My name's Randall Goosby. I'm a violinist, currently based in New York city.
I would say what draws me to Mendelssohn's music in a way the simplicity of it.
I think it's one of the more accessible,
or rather he is one of the more accessible sort of composers in the canon.
It's similar to Mozart for me in that it's just so exposed,
it's very clear. I think what the music is doing and saying,
and it's really up to me or up to whoever the performers are to translate into
their own language. In terms of the concerto,
by all accounts that I know of...
...it's a perfect piece in a way. It has everything you would want, in a piece of music,
it's got the drama, the intimacy,
the dazzling display, the virtuosity.
I'm really excited to be sharing it with you all and the Philharmonia.
One of the things that's really unique about the concerto,
especially in relation to concertos before Mendelssohn's time is that
all three movements are attaca. So there's no breaks between the movements,
which for those audience members that enjoy clapping between movements may be a
bit of a change.
I personally never mind when the audience claps because I take it as a sign of
appreciation,
but that is something that we hadn't seen up until that point and Mendelssohn
really took it upon himself to sort of break from the mold in that way.
One of the most surprising things is that the violin introduces all of the
themes at the beginning of the concert. You have two bars of the tutti.
In a way it's nice because you're warming up backstage and you go on,
you have two measures of rest and you start.
Whereas with something like the Beethoven, you warm up,
you go out and you stand there for five minutes while the orchestra plays.
And suddenly you have to come in with this incredibly difficult passage work.
So that's one of the surprising things,
I guess it doesn't really pop out so much on the score.
What does pop out is that the Cadenza,
which traditionally comes at the very end of the concerto happens in the middle.
The violin takes the very virtuosic,
very athletic passage work in the Cadenza and following,
coming out of the Cadenza, the violin is actually accompanying the orchestra,
which is unusual for a concerto. You come out of this...
The Cadenza starts in a very sort of declamatory way...
But at the end of the Cadenza, I'm left with these sort of ricochet.
And get to just enjoy the orchestra playing the melody behind me. That's
one of the more challenging technical
bits in the piece is actually funnily enough not in the first or third
movements, which are faster, a little bit more virtuosic.
It actually comes in the second movement. The violin has these ostinato
double stops.
So you're playing the melody and you're also accompanying yourself at the same
time. So it's something like...
This is one of the bits I found the most challenging when I was first learning
the concerto, which is probably 10 years ago or so.
And I always come back to this area.
It's one of those places that you always just have to,
it's like flossing you have to, you have to do it.
It kind of tedious work,
but one of the challenges is obviously making sure that both lines are clear and
heard and they're not sort of getting in each other's way.
So one of the things that I like to do is actually separate them.
So I'll practice one line at a time,
but making sure that my left hand is playing all of the notes.
So my right hand is only on one string. The bow's only on one string at a time.
So if I were to play the beginning,
well actually maybe I'll demonstrate the melody line first.
And it just keeps you honest, it keeps you from cheating, right?
Because you can sort of disguise it.
You know what I mean? And it's easy to cheat that way,
especially when you're nervous about it.
Or maybe if you haven't practiced it quite enough. So then the opposite...
And you see there, I have
to make extra sure that those shifts are very, very clear,
because it's easy for that stuff to get muddled.
So once you're comfortable playing both lines separately on separate strings,
then you can sort of start to put it together and whatever areas are still a bit
of an issue in terms of coordination will make themselves very, very clear.
I hope that's helpful to some of the students watching.
So thrilled to be sharing, multiple masterpieces,
with the Philharmonia and its audience.
I've probably listened to recordings of Philharmonia my entire life.
It's an incredibly historic and storied ensemble.
So there will probably be a little bit of nerves that come into play and just
standing and understanding the history of the group that I'm playing with.
As I mentioned earlier,
one of the most exciting things about this work is being able to play with so
many different people, so many different places, so many different traditions.
I don't know entirely what to expect,
but that's one of the things that makes it really exciting for me.
So I really can't wait.