Next Level Cellist Musicality Issue

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side, of course, is to have incredible drive and focus. I feel blessed that I have found motivation since I was a little kid - I don’t know why it has been that way, but it has. This life has tremendous benefits, but it can be very tiring and difficult, not to mention lonely at times. Returning from a hugely successful concert to an empty hotel room, with everyone you know asleep, and then three hours later having to fly to the next city - these are challenges that not everyone is cut out for, and it wouldn’t make all people happy. Luckily, this life makes me incredibly happy, but it’s vital that one should know all aspects of the performing lifestyle. It takes a tremendous amount of practice and focused hard work, and a great deal of curiosity to succeed at the highest level. You need to be able to read about the repertoire you study, and absorb a great deal of music. Since I don’t have the luxury of practicing six hours a day like I did as a student, I have to accomplish in two hours what I might have done with much more time before. I was forced to learn this mindful practice by the rigors of my schedule, so that I can perform at my top level on relatively little practicing. My practicing varies so much depending on the repertoire. I’m most often carrying three concerti and two recital programs on any given day. As I write this, I am currently playing one very demanding recital and three different concerti, as well as two chamber music projects. I have to prioritize, on a given day, which repertoire gets priority. From there, I look at what I already know well, and what is less familiar. Looking at programs ahead, I try to identify the music I feel is “uncomfortably fresh,” so I take out my scores and sort them. I start with 15 minutes of scales, played meditatively, to warm up. I then take 15 minutes to attack many of the most difficult spots, those places that still feel uncomfortable. Almost always, I do this at 2/3rds of the tempo, practicing the difficult passages as if they were written to be played at the slower tempo - I have to execute all of the phrasing, colors, and shapes while maintaining a slower tempo. I will then hit the places in my concerti that need ironing out - of course, these vary from day to day and something may feel good one day and the day after become an issue. For virtuosic passages, I like working in rhythms, imposing a different rhythm on a passage to help me retain it more quickly. Sometimes this is effective, other times it isn’t! Of course, usually by this time in the practice session, I have to throw the cello back into my case and run off to a flight. I rarely record my practicing - I feel that doing so makes me more tense in practicing. The idea is that by not recording, you can be private enough to even get away from your own extremely critical ears. I know that my ear will be more critical than anyone else. It’s especially important after a demanding run of concerts that I have some time to quietly sit down with the instrument, not have anyone around me, and feel at liberty to experiment. There are exceptions to this in my own experience. I was recently learning the Eliott Carter Cello concerto, which is written in a very difficult language to familiarize oneself with. I was trying to really connect with it, and I recorded myself playing it several times. This was a very unusual approach for me - I found it to be very helpful, but it’s not something I would adopt as a norm. © Photo Jean-Baptiste Millot © Photo Uwe Arens Famous Cellists Playing Pirastro Strings © Photo Aloisia Behrbohm © Photo Andreas Malkmus © Photo Christian Steiner Strings Handmade in Germany www.pirastro.com 8 SPRING 2014 NEXT LEVEL CELLIST © Photo Andreas Malkmus
The Well-Traveled Musician I think a big reason why I enjoy splitting my time evenly between the North America and Europe is that I get so many different perspectives and thoughts from both cultures. My own approach is really the result of osmosis, thanks to having had contact with so many unique musicians. Musicians are capable of learning so much from interaction with other great artists. This is one of the most important components of anyone’s musical education. I feel like I’m an eternal student, trying to take in as much as possible. One of the things I’ve always hated is labels. I’ve found that no musician falls into a particular category, and you can always find something else when you’re looking for it. One comment on my playing has always stood out and made me happy: “You don’t really have a school, I can’t tell where you’ve been trained.” Sounding like a mishmash of traditions to me is a comment on forming your individual voice. How do you go about forming this voice? Get your hands on everything - old recordings, new recordings, different nationalities, different artists! No matter where you come from, we do communicate in a universal language. It doesn’t matter what your background, it’s what you do with the information. I try to practice what I preach and listen to a great variety of recordings. I do go through periods where I don’t listen to a large quantity if I’m too busy, or if I’m developing a relationship with a new piece. Most