MORE ON THE KREUTZER QUARTET AT ALDEBURGH here LINK Visit Tim Rutherford-Johnson’s website HERE The Kreutzer Quartet’s first violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved talks to me (over Zoom) in front of a case of thick wooden shelves stuffed with books, manuscripts…
Facing Enlightenment II – Peter Sheppard Skaerved LINK TO BLOG 1 On December 13th, I returned to the British Museum for the next stage of my adventure with the wonderful ‘Enlightenment Gallery’project page . A joy of this unique room,…
The String Quartet Now, or From Where I Sit … A Very Personal View Contemporary Music Review 2013(CMR)Published online-26th July 2013 Link to article I spend my musical life moving back and forth, between being first violin of the Kreutzer…
“Like any violinist, Bach is the private centre of what I do. Despite playing the Sonatas & Partitas from a young age, it was not until my early thirties that I performed the cycle in public. Even today, even though…
Malibran-the final concert On the 15th September, La Malibran gave her final concert, at the Manchester Festival , singing Beethoven, Mercadante, Rossini, Mozart, and ‘le Songe de Tartini’, with the composer, her new husband Charles de…
David Matthews-Works for Solo Violin Peter Sheppard Skærved February 2012 In the winter of 1993, I was preparing a series of Bach concerts for Taiwan and Japan. The rehearsals took place in a dark and cold church in North…
Revolution LINK to Viotti in Washington The French revolution depended on music, and musicians, to spread its message, like no political movement before. For hundreds of years, the Church had relied on music for its propagandising; choir schools had trained…
Paganini in Washington. A long term collaboration with the collections of the Library of Congress-Washington Paganini never visited America, although the subject of a tour came up a number of times. Letter from J Watson. New York, 8 November 1835,…
Brahms to Hanslick 11th December 1888: ‘Dear Friend. If tomorrow, Friday at eleven o’clock, you haven’t anything better to do, perhaps you would like to come and help Hubay and myself turn pages and play wrong notes-perhaps also to…
Pierre Rode inspired Beethoven to write his most lyrical G Major Sonata Op 96, which Rode premiered in Vienna at Christmas 1812. The first truly international French violinist to emerge from this environment was Pierre Rode. Following the writing of…