ISSUE 4
GOOD VIBRATIONS Featuring Dame Evelyn Glennie larkinsurance.co.uk
What’s Inside Cover Story 8-10 4-7
Tears of joy Professor Colin Lawson CBE tells Lark Private Clients Director Julie Webb he is moved by what students achieve at the Royal College of Music Life on Mars Dame Evelyn Glennie talks to Lark Private Clients Managing Director David Foster about her mission to 16-18 make the world listen Cover picture: Ian West 12-15
Piano forte Fabulously Four
Step forward Ulrich Gerhartz, probably the most The world-renowned Endellion String Quartet important behind-the-scenes figure in the piano world. consider what has kept them together as they He simply says his work is ‘a service to the arts’ approach their 38th season Welcome
oodness, where did this year go? It has been a busy time at Lark but I am pleased to say the music team is nicely Gsettled into the London head office at Ibex House. The good vibrations continue with all-exclusive features in this issue of LARKmusic and Dame Evelyn Glennie, who I will always remember playing Caliban’s Dream during the London 2012 Olympics, shares her vision for music education with Lark Private Clients Director David Foster.
Talking of education, we congratulate Royal College of Music Director, Professor Colin Lawson, on being awarded the CBE in the Queen’s Honours list and he talks to us about life at the RCM. He shares the moment when his first fell in love with music and we broaden this idea to invite readers to talk about their introduction to music.
We are also proud to introduce our new Lark Scholar Renate Sokolovska, who is studying at the RCM.
Steinway & Sons has been synonymous with fine pianos since 1853 and we have been learning about what goes on ‘under the bonnet’ of concert grand pianos from Director of Concert and Artists Services, Ulrich Gerhartz. Amazing!
The wonderful Endellion String Quartet grace our pages and as they approach their 38th season read on to find out the secret of their longevity!
Best wishes Gemma Deavall Divisional Director to Music Division [email protected]
ARTICLES 11 How I fell in love with music
Retired Professor Leslie Brent shares his poignant memories 19 Musical Notes
News from Lark Private Clients Director Julie Webb
22 Out & About 20 Ice baby The music team’s Isabella Valentini reports on a busy Meet new Lark Scholar, flautist Renate Sokolovska, season of events who is studying a Masters at the RCM larkinsurance.co.uk Life on Mars Virtuoso percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie shares her vision to teach the world to listen with Lark Private Clients Managing Director David Foster
istening is the key to general music lesson. By the time we and asked if I could have lessons, everything, according to left at the age of 11 to go to secondary which were provided by the school Dame Evelyn Glennie – school, we could all read music and system. and not just music. had an appreciation of general music L “My percussion teacher refused to and music-making. Her aim is to teach the world to listen allow his pupils to specialise. He but she has actually been doing it all “I went to a secondary school that was adamant that we would have of her life. was a really good school for music, a good grounding on hand-tuned When she first voiced her ambition to sport, drama and all sorts of subjects. timpani, on snare-drum technique, be a solo percussionist music Music was a hugely important part of xylophone and vibraphone. the whole school’s ethos. academics thought she had ‘landed “With that, you could feed into many from Mars’ but she made them come “There were many groups, orchestras, d i f fer ent t y p e s a nd s t yle s of mu sic. S o, round to her way of thinking. bands and choirs, so during one in fact, less was more. assembly, I could see the orchestra For Dame Evelyn, the lure of “The city of Aberdeen didn’t have a playing. It was where I saw percussion started at a tiny primary percussion store, just a general music percussion for the first time. school in the north-east of Scotland. store which mainly sold pianos, She said: “The entire school had only “When you see an orchestra so it meant all of our experiences two teachers and a maximum of play, that’s pretty special and I playing music came from the piano about 43 pupils. was intrigued by the variety of repertoire, violin repertoire, flute and “Every Friday we all received a instruments. I was really inspired so on.
