{"id":50032,"date":"2024-11-20T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/c2069235-a2e1-46d3-b1e8-fe68fb4798a9"},"modified":"2024-11-20T11:09:21","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T10:09:21","slug":"violinist-vilde-frang-on-squaring-up-to-epic-works-and-coping-with-imposter-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/violinist-vilde-frang-on-squaring-up-to-epic-works-and-coping-with-imposter-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"Violinist Vilde Frang on squaring up to epic works and coping with imposter syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 20 November 2024 at 09:30 AM<\/p>

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Who is violinist Vilde Frang?<\/h2>
Elgar<\/a><\/strong>, Stravinsky<\/a><\/strong>, Korngold<\/a><\/strong>: no one can accuse Vilde Frang of taking it easy with her choice of violin<\/a><\/strong> concertos this season. And that\u2019s merely before Christmas. But Frang has never shied away from intensity, risk or hard work. They practically define her playing style and help to explain why she\u2019s one of today\u2019s most individual and compelling players. \u2018As a personality, I always need a bit of resistance \u2013 I always need to do it the hard way,\u2019 she explains. \u2018Once I start to coast or get the feeling that things are going my way, or people are being positive, I don\u2019t know how to handle that. It unsettles me, because it\u2019s not supposed to be easy.\u2019<\/p>

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A violinist on top of the world<\/h3>
Not yet 40, Frang is on top of the violin world, with her pick of calibre collaborators: she recorded the Elgar (released in September on Warner Classics) with Robin Ticciati<\/a><\/strong> and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and has been touring the work with the London Symphony Orchestra and Antonio Pappano<\/a><\/strong>. She performs the Stravinsky with the Oslo Philharmonic and Klaus M\u00e4kel\u00e4<\/a><\/strong> in Europe and the Chicago Symphony and Hannu Lintu in the US, and the Korngold with the Berlin Philharmonic and Kirill Petrenko<\/a><\/strong>. It\u2019s not\u00a0a bad dance card.\u00a0<\/p>

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In person, she is softly spoken and thoughtful \u2013 tentative, even \u2013 just as her musical sound world is one of extreme delicacy and tenderness. One can understand why the cover of her first CD of Sibelius<\/a><\/strong> and Prokofiev<\/a><\/strong> concertos, in 2009 aged only 22, featured her softly wafting underneath a tree. This image belies her playing, though, which is also powerful and dynamic, and makes light work of the juggernauts of the concerto repertoire.<\/p>
Vilde Frang… taking on the Elgar Violin Concerto<\/h2>
The Elgar is one such work. It\u2019s the perfect showcase for Frang\u2019s expressive range and poetic understanding, but it\u2019s also a beast of a concerto, coming in at around 50 minutes of impassioned thematic material and fiendish passagework. \u2018It requires a lot of stamina because you are playing a lot,\u2019 she admits. \u2018When you reach the third movement, you\u2019re already exhausted and then you have all its hurdles to get through until you come to the cadenza<\/a><\/strong>.\u2019<\/p>

<\/div> <figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> Vilde Frang performs Elgar’s Violin Concerto <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <p>Her background helps: \u2018I\u2019m Norwegian so I go cross-country skiing. After ten minutes, you\u2019re quite fed up, and want to go home because it\u2019s not funny anymore. And then you keep on uphill and after 45 minutes, you are in the flow where you feel you have conquered something within yourself. You\u2019re on top of the world. The cadenza at the very end opens an otherworldly palette. You\u2019re in a very special state beyond exhaustion, so you\u00a0can be very creative.\u2019<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/best-recordings-elgar-cello-concerto\">6 of the best recordings of Elgar’s Cello Concerto<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p>She and Ticciati have long discussed recording the work, and she credits him for helping her understand it. \u2018He introduced me to Elgar\u2019s Second Symphony, and it completely transformed my perception of the Violin Concerto,\u2019 she says. \u2018I can\u2019t imagine the Concerto without having heard the Second Symphony now, because they\u2019re written basically at the same time. The Concerto was premiered in 1910, the year that King Edward VII died, and Elgar wrote the funeral march of the Symphony\u2019s second movement in that same year. The Concerto has the same poise and expansion. It\u2019s an epic journey more than a structure. You\u2019re in a trance.\u2019<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/elgar-enigma-meaning\">The unsolved mystery of Elgar’s <em>Enigma Variations<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The importance of performing the concerto live<\/h3> <p>The live concert experience has also been essential in coming to an interpretation of the work, she says: \u2018You don\u2019t know the Concerto until you have kicked yourself on stage once. Only then do you know where the land lies. There are so many questions that you don\u2019t get the answer to in the practice room, but that you get in the concert hall in the moment of performance. It\u2019s a baptism of fire.\u2019<\/p> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Vilde Frang… dealing with self-doubt as a performer<\/h2> <p>How does she cope with this level of risk? \u2018The challenge of going on stage is that the mind interferes,\u2019 she replies. \u2018You start to question basic movements, like walking on a pavement: \u201cAm I right in putting my right leg in front of my left? What if I stumble?\u201d It\u2019s inevitable that you may indeed stumble at some point because you\u2019re questioning these things. It\u2019s exactly the same playing-wise.<\/p> <p>If I played a good concert the day before, I\u2019m always asking myself, \u201cHow can I live up to what I did yesterday?