SOUNDPOST
Letters, emails, online comments
LETTER of the MONTH
VIOLA POWER
I am a retired violist with the Netherlands Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, and I enjoyed The Strad Podcast’s interview with violist Daniel Foster on how to lead a string section (bit.ly/45HLJNl). Relating to that, I would like to recall the best viola section rehearsal we ever had, with our leader, Francien Schatborn. We were due to start rehearsals for Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony, which is an audition piece for viola; conductors usually wrestle with the important section solos in the slow movement.
Francien suggested we get together before the first rehearsal and play through the passages. When we did, she said: ‘That’s great! Let’s do it again, and each of you tell your own story.’ We did that and, during subsequent rehearsals with Edo de Waart, he didn’t need to work on it at all! Also, after each performance (in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and recorded for Dutch radio and TV), he asked the group to stand and take a bow.