of the time, though, I mix the old and the new because it’s important to reflect on the past and find new sources of inspiration. Like many professional players, I don’t have much time to attend concerts and find out what’s currently out there. These days I’m not listening to that many cellists. I’m listening to a lot of symphonic recordings, with both living and deceased conductors. I’ve always listened to a lot of Claudio Abbado recordings with the Berlin Philharmonic and Vienna, and his passing has been a reason to reflect on them again. I listen to a lot of Bernstein and Barenboim as well - these are minds that I respect so much. It’s always been fascinating to contemplate how you structure a Mahler symphony, or how you make sense of 9 Beethoven symphonies, or Wagner operas. I was scared by Wagner in my early twenties but now I’m absolutely entranced by it. When I’m listening to cellists, I listen to Casals and Jacqueline du Pre, Rostropovich, Piatigorsky, Yo-Yo Ma, and of course the cellists of my generation. It’s very interesting for me to hear different perspectives. I’ve always been in love with Casals’ recordings of the Bach suites. In terms of stylistic differences, they seem “outdated” in some ways, but I find them to be the most honest and intelligent recordings of the works. Jacqueline du Pre had such a short career, but she really recorded every concerto that was major at the time - every great Romantic concerto she performed is an excellent resource. Rostropovich takes me right back to when I was studying the Shostakovich concerti, Prokofiev Sinfonia Concertante, and Britten Cello Symphony. We almost owe him above anyone else for his recordings of the 20 th century cello repertoire. Beyond the classical world, I’m a big fan of Bjork, and I think the Beatles are geniuses. I listen to bossa nova, Venezuelan folk music, some Argentinian folk music, and Portuguese fado. The Future for Cellists Cellists today still don’t fully pursue their instruments as being as versatile as a violin. They’re not fully convinced that it is a true solo instrument. This is despite the fact that cellists agree that our instrument covers the range of the human voice and as such, it is a very relatable instrument. Honestly, I believe that it’s the chameleon of instruments, and it can really be anything we want it to be. Students especially need to embrace that fact and pursue it. One skill I would love to see my fellow musicians cultivate to a high degree is the performance mentality. I find a lot of performance anxiety in students today. I remember I was around 7, and I was preparing to do a small recital at the Cleveland Institute of Music. I was all dressed up and ready to go with my fractional sized cello. My mom looked at me and said “There’s no reason to be nervous because you’re very talented and you’re very prepared.” I think about that to this day, even though it’s so basic. We forget this in the throes of our doubts and the stress of trying to absorb everything we’re told. Knowing that, and really believing that to your core, for me was really powerful. Ultimately, any musician’s primary job is to communicate. We are so lucky to have this incredible language that touches everyone if we do it right. We can convey these ideas and emotions to touch everyone all at once, yet in an individual way. The Prokofiev Sinfonia Concertante is one of my favorite vehicles for this, because it’s a playground of voices and colors. Someone asked me once: Alisa, there are so many notes, and it’s so weird! The 2nd movement is twice as long as the others, and there are all these crazy characters. What do you imagine? To me, it’s like a big ballet - I think Romeo and Juliet is all over it. That piece in particular seems to me like a sequence of paintings, with colors and images that alternate being vivid, bucolic, wild. For me, as an artist to delve into that, it’s so much fun. I really enjoy performing it, and I hope that I can share that experience with audiences. A Note on My Gear I found something that really works in most halls - as a soloist you need to be able to project in 3,000 foot concert halls as well as recital halls. I use Jargar forte A and D strings - they are not a common string in the US - and I use Spirocore medium tension G and C strings. I have a 1790 William Forester cello and an Emile Ouchard bow. I have used the same cello since I was 16. I use Bernardel rosin, and I am a very heavy rosin user (ask anyone I know!). The only reason I use different rosins is when I forget mine, which happens much more often than I’d like to admit. For bow rehairs, I am very particular about the hair I get on my bow, when I have the luxury of choice. One of the strenuous aspects of this lifestyle is not always having control over who performs these services or where I can get them done. I’ve had jobs done is various cities when I just need it done, but if possible I like to go to Gregory Wylie in New York. I’ve also gone to Salchow, who has done a fantastic job. The single greatest rehair I’ve ever had done in my life was done in Vienna by Christina Eriks, and it actually lasted me more than a month, which is extraordinary for me! SPRING 2014 NEXT LEVEL CELLIST 9
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