\u201d And that\u2019s dangerous, because then the mind starts to think, \u201cOh but\u2026\u201d If I can achieve a state of mind where I\u2019m curious \u2013 \u201cI wonder what\u2019s going to happen tonight?\u201d \u2013 then if anything goes slightly awry, I don\u2019t mind. I\u2019m on a journey and maybe I stumbled, but I\u2019m on a bigger mission than playing a note slightly flat. It\u2019s an eternal struggle if you\u2019re a soloist. Without risks, there\u2019s no potential of better and worse concerts. That\u2019s something you\u00a0must live with.\u2019<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/science-of-music\/stage-fright\">Stage fright: six top musicians share their experiences and coping mechanisms<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Championing lesser-known works<\/h2> <p>Playing Elgar, Korngold and Stravinsky takes her relatively far off the beaten track \u2013\u00a0none of them show up in the Bachtrack website\u2019s top five performed violin concertos last season, for instance. Having released the Korngold in 2016 and the Stravinsky in 2022, she sees her role as being an ambassador for such works: \u2018I\u2019m ever more convinced that if a piece lights a spark inside, you have to share this story and explain it to other people. You should do anything to play it, whether it\u2019s <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/news\/rps-gold-medal-thomas-ades\">Thomas Ad\u00e8s<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/benjamin-britten-composer\">Britten<\/a><\/strong>, Elgar or <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/benjamin-britten-composer\">Hindemith<\/a><\/strong>. There are so many other incredible violinists who can play <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/felix-mendelssohn\">Mendelssohn<\/a><\/strong> or <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/tchaikovsky\">Tchaikovsky<\/a><\/strong>.\u2019<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/best-recordings-tchaikovskys-violin-concerto\">Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto: the best recordings of this passionate masterpiece<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Audience expectations<\/h3> <p>One of the reasons you\u2019re more likely to hear Mendelssohn or Tchaikovsky, she thinks, is that promoters like to play it safe. \u2018The concert promoter says, \u201cWe have to programme what the audience wants to hear,\u201d but actually, audiences don\u2019t always know what they want to hear. They love to be surprised. You can see it with the Britten and Elgar concertos \u2013\u00a0there are certain pieces that just need more time, like <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/joseph-haydn\">Haydn<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s cello concertos, rediscovered many years after their composition.\u2019<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Stravinsky: Violin Concerto - Vilde Frang, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Ivan Fischer\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IksBE5UXFts?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> Vilde Frang performs Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <p>This problem is exacerbated in conservatoires, and to that end Frang has a policy in her own teaching studio at the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/nmh.no\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Norwegian Academy of Music<\/a><\/strong>. \u2018What\u2019s almost traumatised me is that students come with a selection of five violin concertos: Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/mozart\">Mozart<\/a><\/strong> Four and Five, and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/johannes-brahms\">Brahms<\/a><\/strong>,\u2019 she explains. \u2018I try to understand what made them choose these pieces. They say, \u201cMy teacher thought this would be a good choice for the competition,\u201d or \u201cThis is what you should play for the orchestra audition.\u201d So, I\u2019ve written a list of pieces for them \u2013 anything except these five concertos. If you want to play for me, then play something else!\u2019\u00a0<\/p> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Vilde Frang… on teaching<\/h2> <p>She feels the benefits of this herself as a teacher: \u2018I\u2019m very excited when somebody brings me the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/leonard-bernstein\">Bernstein<\/a><\/strong><em> Serenade <\/em>or something like that, because that helps me to discover new pieces. That\u2019s how it should be. Otherwise, music making becomes so dull and grey, and so restricted. Look at all this incredible repertoire that we are blessed to have as violinists.\u2019<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/five-music-teachers-who-changed-the-face-of-western-classical-music\">5 music teachers who changed the face of western classical music<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p>She also feels that teaching is overly concerned with technical matters, rather than looking at the big picture. \u2018I\u2019m slowly realising how focused teachers and students are on the tools,\u2019 she says. \u2018And in terms of instruments, we are told all the time that our playing can change and become so much better if we simply change our bow or get a better fiddle. But actually, it\u2019s all about here [she gestures to her heart] and what life brings your way. It\u2019s all down to impressions of life and personality. It\u2019s very little about this [points to violin]. Yes, you need to be disciplined to be able to express the music through your instrument, but that\u2019s where we get stuck. The focus on perfectionism and the tools of our trade is what limits classical\u00a0musicians.\u2019<\/p> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Vilde Frang… her education and early years<\/h2> <p>Her own education, though, seems to have been a good balance between technique and heart. She studied with <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/violinist-henning-kraggerud-on-the-importance-of-improvisation\">Henning Kraggerud<\/a><\/strong> and his brother Alf Richard at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo and remembers a relaxed approach. \u2018It was a little harbour, a very safe nest to develop in peace, without being\u00a0thrown into big competitions or taken out to play for famous violin teachers. These formative years were the most important for me. I just enjoyed music making and all these early impressions, not only from music, but from <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/best-ballet-music\">ballet<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/what-language-is-opera\">opera<\/a><\/strong>, dance and\u00a0theatre.