Dame Evelyn Glennie and David Foster play the Amadinda Picture: Ian West
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Dame Evelyn Glennie plays the Marimba at Harrogate Picture: James Wilson
“We didn’t have tutor books and days. What is the difference? Now just for there to be no work at the end exercise books – we created our own I need some more substantial of it. exercises from pieces of music. All repertoire, I need composers to write “I said ‘hang on a second, I do not of the time, we were dealing with for percussion rather than making want to be a member of an orchestra, music as opposed to exercises, so by arrangements’. so you are creating a problem there not having something meant that we that doesn’t actually exist’. created something else. “When I went to audition for the Royal Academy of Music, I obviously “I asked them, ‘Am I good enough to “The imagination really was did my best. I thought it went fine, get in. Yes or no?’ completely ripe from the beginning.” and everything was OK. “They said: ‘Yes, however, we just Dame Evelyn says all of the “However, they wrote back and said can’t accept you.” percussionists were given the they did not believe any professional opportunity to play solos during orchestra would hire a hearing “I felt that it simply was not good school and community concerts so enough. You can not start picking she ‘just assumed’ that the whole and choosing people even if they are world was full of solo percussionists. of the standard to get in. I told them I said hang on a how I felt. She said: “It was pretty normal for us to play solos – it was only when second, am I good “One man on the panel was David I became a full-time student in Robertson and he listened and London and said I wanted to be a solo enough to get in? basically said, come back and we will percussionist that they thought I’d give you a completely unprepared landed from Mars. Yes or no? audition. “The music professors were saying “The audition consisted of everything that no one has done this. Where is impaired musician and therefore on being done at the piano. There was no percussion playing whatsoever. the repertoire? Why do you think you that basis they would not be able to It was all to do with music analysis, can do it? accept me. keyboard skills, figure base, “I told them, ‘I am already doing it “They said they did not think it would transposition, looking at a score and and have been for all of my school be fair that they took me on board deciding who might have written
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A musician is someone who creates sound and makes emotion through that sound and it connects with another person. So that is all about listening, and then what does that person do with that something?
that, and why do you think that. She said: “We are dealing with the hold the stick or whatever it is … it Just general musicianship. I did not oldest style of instruments, yet the is asking them to listen themselves know what was going to come at me. repertoire is the most recent, and so that they can create their own therefore you are not dependent on journey. From that stems how “Once that had finished, the going into a record store or looking listening becomes so crucial, in the Academy said, right, you can start in on YouTube and finding lots of workplace or the domestic situation. September.” performances for these pieces of “Most of the breakdowns or “David Robertson was a wonderful music. challenges that we have are to do with man and really hugely important to “You have to listen to yourself in listening. They really do. It’s the one me during my student years. order to play these pieces. You have thing that is the glue between people. “So from then on it was just a case to make a decision as regards to how “So for me, knowing that the body is of plugging away. I had two major TV you feel something might be played; not going to carry on as a performer documentaries made about me and so that’s the first thing. for evermore, there will come a time that generated quite a lot of interest. “When asked to do masterclasses – whereby I won’t be happy with what “From there I got invitations to play that is very much a form of listening. I am doing. So I have to think also, at after-dinner speeches and that Not just listening to what the players well, what is a musician? allowed me to build up a repertoire do there, but actually listening to that “A musician is someone who creates and put little programmes together, individual and why they are making sound and makes emotion through and just get the experience of the choices they are making, and that sound and it connects with performing solo.” how can you inspire them to move another person. So that is all about forward and have faith in their own Dame Evelyn is the first person to listening, and then what does that sort of being as a musician. person do with that something? make a career out of solo percussion and her vision to teach the world to “That is all about listening. It is not “Unfortunately, music is no longer listen has evolved naturally through about this is how you do this or that regarded as an essential subject in the whole idea of percussion in itself. is how you do that, this is how you schools and that is sad.
Dame Evelyn's collection of 2,000 percussion instruments include the new Aluphone, above, to ancient pieces from Polynesia
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“And although more people are experiencing music in isolation because of the internet - more people are feeding music into their ears, but it is not making them better listeners. “It is also slightly overloaded towards popular music which is absolutely crucial, but they are not going to have the patience to listen to a 20-30 minutes’ piece of music – not unless it has visuals and everything else attached to it. “It is peeling back the senses again and thinking how we can communicate with each other. So all of the work we are all doing plays a part in that - the excitement of feeling that something is being created in front of our very own eyes.” Dame Evelyn also feels strongly that music can help social cohesion. She said: “Participation could be quite a scary word but it doesn’t just mean picking up an instrument and playing. It could mean just simply being beside an instrument as it is Dame Evelyn Glennie plays the waterphone Picture: Jim Callaghan being played by someone else. It is just talking about the experiences. “I was talking with a colleague who wanted to find an instrument that 2017 CONCERT DATES 2017 might help a young child who was the last 10,000 years. Audiences going through various challenges. FEBRUARY 1 will be able to hear the story of how humans have changed the world “When this child becomes angry, the with Glasgow Celtic Festival from the first stone tools through to automatic reaction is give them a Trilok Gurtu the nuclear age. drum and let them go bang, bang, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, bang. That, therefore, could be Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. Visit cambridgelivetrust.co.uk associated with anger. World première of Trilok and LISTEN IN “But anger doesn’t have to be Dame Evelyn’s first collaborative 50 composers each wrote 50 bars associated with being loud and creation, The Rhythm in for Dame Evelyn’s 50th birthday. aggressive. It can be something very Me, commissioned by Celtic Listen to “50 for 50” on Youtube gentle. Listen to the resonance, make Connections to celebrate the 70th and visit evelyn.co.uk it perhaps a low sound so there is anniversary of India’s independence time to feel that. So, we are almost in 2017. Playing around the office thinking of the opposites here. Dame Evelyn says she was amazed The Celtic Connections programme at how well the community reacted “When you think about the power runs from January 19 to to her Playing Around the Office of sound as opposed to the power of February 5. Tickets £20-£23, series where she explores sound music, then we can begin to connect call 0141 353 8000 or visit capabilities from using different with other people. glasgowconcerthalls.com sticks to strike cajons to ‘letting her “The word ‘music’ is quite overloaded MARCH 12 imagination go’ playing intriguing because the reaction could be, ‘I don’t Sounds of Science waterphones. know anything about music, I’m not Cambridge Corn Exchange, Who’s Listening musical, I don’t have rhythm, I can’t Wheeler Street, Cambridge sing’ – all the negatives come down. A collection of short masterclass- Developed in collaboration with like videos, released every other “Think about just the sound. Take the composer Jill Jarman and world month, tackling a myriad of time to digest that sound element. history author Christopher Lloyd, different aspects on being a Then you have a pathway to link it Sounds of Science is an audio musician. to another sound and then another narrative that details nearly 100 Visit evelyn.co.uk sound. And that, then, becomes scientific discoveries made over music.”
