JAVS Spring 2013

NM : Right, it’s organic—but the other thing that’s interesting [ waiter comes by ] (sorry that’s sea urchin), the other thing that’s interesting—that at the end of the day, you play the viola.

NS : I can literally sing 100% of the range of my instrument.

NM : And because you were born a violist—

NS : I was not born a violist!

NS : That’s totally true!

NM : Oh, you converted?

NM : Which is kind of amazing because the viola is the, it’s the kind of—

NS : I converted. I started on violin, but I was a real ly bad practicer. To a certain extent, I’m still a bad practicer, it’s just I’m doing so many projects that I have to play all the time, which makes me better. But yeah, I started on violin and switched to viola when I was thirteen, as one— NM : As one does, exactly. And the viola, I think, is a specialty appreciation. Like, appreciating a great violist is like saying, “That movie has a great sound engineer,” do you know what I mean? NM : It’s color—and it’s not considered a solo instru ment in that sense, so if you’re talking about a string part, it’s not like, “yeah, the violist is really holding it together.” NS : Although I really do listen to things from the inside out. I was coaching the [Berio] Piano Sequenza [IV] the other day, and I was like, “The mezzo-forte line really doesn’t have its own voice!” and I thought that it was the strangest thing for me to say. NM : yeah, it’s a very “viola” thing to say. It’s the same thing with singers where it’s like the altos are the ones who actually have to know the thing. NS : Actually, it makes you understand harmony in a very bizarre way because, while I’m still a linear per son and I’m still thinking one thing at a time, I’m thinking of a melodic structure that implies so much. NM : yeah, and when the alto line is given some thing delicious, it’s the most delicious. It’s more deli cious than a big tune. NS : It’s color!

NS : Be careful! you’re like, talking to a lot of violists.

NM : But I mean, you know, it’s a strange—what’s the word? I mean it’s the instrument that has more problems than it does “not problems.”

NS : But I think it loves having problems.

NM : It loves its problems.

NS : It’s a budget opera, you know what I mean?

NM : yeah. Right; it’s a regional theater.

NS : It’s a very creative regional theater!

NM : [ Waiter comes by. ] (Oh my God! That’s the ocean. Thanks very much.)

NS : (Should you just take a picture of this for the article? I want it.)

NM : (Oh my God.) So anyway, one of the reasons why I started writing for the viola is because I knew you would play it. And you know writing for the viola is a tricky business because there’s nothing in terms of range that it can do that another instru ment can’t do. NS : That having been said, it can do all the stuff that you might want either a violin to do or a cello to do. NM : Right, well that’s what’s so interesting—it occupies a strange registral thing. It goes five notes below the violin—

J OuRNAL OF THE AMERICAN VIOLA SOCIETy 16