Classical Life

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1. 
   tmangan

   One thing I like very much about this recording is the way Elman “flips” between low notes and high. There’s a little break in the sound, not a smooth connection, rather like the break in a yodeler’s voice, or a country singer’s, when he or she jockeys between low and high.

   My son tells me his teacher (a Russian) wants him to hide those little flips and bumps, applying a particular type of fingering technique. Elman, on the other hand, emphasizes them and to my ear it’s a very nice effect.

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   May 21, 2011 11:57 am
2. 
   MarK

   There are basically five ways of getting from note to note on bowed instruments:
   1) clean jump from note A to note B,
   2) full portamento on one finger A—B,
   3) portamento by finger A followed by jump to finger B (A- B),
   4) jump from finger A into portamento by finger B (A -B),
   5) portamento by finger A followed by a jump into portamento by finger B (A- -B).
   Number 3 is probably the most often used kind of portamento. Number 5 is very rarely in good taste.
   It is a good idea to learn how to hide portamento as fully as possible. Once it is safely “hidden”, it should be always much easier to “reveal” it later.
   My teacher (yes, the one with initials DO) used to say that every portamento gave him pleasure twice – first when he would find a place to use it in a piece and second when he would decide against using it after all. Well, this is of course an exaggeration, but it is true that using portamento was very much out of violinistic fashion roughly between 1950 and 1990.

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   May 21, 2011 6:48 pm
   • 
     tmangan

     Thanks for the explanation, MarK. So in this Elman recording, he’s doing 3? Or 4?

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     May 22, 2011 1:48 pm
3. 
   MarK

   If my ears do not deceive me, it is mostly 3s but there are a few 4s there too. There are always more portamenti going up than down.

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   May 22, 2011 10:54 pm

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