Letters, emails, online comments

LETTER of the MONTH

Lir Vaginsky

GUY HECHT

ALTERNATE STRATEGIES

Violinist Lir Vaginsky’s online article ‘Why I write my own cadenzas’ (bit.ly/4hM5XMy) describes, with disarming humility, a personal journey into the very wellspring of Mozart’s genius. Vaginsky’s straightforward account of her experiences as she composed the sublime cadenzas she uses in her recordings of the Mozart K207 and K211 violin concertos provides a unique glimpse into the bond between composer and performer: a bond that transcends time, history, even the boundary between life and death.

The idea of performers writing their own cadenzas is very much in keeping with the original meaning of the term as it emerged in the early Italian Baroque. In fact, early cadenzas were seldom ‘written’ at all but were often spontaneous improvisations. To improvise freely in a Mozart or Haydn-period concerto, one must (like Vaginsky) be steeped in the stylistic mannerisms of that age. Vaginsky’s article left me wondering what other pathways might be explored by string players aspiring to create such splendid and fitting cadenzas. Vaginsky’s route – beginning with her first childhood study of the violin – is probably the best way. From my personal experience, I believe another avenue towards improvisation in a late Baroque-to-Classical style might be found in the preserved works of the great viol virtuosos Marin Marais and Carl Friedrich Abel. These solo bass viol compositions consist primarily of pure improvisations that were (thank God) committed to notation – not by themselves but by their adoring students. After listening with rapture to Vaginsky’s Berlin recordings, I wouldn’t be surprised if she were familiar with these grandiose and impassioned time capsules of transitional Baroque/Classical musical spontaneity. The surviving works of Marais give the modern ear a taste of the riches that must have haunted musical ears of the late 1600s to early 1700s. Tap into this spirit and I believe one finds an appropriate muse for a Mozart-style cadenza.