JAVS Fall 2002

55

CELEBRATING LIONEL TERTIS

I

by Veronica Leigh jacobs

To mark the 125th anniversary of the birth of this great pioneer of solo viola music, a three-day festi val was organized by John White, Professor ofViola at the Royal Academy of Music on October 31-November 3, 2001. I was determined to attend for several reasons. First of all, I had a week ofquar tet coaching with Lionel Tertis in 1958; secondly, I was interested in returning to the Academy, which has been magnificently refurbished in contrast to the fusty atmosphere of my student days. Last, but not least, I would be hearing performances of music commissioned, arranged or inspired by Lionel Tertis. The first event was a master class presented by Michael Kugel, a Russian-born violist teaching in Belgium and Holland. To introduce the master class, Professor Kugel described Tertis as someone "seventy years ahead of his time." I understood this to mean that such viola virtuosity had never been heard before. However, the impeccable perfor mance by one of the students, Takashi Kikuchi, of the technically challenging Adagio Theme with Variations by Alessandro Rolla (1757-1841) made me wonder whether the standard of playing was not necessarily lower in the 18th and 19th cen turies, but just different. I was open-mouthed with admiration on hearing recordings made by Tertis during the admirable-and admiring-lecture given by John White, who will shortly be publish ing Tertis's biography. 1 For example, "La Chasse" by Kreisler, full of double stops played perfectly at a rollicking pace and recorded toward the end of World War I, shows the accuracy of Tertis's intona tion and bowing. His 1925 recording of the Bach Chaconne reminded me of the incredible perfor mance he gave at the Wigmore Hall when he was 80. John White described Lionel Tertis as "the greatest string player born in the British Isles," which may sound like exaggerated praise in view of the many fine players we have heard, until we con sider what he did for the viola. He explored the world ofviola playing during the early 1900s to the degree that no man-or woman-had done

before. Yet, an even greater legacy that he left to us was the music that he persuaded composers to write. We heard the beautiful Romance from the Suite by Benjamin Dale, full of currently unfash ionable, yet appropriate portamenti. The energy and excitement of the second movement of the Arnold Bax sonata were thrilling, as was the depth ofTertis's tone on the C string. His arrangement of the Serenade from "Hassan" by Delius touched me deeply, and to finish we heard the complete Kreisler Preludium and Allegro-the latter leaving me quite breathless! John White's lecture was full of infor mation not to be found in Tertis's two autobiogra phies, Cinderella No More (1953) and The Viola and I (1974). Two violists took part in the recital of works premiered by Tertis. First, Yoko Inoue played all eight movements of the Suite by Vaughan Williams, accompanied by Kathleen Sturrock. Then the Arthur Bliss sonata was performed by Martin Outram and Julian Rolton, who both sur mounted all of the technical difficulties of this wonderful work. After the intermission was the arrangement of the sonata for clarinet and piano by John Ireland, well played by Yoko Inoue, but the piece seemed pale compared to the Bliss. Tully Potter, regular contributor to Strad maga zine, entertained us in a lecture including record ings made by former students of Tertis who had distinguished careers in orchestras, chamber music, and teaching. Examples of their solo playing showed that they didn't inherit his style so much as his rich tone. The quirky fingerings that Tertis sug gests in his editions (perhaps in order to slide up or down to a note or, as I used to suppose, to avoid the fourth finger) were often changed by my teacher, Max Gilbert, who had been one of his students. The Viola Ensemble concert took place in the Academy's Duke's Hall, its terracotta and cream colored walls adorned with portraits of various musical dignitaries from the past, and lit by cande labra and glittering chandeliers. We heard Tertis's Variations on a Passacaglia by Handel (the same