JAVS Spring 2010

many people bypass the violin and begin on the viola, I understand that there’s the temptation to want to skip the violin repertoire. Still, I don’t know of anything that takes the place of Paganini for developing tech nique (all the while trying to make music out of it!). I also believe the intent of Bach and Paganini (among others) was that their technical studies would also be used for the viola. They were both violists themselves, and had they believed that the viola required different studies than the violin, I’m sure they would have composed some. This of course doesn’t mean that playing the violin and viola is the same. Certainly the slower response, the darker sound, and many other differences will cause you to play them differently. But still, both instruments are held the same way, have strings tuned in fifths, and have historically used the same technical material. I chose to record them since a recording hadn’t been made on viola since the early 1960s. I think enough of them work well as concert pieces to justify the few that really are just etudes. I also wanted to have a record of all the work I put into them, and I knew that I wasn’t going to keep some of them in my fingers forever. My left hand feels a lot better now that I’m not playing the twelfths in No. 12 anymore (which is a stretch so large that some violists have rewritten them as fifths!). SS: The argument against transcriptions usually goes something like this: Composer X wrote a certain piece for heckelphone in A-flat major, and no one else should play it except heckelphone players (and in A flat major). This again supposes that the composer was very picky. He might have been, but many weren’t, so you really have to go on a case-by-case basis. Transcriptions (for general concert music, not meant as technical studies) depend on the musical material and the compatibility of that with the instrument in question. Many pieces aren’t so dependent on “color,” which is why Bach’s music works well for so many combinations. Bach himself arranged many of his own pieces, and I know many composers today who do the same thing. While I’m at it, I’ll mention that I’m always amazed at how some violists who accept the Bach Cello Suites, DMB: What are your feelings, then, about tran scriptions for the viola in general?

the Brahms Clarinet Sonatas, and the Schubert “Arpeggione” Sonata as part of the viola’s basic reper toire will turn up their noses at other transcriptions. I also know of no evidence that when Bach played the music of Palestrina, that he made any effort to play it in an older style, or with older instruments. I think if Bach were around today, he’d be amazed that some people won’t accept modern interpretations of his music on modern instruments, in transcription or in a different key (even though he was doing all of that himself ). I have nothing against historically informed performances or even historical recreations. They certainly have their place, and they can be interesting and even musical in the right hands. But does everyone have to do that? DMB: Of course, in addition to transcriptions, you have recorded many unjustly neglected original works for the viola by the likes of Rolla, Bruni, and Leclair. It appears that you have wide and diverse musical tastes and that you have found your niche in the viola world. Do you have any final words on how other violists can find their own niche? SS: You have to find your own path and that will change over time as you try out different things, but it will develop organically. It’s hard to say why people are the way they are. Some combination of genes and envi ronment, but in any case we didn’t create ourselves. Even our will to work hard is a product of what came before. Over time you come to realize what you like and what you don’t. And then there’s a third category: what you like but isn’t really you. You’ll enjoy hearing someone else do something that you wouldn’t want to do yourself. Some authoritarian people will try to stop you (“there’s only one right way to do this, and it’s my way!”), but oth ers will encourage your creativity, reining you in only occa sionally when you go too far beyond the pale. Charting your own course might take longer, but you’ll end up with something you’ll be more comfortable with. You’ll never please everyone, but if you really like how you’re doing something, there will be others who feel that way, too. Scott’s compositions are available from the publishers Ourtext (http://www.ourtext.co.uk/) and Liben (http://www.liben.com). For more information, please also visit http://www.scottslapin.com.

J OURNAL OF THE AMERICAN VIOLA SOCIETY 54