>> From the Library of
Congress in Washington, DC.
>> Richard Wernick: Again, we start
with the viola, not a mistake.
Now the way this works and
the thread becomes more
and more intertwined and more
and more difficult to pick out
but the basis of this
whole last section is this.
I've put here in black,
not the rhythms,
but the viola is doing the
row backwards and upside down.
This is another version of the row,
same notes but in reverse order.
And the cello is doing
exactly the same thing,
the row in reverse order,
but starting at a pitch level
in which you see that the first two
pitches of the viola are matched
with the first two
pitches of the cello.
The cello is playing the
intervals going up the third,
as it would appear in
the original version,
whereas the viola is playing,
of course, the inversion,
going down the third, but it's
not a mistake, because, again,
this is not what you
would call a tonal piece
but it's not completely atonal,
and what Irving Fine does is move
from quote key to key by keeping
certain sounds in the same places.
So it's not a mistake at
all that the very last note
of the original version
of the viola row
and the opening adagio is
exactly the same in the last one.
It's like coming back
to a tonic in a way.
Now it's not going to affect the
actual playing but an understanding
of the piece, I think you
get something out of it.
And also the fact that when the
cello comes in, that's an imitation.
So there are all kinds
of things to imitate.
It isn't just pitches.
It isn't just rhythms.
It's dynamic.
It's inflection.
It's expression.
It's how the whole
thing hangs together.
So this movement being fairly brief,
what I suggest is let's
play all the way through it
and then begin to work on it.
Okay? Now, again, if I may just
interrupt before I let you go.
It's very hard to make continuity
from one group to another.
So just as by way of explanation,
the scherzo is very lively.
It's fast.
It's bright.
It's lively.
But it settles down, settles
down, and settles down,
and ends very quietly, but stops.
It's not connected to
this last movement.
It stops but it dies down.
There is a pause and there's a
stop and then this movement takes
up that mood of being
subdued and tranquil.
So again, of all three
moments, they all start
with an empty beat at the beginning.
You know, none of the movement
starts in the downbeat.
So once again, the sense of a breath
and you're starting in the middle
of something is important,
just psychologically important.
So okay, let's see,
let's see how it goes.
[ Music ]
Okay, we'll sort that out.
There's lots to be sorted out.
We'll work on opening
the first few measures,
just to get the real
sense of that [inaudible].
We'll work on that.
Now I just want to talk
about as a matter of course
and this is something you
work out with your teachers,
you work out with yourselves is
the question of natural harmonics.
I know a violinist who will
not play natural harmonics.
They can do anything and shift
around and play everything
as an artificial harmonic
on the grounds
that they want it absolutely
in tune.
Now I think that just as a matter
of information to the future
that most composers, most of us
know that the higher the partial is,
the flatter it's going to be.
We know that natural harmonics
are not in tune to the same extent
that artificial harmonics
[inaudible] can be in tune,
but they also have color that's
very special and it's not as if
to say there's too much
concentration on intonation,
but there could be
in regard to color.
I think that one has to let those
high Bs just ring, just ring away,
you know, naturally, not be
constrained by trying to, you know,
to [inaudible] them as
artificial harmonics.
Now, let's look for a moment
at this agitato section.
What you have in the violin
is biam, biam, biam [phonetic]
and there's something very
similar going on in the viola
and cello except it's
expressed as a grace note.
And the thing that you have to
decide is what is the difference,
if there is a real difference,
or is it a notational thing.
And I think it lies somewhere in
the middle, that it's a matter
of accent, that at the
agitato section, for example,
the accents are on
the dotted half notes.
Clearly, I mean, it's
indicated, there's an accent.
You can't get much more an accent
than sffp, sfp, but in the violin,
it's almost the grace
note sound, da da, da da.
That's what accented.
What I would like to try is to
make the length of those notes just
about the same, which
means you do your part
as written, you're all set.
But what you two should do is hear,
listening to the violin coming
out of the bar before, play
those grace notes longer,
play them as if they're
30-second notes even.
