KORNGOLD

I don't know why. Perhaps I got a wild hair.

 

I want to talk about his violin concerto......

 

I adore this thing, but there are problems, aspects.

 

I love the symphonic writing... It tends to be played rather loud.

 

I actually like it loud. Thus, recordings usually almost drown out the soloist, through much of it. I don't even care, usually... you may say, they deserve their fate, after all, hung out there, alone, to dry.

 

But today, for some reason, I ask a few questions.

 

There is, after all, a soloist up there, playing their heart out, really.

 

They have to play against that orchestra, which in many passages is simply booming. Say they even hold in their hand a Strad, or a Guarneri. A loud one. Doesn't matter.

 

Do you feel sorry for the soloist, sometimes, or not? Just a little bit? No? Fair enough.

 

(Even cellist, with a boomier instrument, may face this dilemma for some repertoire. Of course, I don't know any cellists.)

 

I don't care much what your answer is, either way. I will go on.

 

If you are a soloist, what do you do? Can you cut a deal to mute the orchestra somewhat? Who knows?

 

Beg the conductor? Does he have a dog in the fight? Is he fighting only for the orchestra? I don't know.

 

I don't know any soloists, after all, so I can't ask them.

I once heard a recording of Agostini, with either the Berlin or the Vienna. I could actually hear him. He must have cut a deal something like: "Either they can hear me, or I won't play it." I like that.