James Ehnes, Hilary Hahn, Leonidas Kavakos, Maxim Vengerov, Nikolaj Znaider: some of the violin world’s top names have given their thoughts on key works of string repertoire within The Strad’s pages. Now, for the first time, Masterclass: Solo Violin brings together articles from the magazine’s popular Masterclass section over the past nine years.
Violin concertos by Elgar, Sibelius, Paganini, Berg and Prokofiev receive detailed bar-by-bar analyses, along with less well-known works by the likes of Charles Ives, George Enescu and Per Nørgård. What goes through the minds of violin soloists as they perform on stage? How do they craft such beautiful lines? How did they practise that particularly difficult double-stop passage? Through these articles, the greatness of today’s players and the traditions they represent can be passed on to future generations.