Page 148 - PDF Flip TR Program Demo

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The Music at Tippet Rise
Violinist Vadim Gluzman plays an instrument that was built in 1690 and passed down through the hands of extraordinary musicians.
Devanney Haruta: Can you tell us about the history of your violin?
Vadim Gluzman: I feel that with this instrument, I’m carrying on the torch, in a way. Leopold Auer was at the time the professor at the conservatory in St. Petersburg, and also the tsar’s violinist, which means he was the violinist of the court. It is awe-inspiring just to think that not only Leopold Auer played it himself, but also his students who later became the greatest violinists who ever lived: Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, Mischa Elman . . . The list goes
on. That is really humbling, in a way, to remember that all these great composers—Tchaikovsky, for example—wrote for this violin when it was played by Auer. All these great solos that we hear in Tchaikovsky’s ballet—every violin solo in Nutcracker, in Swan Lake—they were all written for Auer and played on this violin. When I play Tchaikovsky, especially, I feel like I am closing a historical circle.
DH: Musical styles have certainly changed since 1690. How has the violin adapted to the changes over the years?
VG: It’s a step by step process, it doesn’t happen overnight. When it was built, all it could play is what we call today
CONVERSATION WITH
VADIM GLUZMAN