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Masterclass Summary #3

1) A violinist gives a virtuosic performance of the first movement of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. 2) The teacher, Benjamin Zander, notes some unusual aspects of the piece and questions the performer's use of multiple tempos. 3) Zander provides guidance to play with a more passionate feeling by adhering closer to the allegro molto tempo marking and with clearer use of bow weight.

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Pyero Talone
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88 views1 page

Masterclass Summary #3

1) A violinist gives a virtuosic performance of the first movement of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. 2) The teacher, Benjamin Zander, notes some unusual aspects of the piece and questions the performer's use of multiple tempos. 3) Zander provides guidance to play with a more passionate feeling by adhering closer to the allegro molto tempo marking and with clearer use of bow weight.

Uploaded by

Pyero Talone
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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May, 2020

Pyero Talone
Masterclass Summary #3
Benjamin Zander with Yoojin Jang (violin)
Boston Public Library, Benjamin Zander’s “Interpretations Of Music: Lessons For Life”
series
https://youtu.be/rB_G7CkPDes
Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto (first movement)

Performance Observations (Yoojin Jang, violin and Dina Vainshtein, piano)

 The performer is extremely virtuosic and musical.


 Incredible sense of pitch and articulation
 Adapts very fast to everything that Zander tells her

Teacher Commentary (Benjamin Zander)

 Asks her what is unusual about the cadenza (it’s in the middle, before the
recapitulation)
 “When I was your age, playing of this kind was extremely unusual, now it’s
becoming more and more common”
 Points out that she missed the first part of the masterclass session, and that she
shouldn`t worry so much: “You weren`t here in the first session and I know what
you were doing: practicing. You need practicing like New York needs more
traffic”
 He is not convinced that it`s necessary to play this with multiple tempi, as she and
many other violinists do on this movement. When Mendelssohn goes to the
second theme, he actually writes slower note values.
 Points out that Mendelssohn was not really a romantic composer, he didn’t like
the music of composers such as Wagner and Berlioz, and composed in classical
structures
 Asks her is she remembers what Italian title Mendelssohn wrote in the beginning
of the piece (Allegro molto appassionato, “with no commas”)
 You can have a more appassionato feeling by playing more allegro molto
 “It`s your job to get the orchestra, not the conductor’s”
 Asks her to be more clear on where to use heavy and light bows and sings to
demonstrate

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