Michel Strauss

A generous, effusive and forthcoming pedagogue, Strauss has the

ability to make the performer feel at home in what often is an
awkward situation: a master class in front of a large audience of
connoisseurs.

Technical advice: Shifting

How do we shift? As well as possible but how? Some shifts need a

delay in the l.h. while others call for anticipation. First you must
decide what kind of shift you will make so that you can give the left
hand peace to make the journey. Turning to the technical aspect,
leg’s focus on a shift from c to f in one bow. Set your mental pulse to
a quarter note at 60 on the metronome. Remember, you are shifting
between the 1st and the 2nd second of time. Do we have to call
Einstein to figure out exactly when to start the shift? If you have
decided to anticipate or delay the shift no calls are necessary.

To feel comfortable with your cello you must physically embrace it.
The word embrace comes from bras, the French word for arm.
Surround the instrument with your arms and the tension will flow
away. If you play the cello like a true friend you also will achieve a
balance between your left and right side.

“You have to give direction in a sound. A sound has a beginning, an

emotion and an end, if you do not realize the appoggiatura at the
end, you do not fulfill the expectation in a sound, a phrase.”

Technical advice: a great sound

“What is a great sound? I am not interested in defining Pablo Casals’
sound, it wasn’t even beautiful, and it had a lot of grit and scratch in
it. However when he began Bach’s Second Suite on the D string, he
was far away looking to the heavens for inspiration and that
inspiration found its way into his sound. I heard him playing the
Sarabande from Bach’s 5th Suite for Golda Meir in Israel when he
was 90 years old. He could not play at all any more but at the same
time it was so beautiful because he had the uncanny ability to make
music. A beautiful sound pur sang means nothing because when it
gets old it has nothing left to say. “

On scales
When you teach cello, you start with an idea not just technical
exercises. The student’s technique will move along faster because it
will start to make sense within the context of a musical idea. Radu
Lupu, the incredible pianist known for ultimate renditions of
Schubert and Mozart NEVER practices scales. I probably should not
tell a roomful of students and teachers this but it is true. Scales for

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him were always set in the context of music; each musical
surrounding has a different sonority thus story to tell.

The great Tortelier taught us that every scale has a colour. Green
scales a little scary but golden Eb major is warming and comforting.
So, integrate the idea into the technique and mastering the
instrument will go much faster.

Schumann, Cello Concerto, Nicht zo schnell

This movement is closely allied to the slow movement of
Schumann’s piano quartet. 7th are the key intervals in Schumann’s
works.

When you play an element or phrase especially in Schumann (not

particularly in Beethoven who invented dynamics and always told us
what he wants) you have to change quickly even as the phrase
moves on, this is our supreme challenge.”

“Artistically you lie if you don’t change the phrase. It’s so strange
this performance phenomenon. When we are on stage we’re afraid
but we love it, we are actually sad when we are not on stage.”

Dutilleux Trois Strophes sur le nom de Sacher

Henri Dutilleux is way in his 90s and still writing, he wrote slowly
and destroyed most of his works (destroyed 40 and kept 20)
knowing this it is then important to play every note, every rest has
to be in its place

When you place solo, how do you sell syncopation? You need to
vibrate more and make a gesture toward the audience to sell it.

There are quotes from Bartok (Music for Strings, Percussion),

Dutilleux expands on Bartok’s harmony, if you do not know this, how
can you explain it to the audience?

This piece has to evolve from air and space; it’s objective and
otherworldly
“I hate cello but I love music because it entails the sounds of nature,
birds, the wind moving through trees). I had an accident some years
ago and was not able to play the cello for a year yet even though I
was not playing, I was still a musician.”

When you perform contemporary music, seek out the new elements,
the colours and highlight them. In this Dutilleux piece, col legno
gives a drum effect.

Most important to modern music are rests, the silence that creates
drama. A good musician in the audience always will understand

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your musical point if your execution is correct. If I turn to the
audience and discover that the musicians are lost, you have not
made your point!

Haydn Cello Concerto in D

Let’s talk about musical shape and harmonic pulse. Harmonic pulse
is not directly related to the meter in which a piece is written (2/4 or
¾ etc). It is the underlying harmony that moves the piece along
both structurally and musically. Harmonic pulse gives phrases large
and small their real meaning. It is our biggest ally and to find it, I will
play chords and your will play your part.
Haydn organizes his material around the interval of a 10th in the
opening; you must then give the introductory grace note harmonic
pulse. In order to really comprehend this important idea you need to
add another ingredient: articulation.

To make Haydn breathe you need to understand when the phrases

move in 2 bars then in one than back to two pars, this creates a
rhythmic regrouping which helps us make sense out of real music.

Turning to the second theme with its scale passages you have to
know where the tension and release is. Bring out the appoggiatura
on the 6th and you will have mastered this passage.

When Beethoven came for a lesson with Haydn, the older master
was sitting happily with a cup of hot chocolate stirring away. Haydn
was happy with the smaller things in life, a good cup of hot
chocolate and said to Beethoven, “now you can work on your
fugues.”

Chromaticism does something to a set of notes; it builds up tension

and heightens expectation. Rhythm is not squarely organized it is a
culmination of elastic elements. Of course certain seminal pieces
such as Stravinsky’s Sacre du Printemps and much of
Shostakovich’s oeuvre are directly rhythmical however here I am
talking about classical period repertoire such as Hadyn, this is fluid,
elastic in terms of rhythm.

To bring life into music and transmit that life into a new life for the
audience to experience you must always consider the magic
ingredients: harmonic pulse and articulation.

Sit down with the piano part and regroup your phrasing according to
the harmony you discover.