\u2019\u00a0<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/simone-biles-gemma-new\">Timing, poise and mental calm: why legendary gymnast Simone Biles is an inspiration for all musicians<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p>She studied ballet until the commitment required by her teacher became too great, but still takes inspiration from it. Her eyes light up as she remembers watching Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg dancing in <em>Eugene Onegin<\/em> in Covent Garden. She dreams of working with Cojocaru and says, \u2018In my next life, if I\u2019m lucky, I would come back as a dying swan.\u2019<\/p> <p>From the age of 11 she came under the eye of violinist <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/anne-sophie-mutter\">Anne-Sophie Mutter<\/a><\/strong>, who served as a \u2018no-nonsense mentor\u2019, and aged 12, she was plucked from her safe harbour by Mariss Jansons, looking for a local young talent to accompany in his final concert as music director of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. She performed Sarasate\u2019s <em>Carmen Fantasy<\/em> and remembers, \u2018That gave me a basis to step up to slightly larger-scale performances. It was certainly a milestone for me. I didn\u2019t have any repertoire, I had no experience and I was not prepared. I was just being myself.\u2019<\/p> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Getting serious with a regular practice regime<\/h2> <p>It wasn\u2019t until later that she decided to buckle down and work seriously. \u2018When I was in my teens, I realised that I needed to practise scales and etudes, which I hadn\u2019t done before. It was only then that I became more serious about practising, committing to a schedule of seven hours\u2019 practice a day.\u2019<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/instruments\/how-to-return-to-practice\">Hate music practice? How you can learn to love your instrument again in 100 days<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p>She had wanted to study with the influential professor Ana Chumachenco (teacher of players as diverse as Julia Fischer, Arabella Steinbacher and Lisa Batiashvili). Chumachenco was too busy, however, and Frang ended up teaching herself for nearly two years while she waited for Chumachenco to accept her. She found the experience character-building: \u2018The positive thing about studying on my own was I had to be self-disciplined. In all my stubbornness to get one teacher, I ended up being my own teacher. I had to learn how to work on my own and that was\u00a0not necessarily a bad thing.\u2019\u00a0<\/p> <p>Chumachenco recommended she went to Kolja Blacher in the meantime: \u2018He was such a meticulous teacher, and technically speaking, it was exactly what I needed at that time.\u2019 Eventually, her patience and determination paid off and Chumachenco took her at the Kronberg Academy from 2008-10. \u2018Her lessons always felt like a sanctuary,\u2019 says Frang. \u2018She was iconic, like the Hillary Clinton of violin teachers. She was positive and had a motherly energy, but by then it was more of a supplement. The groundwork for my technique was thanks to Professor Blacher.\u2019<\/p> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Vilde Frang… future ambitions<\/h2> <p>By then, her trajectory was set, winning the prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Award and making her London Philharmonic Orchestra debut in 2007, and her first recording for Warner Classics in 2009, with countless awards and accolades to follow. Alongside her concerto work, chamber music has been a large part of her repertoire \u2013\u00a0this season including <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/eugene-ysaye\">Ysa\u00ffe<\/a><\/strong> and Kod\u00e1ly with Valeriy Sokolov and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/who-is-lawrence-power\">Lawrence Power<\/a><\/strong>, the latter with whom she also performs Britten\u2019s Double Concerto, and she continues a residency at Wigmore Hall, partnering with Jonathan Cohen and Arcangelo, with whom she recorded Mozart concertos in 2015.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/news\/vilde-frang-to-now-play-the-1734-rode-guarneri-del-gesu-violin\">Vilde Frang to perform 1734 ‘Rode’ Guarneri del Ges\u00f9 violin<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p>With so much going on right now, maybe it\u2019s superfluous to ask her about the future. \u2018I have no idea,\u2019 she admits. \u2018I feel extremely lucky to be able to be an ambassador for the pieces that I want to play. As long as I feel I have something to give and to say, I am blessed to be able to do so. There are so many things I haven\u2019t yet explored, and that I need to learn \u2013 for example, contemporary pieces and certain chamber pieces that I would love to play. String quartets by Ad\u00e8s, for example, or Wolfgang Rihm\u2019s String Trio. But I only think as far as my next inspiration goes. I don\u2019t think in terms of ten years, because who knows how I will feel at that point and what will happen?\u2019 If the last ten years are anything to go by, plenty of good things.<\/p> <p\/> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Wednesday, 20 November 2024 at 09:30 AM Who is violinist Vilde Frang? Elgar, Stravinsky, Korngold: no one can accuse Vilde Frang of taking it easy with her choice of violin concertos this season. And that\u2019s merely before Christmas. But Frang has never shied away from intensity, risk or hard work. 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Elgar, Stravinsky, Korngold: no one can accuse Vilde Frang of taking it easy with her choice of violin concertos this season. And that\u2019s merely before Christmas. But Frang has never shied away from intensity, risk or hard work. 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