Voices of the Violin is a cycle of new solo pieces, written by 13 different composers. Each composer was asked to write a piece which would show how the personality of a violin shapes the way we experience music – to show what the instrument has to say for itself.
The project grew out of my own search for a violin. After returning “my” beloved Gagliano violin to its owner in 2021, I was forced to look for a new instrument. I tried over 80 different violins, each with its own unique personality. The way I approached a piece could change drastically with each instrument. As I tried these violins, I shared my discoveries with composers, colleagues, and friends. Voices of the Violin draws from this experience, exploring how violin and violinist connect to create one musical voice.
In 2023, after almost two years of searching, I found a violin made by Anselmo Bellosio, which was the perfect complement to me. It is bright, rich, powerful, and extroverted, adding these qualities to my own playing and personality, where I often find myself exploring the more delicate and subtle sides of violin playing. This violin is now generously loaned to me by the Karel Appel Estate.
In an odd quirk of history, the label of the Bellosio says that it was made in 1773 – exactly 250 years before I found it. If the label is true, it means that Voices also celebrates the 250th birthday of the Bellosio violin itself.
Most of the Voices pieces were created in close collaboration between myself and the composers. This became central to “Voices”, and to the new pieces. These pieces have challenged me to use every limit of my own technique, and work with composers to find new techniques and sounds which I didn’t even know existed on the violin. Some new techniques are easy to spot, such as when I hold the violin in my lap (in Alice Yeung’s piece), or play it with a chopstick (in Jasper de Bock’s piece). Others are more subtle, but have still resulted in new sounds and notations. After 35 years of playing the violin, I knew that there is always more one can do with the instrument. But this project showed me that there are still many unexplored possibilities of expression on this 250 year old wooden box.
The new pieces:
Martijn Padding – 26 Seconds
Silvia Borzelli – presto continuo
Samuel Carl Adams – The Last Sound of Venice
Helena Winkelman – Lady in a Shell (with a bell), from Capriccios for solo violin
Kate Moore – E is for Elijah
Marton Illes – Én-Kör IV
Robin de Raaff – Encore II
Jan van de Putte – and then my song started dreaming
Juerg Frey – Wind, inside the sound
Jasper de Bock – 1001 Stokslagen
Alice Yeung – Posturizor
Livia Malossi Bottignole – Hummingbird Pulse
Arieh Chrem – Comfort, for Joe