JAVS Fall 2007

that is always new and, like the poor, will certainly always be with us: namely the usefulness, necessity or otherwise of using a shoulder rest. Ttm Deighton and Jurra Puchhammer led the pro-faction, with Steven Dann and Hartmur Lindemann argumenting against it. As could have been anticipated, both parties agreed ro disagree and went their separate ways with no one on or off stage having switched allegiances. Of the rwo masterclasses on offer after lunch, 1 dropped into Tobias Lea's, who worked on orchestral excerpts (he is, of course, principal viola of the Vienna Phil). It was in a way reassuring to see that- as the saying goes - "water is a pint a pound, the world around";be it the Vienna Phil or the Southern North Dakota Symphony, they all look for the same basics of rhythmic exactitude, intonation, and tonal quality. An afternoon recital brought a reacquaintance with Kathryn Lockwood, whom I remembered from a Primrose Competition way back in 1993. With her parmer, Yousif Sheronick, she presented a fascinating program for viola and percussion. The composers having drawn their inspiration mostly from non Western music, we were treated to a colorful feast of World Music, with percussion instruments from the Middle and Far East as well as from South America. The highlight was for me Zhao Jiping's Summer in th( High Grassland, in which the viola plays at being a Mogolian Morin Khuur (horsehead fiddle). The NS Annual General Meeting was- as is usually the case - arrended only by the hardest of the hard core. Since minutes are being printed elsewhere, I will go on to report that the traditional Banquet, held in Ayers House, did proud to South Australian cuisine. Even host Keith Crellin and his wife Ruth, the weight mostly off their shoulders by now, were able to sir back and enjoy a convivial evening. The day wasn't over yet, however: The evening con cert brought a deliciously old-fashioned recital by Harrmur Lindemann and Ben Marrin. Lindemann, a long-rime resident of Australia, has been based in his native Germany for over ten years now. Practicing what he had preached in his presentation rwo days before (see Day 2), Lindemann pulled our

gets roo near to the "eternal snow" region. Ms. Chin was certainly conscious of the problem, to which she has given a lor of thought. The piece badly misses that E string, though, the melodic line having to shine through a piano part that can be quire thick. The slow movement, which needed the least intervention, worked besr, while the Scherzo sounded mosr akward. The first and last movements were- ro my ears much too compromised by the "compression" of the solo line. I left the session wondering abour the alter native possibiltiy of researching the original repertoire from the fin de siecle period. Only rwo days earlier, the Sonara by Pierre de Breville had proved a revela tion. Surely there must be other original viola litera ture written for the likes ofTheophile Laforge and Maurice Vieux? Dwight Pounds, commenting in my absence on David Hume's repair and restoration of an Amari viola, writes: Ir was said of British Prime Minister and part time painter Winston Churchill thar he had the confidence ro alter a Rubens. Perhaps something similar could be attributed ro British lurhier David Hume, an (at least parrically) self-taught luthier, who gave an intriguing and derailed account of how be had purchased the Amari and decided ro rescore it himself. This, the procedures selected for its restoration, the major problems encounered, and the solutions employed were presented in fascinating derail, including some thing so simple as filling a worm-hole with a compound purchased ar a local hardware store. Mr. Hume's Powerpoint presentation was well organized and detailed, despite technical difficul ties that required some rime ro resolve. Was the restoration successful? To the delight of the dele gates, Mr. Hume remained a good half-hour fol lowing his lecrure and invited anyone so inclined to come forward , play the instrument, and decide for themselves. I heard no complaints standing there in line with several others, waiting my turn and enjoying every note. Playing a superb Amari viola with a Sartori bow was absolutely heady-a delightful and rare experience.

There followed a Round Table on that old subject

LOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN VIOLA SOCIETY 24