Ba de, not chop, don't crunch them
together, ba de, putting the accent
where it belongs and you do yours
as the 16th note is written da da,
da da, and then I think you
get a more cohesive section
through this agitato.
So maybe let's go back a little
bit, maybe pick it up at the 54,
the bar before the agitato,
if you can, you know,
just sustain your chords
and listen to the violin,
the length of his notes, and then
try to make a correspondence.
As he's getting to the very end,
your grace note will almost,
if not absolutely, coincide
with his last note of the bar.
And then I think it will
be much more dramatic,
because just two bars
later, the composer calls
for declamatory in the violin.
Well, the whole section
is declamatory.
And that's part of
how you declaim is
by articulating every single
syllable in this place.
So let's try it and
see how it works.
Why don't you take it from the 54.
Okay?
[ Music ]
Now you've just got to get
yourselves coordinated.
I know I'm springing this on you.
So I think maybe that the thing
to do is let's just do it a couple
of times and you know
what the notes are.
You can communicate with each other
and we'll get it figured
out in about 30 seconds.
So why don't we do
the same thing again.
Okay?
[ Music ]
All right, now the problem is--
Now the problem for
you is not to be drawn
into putting the accent
on the wrong note.
They're putting it on
their second note, da de,
and you're still going to go da!
and that's going to make
the rubbing that we need.
Let's just try that once more.
[ Music ]
Yeah, you got the idea, and now we
got several more that are coming.
That is the idea, absolutely.
Okay, now let's just do one,
two, three, four, five, six,
the first seven or so
bars of this piece.
This is hard stuff.
Why don't we have viola alone
for the first seven measures.
Could you do that, just the viola?
[ Music ]
Okay, okay.
Just be careful of that high A flat,
you know, it's a couple of times.
And try not to rush.
Keep in mind that although you
are part of some very long notes,
he's moving while you're
sitting and then he's going
to be sitting while you're moving
and that's going to be part of this.
So try it again and also I get the
sense that, again, that first note--
I mean, this is going to sound all
wrong, but it's going to be right.
The first note sounds like it
sounds when the bow starts.
It sounds silly.
It should almost be as if the bow is
moving and then at a certain point,
the sound begins to come up.
The sounds, it's not a crest
of a crescendo but in a sense
if the bow's on the string,
the sound should be coming
almost out of nowhere.
The sound just kind of
starts without an attack.
Understandable?
Not that important in the cello,
because there's already sound going,
but again, the principle
is the same,
not that the E flat should not
have an attack on it [inaudible].
So let's try it again, just
viola for the first seven bars.
[ Music ]
Okay, now let's add just the cello,
again for the first seven measures,
but listen to the way he's
playing and try to imitate that,
just of sound and motion.
[ Music ]
Yeah, yeah, it's so much better
than it was the first
time, so much better.
Now Fine writes ma chiaro.
Do you know what that means?
Chiaro is, you know, it's clear.
What is-- How do you do that?
I mean, you're doing it right,
but actually how are you doing it,
how are you producing that,
very little vibrato, very little
and just very clean,
clean sound, very legato.
The espressivo part
comes from the fact
that you don't just let a long note,
five beats, just sit and do nothing.
You can make a little bit of
a crescendo and a little bit
of a [inaudible], makes some kind
of inflection which is expressive
but you keep the sounds absolutely
clear and then the same thing
when the violin comes in.
So why don't we start it
again, all three of you.
Okay?
[ Music ]
Okay, okay, okay, okay.
That was really beautiful.
It's a little overdone now, so I can
start with a little more presence
than that, but that's very
good, very, very good.
Now bar 410, 11, 12, 13,
14, the first measure
with your harmonic, that first bar.
I know you're working
from a very small score
but there is a breath mark there
before you play the harmonic.
Make a little space, make a little
space, and if you were to do
that up bow, does that kind of
mess up the rest of that passage?
I don't think so.
Does it?
