JAVS Fall 1989

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past year I finished my thirtieth year in music teaching in Brentwood, New York Public School System. I don't want to give the impression that Primrose is the only violist that I like. I have collected records of many violists, including Emanuel Vardi, Georg Schmid, Cecil Aronowitz, Lionel Tertis and the latest, Kim Kashkashian. For the past eight years I have been a classical "disc jockey" at the radio station of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where I playas much viola music as I can. Having access to the library's 19,000 recordings has meant a great deal to me because I can add taped record copies to my collection. Recently at a summer music camp, a fellow teacher was working with the string students. After hours she would relax by playing some viola quartet music with other teachers and advanced students. Later I asked if she was still studying, and she said she was, with a well known violist and teacher in New York City. When I asked her if she had any records of her teacher, she said, "I don't collect records." I didn't say anything but I was really shocked. I consider that collecting records and comparing musical styles and techniques has made me a better musician and teacher. How could I talk to her about great pianists like Backhaus, Casadesus and Gilels, or other musical greats like Kipnis, Milstein, de los Angeles, Fischer-Dieskau, Ma, Rampal, etc.? She didn't listen! She was too busy to spend time with them. Shame, Shame! A few months ago, after giving a lesson to a young man on my fencing team at Brentwood H. S., I mentioned to him I had just learned that he was the principal violist in the school orchestra. I asked him who was his favorite violist. He could not name a single one because he was not being exposed to the rich heritage of the viola. As far as my own collecting is concerned, I need just about a dozen 78 R.P.M. records and two L.P.S (Bartok Concerto and Brahms Viola Sonata with Gerald Moore are available in England), and I will have every solo recording ever

Forum

CONFESSIONS OF A NONVIOLIST

What is a non violist doing as a member of the American Viola Society? I love the viola and I'm a record collector. What a pleasure it was to be in touch with Dr. David Dalton and be able to send him tapes of William Primrose performing, which Dr. Dalton didn't even know existed (they were taken from radio broadcasts). Surely someone who has six different recordings of Primrose playing Harold in Italy (two with Munch, two with Toscanini, one with Koussevitsky, and one with Beecham) and four copies of Symphonie Concertante with Primrose playing with Heifetz, Spalding, Stern, and Grumiaux, has more than just a casual interest in the viola. I don't want it to seem that my love of the viola came out of thin air. My brother Arnold graduated from Juilliard in 1949, majoring in the viola, and is still playing professionally in the Houston area. From the time of his days at the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan through his Juilliard days, he would take me along with him to chamber music and orchestra practices. He would also ask my opinion on phrasing and fingering during his practices. What an exposure for a teenager. When I started my formal music training at Brooklyn College Evening Session and studied Theory and Harmony with Miriam Gideon and George Kleinsinger and Chorus with Elie Siegmeister in 1950, I had already been collecting records for several years and listening every chance I got to WQXR and WNYC, the classical radio stations in New York City. When my brother went to the University of Illinois for his graduate work, he invited me to come there for a visit. I wound up staying four years and earning two degrees, majoring in voice. Just this

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