Stephen Fine

A googling reveals a 1920 Strad Magazine publication of the Nocturne arr. Primrose for Violin and Piano. The link you provided doesn't show me which libraries have a copy. But I think if you talk to your own librarian, you could arrange for interlibrary loan.

Could it be bubble wrap and a hot day damaged the varnish? I've seen something like this before.

A very few of them are still here. One or two are over at violinist.com I assume PainturGurl was googling something related to first chair because she's sitting first chair and this post showed up and she decided to post a reply. But maybe a bot is going to come through in 6 months and edit the post when no one is looking to be an advertisement for something.

1. Hah! I've never taught this piece. I love it though. 2. Yeah. Practice rhythms and what I call "burst" practicing, fast tempo with space between the beats to give your brain and hand time to consider what's about to come. And the regular metronome work. 3. Sometimes, new technique just takes a few days to settle in. Just keep at it and your brain should start to sort it out. I agree with Rue about enlarging, a great teacher once recommended enlarging difficult material to me and I've found it beneficial myself.

What's tripping you up? What's the principal difficulty?

I tried a transposition of Arpeggione to g-minor that was convincing. Those open strings were clearly an important part of the sonata's performance. It's lovely in a-minor but much more difficult than it needs to be.

Whoa. Blast from the past. Wild to think that I last posted on this thread probably before PainturGurl was born. These days, I judge the string auditions for my old youth orchestra.

I don't think 4 strings was any more regular than 5 or 3 strings for a while during the evolution of the bowed stringed instruments, but that was a bit before the time a Bach. (I think?) I'd be curious to know how normal it still would be for every day folks in the late 1690s to have what we might consider irregular instruments. I purchased a 5-string electric viola last year.

Nice. I'm downloading this for next time my quartet gets into an argument over how to count. What a great resource. The metronome markings are neat, but the rest of it is just such a solid resource.

Ivry Gitlis, dead at 98. https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-violin-genius-ivry-gitlis-dies-at-98-found-fans-far-beyond-the-elite/

You don't have kids who participate in All-State? I'm only vaguely aware of the Royal system. I've looked at it once or twice over the years... Rue, you should give Fratres another chance. Which version did you hear? First, read these program notes from SF Symphony. Everything I've ever heard from Pärt convinces me of his sincerity, even of his holiness. Anne-Akiko Meyers I think has fully mastered the tintinnabuli. Two recordings: the first I think has closer a closer mic on Meyers, but the second one has the string/percussion arrangement which is one of my favorites. It also brought me a moment of true awe (spiritually). It's a bit outside the tradition...

I've played Serioso at the marked tempo before. That one makes sense to me. There are other markings that make less sense. Radiolab did a neat program on it a few years ago... hired musicians to make the point. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/269783-speedy-beet https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/271345-speedthoven

What about the 3rd movement of the Fauré? It's not slow, but it's definitely a change in mood. What about Bartók Romanian Folk Dances? Instead of one 12 minute piece could you do two 6 minute pieces? Remember that I'm American and have no idea about this whole thing. Make sure you get some advice from someone with experience planning an LRSM program. Your initial program might've been fine. PS- looking at the syllabus now. Interesting... none of my suggestions would work. I love Arvo Pärt's Fratres. Highly recommend you learn that. Or either of the Prokofiev selections. And now I'm going to go listen to the Lutoslawski Partita. Looking at that syllabus, I think your original program was fine. They don't really give you many options.

I'm not sure Beethoven's letter to Schott (assuming that's what you're thinking of) is him stating "quite firmly that the only reason his 9th succeeded in Berlin was observation of the metronome marks." That's an exaggeration of the actual text and ignores a bit the purpose of the letter. I think Beethoven saw both an artistic and a business opportunity. But there's no question that Beethoven loved the metronome. And there's no question that his metronome markings are interesting and important. I'm usually the one in rehearsals arguing that we should consider the composer's intentions, but, at the end of the way, there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Cool program, but I wonder if it's all rather serious. I wonder if you could either add in or substitute a piece that's either more playful/fun or more melodramatic?