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Learning from the master: Professor Colin Lawson teaching student Elliot Gresty at the Royal College of Music. Elliot is playing an English Clarinet, c1820 Picture: Chris Christodoulou LARKmusic Tears of joy
Royal College of Music Director Professor Colin Lawson tells Lark Private Clients Director Julie Webb what moves him and why he thinks his CBE goes to many people
here have been give them freedom in musicality to Masterclasses by top musicians such occasions where I develop their potential. as Maxim Vengerov and Imogen have been in tears Cooper are another reason why The individual attention is key and listening to music students are attracted here. T the London location is good for played by the students – I am very everyone in the building, but it’s no moved by what they achieve. WHAT’S NEXT? good to be sitting back - they have to ‘When RCM Chairman Professor be out there. We put a high premium Most of our plans centre round Lord Winston and I were at the on entrepreneurship in our vision modernisation and the £40 million RCM Symphony Orchestra’s statement because students need to philanthropic investment in our performance of Richard Strauss’ create a job for themselves - and that facilities. The new performance Alpine Symphony neither of us could is why we have good employability. spaces, practice rooms, a restaurant speak at the end of it. The music was and museum will be created around We have a very high success rate in so good. an open-air quadrangle at the centre students leaving here and being in of our estate. Nobody can put a price on that. work or studying. We are knitting together the past, I am lucky, doing things I adore. I present and future; the new building love being surrounded by music and will give more people access to that makes all the bureaucracy and Music is a excellence, opening the college to accountability worthwhile. those who are not quite sure if they My CBE belongs to lots of people language and can come in - perhaps they find the at the RCM; I have an awful lot doors rather forbidding. We need to of respect for my colleagues – an activity get past that. the managers, musicians and I was at a Brexit meeting with the administrators who make it such a that transcends new Mayor of London and it was stimulating place. all ages agreed how important access is. It’s a You have got to have good people tragedy that there is so much musical around you, doing their job well. I potential not being realised in this like people to fly and to come to me We have a dynamic senior country. We have an obligation to do with ideas. One of the best things I management team – on the artistic something about it. have done since joining the RCM in side we have Stephen Johns who was Schools come into the College and 2005 is to appoint incredible staff, as Vice President of EMI Classics; keen our Sparks programme reaches well as persuading other great people fundraising through Lily Harriss who thousands of people but I would to stay. came from Dulwich Picture Gallery and Talia Hull, in Communications, like to reach more and the digital My parents were controlling so who is ex-BBC. revolution may help us to do that. my leadership style tends to be the We have recently acquired Markova opposite of that. It seems to work Communication has got so much House, making our facilities about 1.5 and helps create the warm, inspiring sharper and in a global market it times bigger, so it will broadly atmosphere which is so important. is important to keep our eyes on Vienna, Berlin, Paris, Moscow and be relieving space. It contains the Music is a language and an activity Beijing. According to the QS World original RCM concert hall from 1887 that transcends all ages. That’s University Rankings we are the top and there was a period it was used for why I like to play in staff-student conservatoire in the UK, second in the Royal College of Organists. It will concerts, although it can be a scary Europe and third in the world for be good to reclaim it for rehearsal experience because the students are Performing Arts. space and for opera. so accomplished. The RCM has led the charge and What the students want is practice We have 800 students and each one it is a very rich environment. We facilities. We are open 24/7 so we do is treated as an individual. They are offer something special, a broad and what we can for student experience. inspired by what goes on here and we holistic experience. We don’t have immediate plans 9 larkinsurance.co.uk