[ Inaudible Comment ]
Yeah.
[ Inaudible Comment ]
You were doing it up bow?
Okay, I thought you were doing it
down bow, just what it sounded like.
I didn't see.
Yeah, but if you make a little
space, I think that will be fine.
You can actually make a little
space before each of them.
And there's a little problem here
if you look carefully in the 64 bar,
you notice there's a circle missing?
There's a harmonic sign missing.
Right?
[ Inaudible Comment ]
No, I think it's a mistake.
I think it should be a harmonic.
Do you see where I mean,
the [inaudible] 410, 11, 12.
>> So it's all the same note?
>> Richard Wernick: All
the same note, yeah.
>> Does that also apply
to the 4, the 64?
>> Richard Wernick:
That's what I mean, the 64.
The 64 should have the
harmonic, 418, 419, 417, 64, 417.
Right, the second B
should be a harmonic.
>> So I just go from--
>> Richard Wernick: No.
No. You don't change until 419.
I would not make the
change until then.
I would interpret that.
Again, I looked at the manuscript.
You can't tell from there, but
I believe that that's a mistake.
I believe that that
should be a harmonic.
Then just before 420,
which [inaudible] octave,
that octave should be
stop notes, you know.
I think it makes much
more sense that way.
Okay, let's do it again and
see if we can move on now.
[ Music ]
Okay, okay.
Let's stop right here.
That was beautiful.
One transition that I would
like to make is into 420,
because in the few bars and
the five bars before that,
he defines making a point of no
nuances, just this gray palette,
you know, the sun hasn't
completely come up yet.
And then you have the
crescendo in 419.
It's not to a great big huge sound.
He doesn't want to a big forte or
fortissimo, but suddenly at 420,
when he writes sonore, you
know, he wants a big open sound.
So let's see if we can get that
one transition because the rest
of this is absolutely marvelous.
But let's try that from let's say
the 44 418, if you can do that.
[ Music ]
Yeah. Yeah.
Even a little more but that
was the idea, the idea of--
I don't know if you know the-- Any
of you know the "Haydn Creation?"
No. There's a very similar passage.
I mean, it takes much, much, much,
much longer, but the sunrise section
where it builds up and
builds up and it builds
and finally it just opens up.
It's not a great big
huge enormous sound.
It's just the subtly.
There's a whole lot of
light and that's what
that should sound like, right there.
Okay, what I would like to do is I'd
like to take from 440 to the end.
Now I know that the
pizzicato places,
those C major pizzicato arpeggios,
I know that Irving Fine would loved
to have had a harp and
the reason I know that is
because he told me so [laughter].
He actually wrote a piece,
you know, for, you know,
harp and string [inaudible]
piece that he wrote,
the wonderful viola solo
for, you know, Joe Pasquale.
There was a harp in there and
somehow, I don't know why,
but that kind of a gesture,
that harp-like gesture
in a cello became very
common in neoclassical music.
And for obvious reasons,
because of the [inaudible],
it became very common in C major,
because even if you're not playing
open strings, there's a resonance,
because you have the C
string and that G string.
And so that's why he
writes piano vibrato.
I think you have to play a little
above piano just enough sonority
to let it ring so that you hear no
separation between the G's at all,
that even though you pluck
and that's the end of it,
you can't do anything
more, but the sound has
to carry over into the next part.
So you may have to adjust
the dynamic up just a bit
and make sure you keep
the vibrato going.
[ Inaudible Comment ]
Well, it's a cello.
You're not playing a harp.
So what you're doing is-- I mean,
if you were to pluck a harp string--
Have you ever played a harp?
You know, the strings are
flopping in the breeze.
They're very loose.
I mean, they ring.
They ring quite a bit because
it's a great big instrument
with a sound [inaudible]
and everything else.
So that's part of the imitation is
to-- That's why he writes vibrato,
because he wants the continuity of
the sound, with a little sleight
of hand, making one instrument
imitate another instrument.