What makes a good musician? Phrasing, tension, articulation,

sostenuto and suspense!! Find your voice, all great voices are
different (Rostropovich, Casals and Bijlsma have distinct voices, so
must you!)

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Alban Gerhardt
Perhaps age is a factor in Gerhardt’s self-obsessed approach to
master classes. He spent most of the time admonishing himself (I
play like shit, I haven’t practiced this piece for years) and relating
anecdotes about himself instead of communicating information to
the fine young performer.

Beethoven Cello Sonata no. 4 opus 102 no. 1

Never forget that intensity has nothing to do with loudness. Always
compensate when you go to a lower string: think louder!

Schiff told me that the opening of this sonata, a very scary opening
indeed, should be no vibrato. “vibrato on every note is like putting
ketchup all over the music.”

Gerhardt grabbed the cello and worked on the bowing in an attempt

to play the phrase in one line but strangely enough, did not
succeed. A period of self-admonition followed while the patient
student waited for golden words of wisdom. Discouraged audience
members took the opportunity to walk out leaving the artist to his
own devices.

Anner Bijlsma
The master of metaphor with an unstoppable exuberance and
penchant for witticisms transmits a love for music and Shakespeare
throughout his exhilarating session.

Forget about up bow and down bow and with all respect for those
wonderful first teachers we have experienced who taught us to start
every bar with a down bow. Avoid regularity, dare to change and
never start every bar with a down bow!

To be a good teacher, you must think of silly metaphors to keep your

students entertained. Think of the banana peel theory: what do you
do if you would like a subtle and quick change of bow speed at the
end of a stroke? Slip on a banana peel!

What is music? Consider your audience. The audience members

have children at home who do not do their schoolwork, women have
husbands who have hair hanging out of their noses and most of the
people in front of you cannot remember where they have parked
their cars. Music has to take them away from all of that. In order to
accomplish this daunting task, you must make music breathe.

You pull the audience’s ears by pulling the string. Play the whole
concerto, not just your part. Even if the piano is but a servant as it is
in a Haydn concerto, you must know every note and it goes without
saying every phrase to create dialogue.

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Bijlsma believes in singing along with the piano accompaniment to
really get to the core of articulation. Singing along with the piano is
not a simple task, it calls for real declamation not just repeating the
notes.

Chinese musicians and harmony

Chinese music is complex and extraordinary but does not have the
harmonic tradition that western music has. Asian-trained musicians
need to focus on harmony to get a full grasp of the subtleties and
inner working of this world of sonority especially in Bach.

Memory slips
What do you do if you make a mistake? We all have had this
experience. I remember giving a concert in Germany and got
completely lost in a movement of Bach. You know the feeling where
your hands stop getting messages from the brain and start doing
their own thing! All of a sudden, a heavy set, older German woman
in the first row hisses “noch ein mal” (one more time) and
immediately my brain knew what to tell my fingers. So what to do?
If you feel that a passage is problematic, weld it, yes, weld it at
home in the practice room so that you cannot possibly feel insecure
about it on stage.

Haydn D major cello concerto

When you really think about it, the opening of all three movements
is quite boring, in my opinion, the C major concerto is a far better
piece. Why? The phrases are regular: 4 +4. Once Haydn gets to the
second phrase, I am happy to report that all is well, the phrasing
becomes irregular and the music improves!

Classical concerti are full of fancy passagework. To really play a

passage well, simplify the process and analyze the technical
problem. You always should know how much energy a passage
takes. Signing your name (demonstrates by signing in the air) takes
your hands and your brain absolutely no energy. You know exactly
the dose of energy necessary to create a signature. Applying that to
a difficult technical passage (shifting high up on the fingerboard for
example) remember that your hands cannot think for themselves so
help them by distilling the passage into the most simple elements:
the shift, the fingering, the tricky bowing. Work on each element
separately before you integrate them. Always remember, hands do
not think for themselves!

Don’t mumble while you play, articulate and speak every note.

Be mindful of the piano accompaniment because if you don’t know

it as well as you know your part can you imagine what the orchestra
will do to you? They will run over you!

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Audience and perception
Never bore your audience; if you are not mentally in control of what
you are doing, you might just lose them! Of course, if you do
something different in every bar, you will bore them too. Bach
counts on the listener and plays with the audience’s perception. He
plays with our ears and quite often leaves out notes, most
particularly bass notes. Give the audience the time to fabricate
these notes. Always, always interact with the audience

Bach Prelude, Suite no. 6 D major

You need a fifth string to really play this piece. What can we say
about a movement which goes on and on in 12/8 for about 5
minutes. In some way we can say it could not be more boring! So,
what to do? Regroup the rhythmic structure making sure you always
know when the music moves in two or four. Sometimes Bach is
clever enough not to move in either 2 or 4. He does this as a sort of
ruse. Measures like this are where you the performer must move to
the next room in a museum, you have just absorbed all there was to
say in one room but must move on to another room. Take the
audience with you as you move into a brief musical space without
any rhythm whatsoever! It is really hard to do nothing whilst you
play so tread softly!!

Bach counts on the audience to fabricate for themselves, when he

leaves a bass note out. Pedal points are the lifeblood of Bach’s
music.

When Bach’s score reaches a consonance, your body has to show

peace.
When Bach reaches a major key, tell the audience how much
pleasure you are experiencing and smile! Execute a little arabesque
for your adoring public!

Work with rhythmic expectancy: do you feel the difference between

a pulse in 1 or 2? If you do, show it!!

Look at the last line of the Prelude. It is pure madness; it LOOKS like
a swordfight on paper. Can you feel the glimmering steel? The sun
shining on the drawn rapiers ready for an all-out fight? Blood flowing
on the ground, horses dashing to fro and you the cellist spinning out
very fast notes!

Heather Kurzbauer