge, Gonville & Caius recital series) or Monday lunchtime (1pm I think, or is it 1.10pm? - will say on ViolinMP3.com) at St Martins in the Fields (London Trafalgar Square, by the National Gallery). See website for full details. Great programme - Beethoven Spring Sonata and Ravel Sonata. Hope to see you there.

Emmanuel (Manny) Hurwitz dies

Only just read this. Guardian's obituary here.

An icon of violin playing, Manny Hurwitz died aged 87. I believe he was ill for sometime, so not unexpected, more of a chance to celebrate a wonderful life.

I didn't know Manny especially well, but I certainly remember from my few encounters with him the incredible warmth and integrity of his personality. A strong memory is studying in Dartington (Devon) with a quartet, and a friend pointing out how tender and loving he was towards those around him. He will no doubt be sorely missed by very many people.

There's a beautiful book that's just been released that I'd like to recommend warmly (if only I could remember the title, my copy is at home in London. - Conversations with Emmanuel Hurwitz , I think? - written by ?Ricky Gerady)

I bought and read this only a week or two ago and it is a wonderful set of recollections, opinions about violin playing, and conversations between Hurwitz and the author; a beautiful epilogue and tribute to the man. (If anyone can set me right, please do, it's not on Amazon!).

Henri Oguike Dance Company and Shostakovich

I'm in Ilfracombe, North Devon, to play Shostakovich's 9th Quartet with the Henri Oguike Dance Company (HODC). It's weird being in a seaside tourist town out of season. All the tourist facilities are open and in place - fish and chip shops, amusement arcades, tearooms etc. - but everything is nearly completely empty, even in the middle of the day. It must be strange to live in a ghost town, even more so to spend your childhood in one. It really brings home how crucial an arts venue is to places like this. Just because you can't precisely measure the effect that the arts have on a community doesn't mean that they aren't an essential part of what gives that community balance and contributes to the wellbeing of those who live there.

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I used to play Shostakovich's 9th quartet a lot with HODC when I was at the Academy. But it's been two years since I last did so. It's so great to come back to a piece of music after such a long period of time and find it fairly intact; muscle memories are still vaguely there, and cleaning up the piece and making it ready for performance is a fairly swift process.

What's interesting is seeing how the piece you're playing is improved by everything you've learnt in the interim period. Improved rehearsal technique, improved technical accuracy, increasingly wide intuitive musical knowledge and countless other small general improvements all add up to make a marked difference in the effectiveness with which you approach a piece of music... even if you've barely thought about that music for such a length of time.

Of course, with all these improvements comes an ever-heightening sense of awareness, which of course is crucial. But it does mean that the better you become, the more you realise there is to improve....