Why don't we take it from,
you know, from the 440.
[ Music ]
Okay. Okay.
I think it's a little bit too slow.
I mean, it's a very
hard direction at 440.
He says in four that the eighth note
from before equals the quarter note
from the first tempo,
but a little faster.
So essentially what he is
saying is the speed of this,
and he's giving you an
approximate measure to mark,
the speed of this is
somewhere close to half
of what the previous tempo was,
but not quite so slow [laughter].
That's what it says,
but a little faster.
So the thing that you don't want to
lose, and this slow music is harder
to play than fast music, you don't
want to lose the forward motion.
And at a certain point, that's
very, very hard to calculate.
You get it slow enough
that it begins
to sit rather than move forward.
So I think what you have to do and
who's setting the tempo here at 440?
Are you doing it?
You know, I mean, think of
it as slow but bum, bum, bum.
Think of it as moving
forward and these tied notes,
these long tied notes,
don't let them do this
and you can't keep it
absolutely the same,
think of it as even getting a little
higher in intensity, maybe coming up
and coming down, but
think of that sound
as constantly moving
forward, forward, forward.
All the way to the very end, the
sound is always moving forward.
It's not moving backward.
And you see that in the music.
There's no retard until
the next to last measure.
It just keeps on moving forward.
So let's try that again from 440.
[ Music ]
Okay, now we can clean up
this ending a little bit
by you have developed the
breath mark after the first half
of the next to the last part, right?
You can make another little
break before the last chord,
a little break.
Just make it a little
neater, tie it down.
And from 461 to the end, you
have the poco [inaudible]
and then you have the diminuendo.
I think it's perfectly legitimate
where it says dolce espressivo,
you can make a little
crescendo through here so that
by the time you work
yourself up to that high D,
you're not playing loud, but
you bring it up a little bit,
even though it's [inaudible] forte
and then you have something
to come down from.
And there's one other little place,
yes, this is a very important part,
460, that poco forte
mezzo piano and the viola,
you've got to really accent
that in a way, not heavy,
but this is the final
gasp of the piece.
It's like a big sigh, you know
[sighs], we made it [laughter].
So I think what you want to
do is just play this movement.
I think we're all set.
I think we can go back
and cover a couple spots,
but this is hard stuff.
So just take a deep breath,
get yourself maybe, you know,
touch up the tuning a little
bit, and then just do it.
Yeah, and one last thing to
take note of, 450, 1, 2, 3, 4,
the last chord, the violin
and viola of poco [inaudible],
make it not quite so poco, again
like that sigh that you're going
to make at 460, leaning, it not
such as hitting as leaning on that,
and then bringing it down.
You've got to leave yourself some
sound to play out that entire chord.
So, whenever you're ready.
[ Music ]
Beautiful.
You want one little
crack at the very end.
I think it would be good if you
could work that out to be able
to even hold that last
note a little bit longer.
You've got to work out
your bowing there, right?
What if you reverse the
bowing and started on 461?
Start at down bow and then you'd
end up I think in the right place
that really-- Will that work?
>> Would you like me--
>> Richard Wernick:
I'd like you to end
on a very long down
bow in that high D.
[ Inaudible Comment ]
[ Music ]
Yeah. It looks like you
were at the end of the bow
and you were struggling--
[ Multiple Speakers ]
Yeah, yeah.
>> Okay.
>> Richard Wernick:
Let's try it once again,
because I think we can cut it in.
Why don't you start
just right at 450
because then there's a
beautiful place to cut in at 451.
[ Music ]
That was beautiful.
That's much nicer and
your [inaudible] was nice.
I'm glad I gave you a
second crack at that.
It's, you know, you know the spot
I meant, where you got C sharp,
F sharp, F natural,
that was very nice.
Well, all I can tell you
is that I'm very grateful
and I think Irving Fine
would be absolutely thrilled
to hear this piece done this way.
So, thank you very much,
pleasure working with you.
>> This has been presentation
of the Library of Congress.
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