‘It all started with the Messiah when I was five’ to expand the student numbers associated fragments CD reached the – although e-learning will be on the top 20 in the classical charts. agenda in the future and we will be Colin co-edited the Cambridge delivering degrees looking at History of Music and Performance remotely. in 2012 with Robin Stowell and is We offer music education but we now working on the Cambridge want to create more of a university Encyclopedia of Historical experience, a broader range of degree Performance in Music. options. And because we want to As well as music, Colin and his wife attract more people our museum Hilary (a former manager at Radio will be key because it has so many 3) like to travel – from relaxing on treasures. We want it to come into the the Aeolian Islands, near Sicily, to centre stage. watching a Yankees baseball game Musical instruments were not built with their son, Oliver, while in the US. to be looked at. People should hear Oliver, 31, is a BBC Sport scheduling them and we will make copies of manager and Queen’s Park Rangers the instruments so visitors can try fan so Colin occasionally joins him to them. We are also going to take some watch home matches. instruments on a roadshow while the museum is closed during the building ozart devotee Colin has a works. We’ll digitise our collection, Mozart devotee Colin Lawson with a Mcollection of 30 old clarinets too, so there’s lots to do. Clarinet in C, after Baumann c1805 and copies, matching repertoire from c1700-c1930. His favourite The museum will be a totally a fantastic learning resource. instrument in the collection different experience. Over the years From the highest quality one-to- is a basset clarinet which he we have built up the collection and we one teaching and advocacy to commissioned in 1988. have the oldest string keyboard e-learning, the RCM is embracing c1480 and an autograph of Mozart’s C Colin said: “I commissioned the the 21st century. minor Piano Concerto K. 491. instrument from the Cambridge maker Daniel Bangham in order to I am enthusiastic about connecting olin started playing the perform Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto sound and vision and got Hugo recorder at the age of five and Quintet on period instruments. Dalton to paint the walls of the after he heard Handel’s original museum. We like students “It has four extra notes at the bottom Messiah at Ripon ’ to learn across different genres and C of the compass and the extra tubing is Cathedral, in Yorkshire. Hugo is an embodiment of that. contained in an S-bend within the He moved on to play the piano and by box just above the bell. Looking ahead, we also need to eight he was playing the clarinet. He consider digital and the human “I have played these pieces around joined the National Youth Orchestra interface. We go to Korea, Japan and the world and recorded the Concerto and went on to study music at Oxford China to audition potential students in 1989 and the Quintet in 2012. University. and I don’t think that will change “It is a unique instrument and because we must turn up to see a Colin’s interest in ‘the academic special to me. When playing such an musician inhabiting the stage. |side of things’ took him to a series instrument I learned one important of university posts which he has Videoconferencing can be useful for rule from Horn Professor Nigel Black: combined with playing clarinet in an afternoon’s teaching but it is not a “You’ve got to know what’s going to many high-profile concerts such as substitute – you are not going to get a come out of the instrument before concertos at Carnegie Hall. teacher to help put a bow on a string you blow it.” if they are 3,000 miles away! Colin has an international profile as a period clarinettist and has played Masterclasses are often put online principal in most of Britain’s leading and the numbers visiting our site are See the RCM’s redevelopment period orchestras. His discography astonishing, up to five million hits. plans or a schedule of concerts at comprises concertos by Fasch, Hook, rcm.ac.uk or for details of joint Video is also good for feedback, so for Mahon, Mozart, Spohr, Telemann, Lark-RCM evenings email julie. instance, an orchestra can see what Vivaldi and Weber, while his [email protected] went well or what went wrong, so it is recent Mozart Clarinet Quintet and
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Share your story of falling in love with music
PROFESSOR COLIN LAWSON etired Professor Leslie “In the spring of 1938, when the WAS CAPTIVATED BY MUSIC Brent was one of the lives of German Jews were already AT THE AGE OF FIVE. UK’s leading transplant severely restricted, he invited WE ARE ASKING READERS immunologists and me to accompany him to a choral R concert, held by musicians and TO SHARE MEMORIES OF part of the team presented with WHEN THEY FELL IN LOVE the 1960 Nobel Prize in medicine singers in a large synagogue. The WITH MUSIC AND RETIRED and physiology. work performed was Mendelssohn’s PROFESSOR LESLIE BRENT, Elijah. He was born in 1925 in a small WHO ATTENDS AS MANY town in north-east Germany, not “Although it was long, and I was at LONDON CONCERTS AS HE far from the Baltic Sea. times in danger of falling asleep, CAN, TELLS HIS REMARKABLE this performance made a very deep STORY His love of music came at a time of impression on me and kindled my great turmoil in his life. He said: interest in music. This concert “My parents were Jewish and in was a revelation and became an 1936 I was subjected to persecution important influence. by my form teacher (who often appeared in brown shirt uniform) “Just before my retirement I joined as well by fellow pupils, who took to the Crouch End Festival Chorus pelting me with stones. My parents and over the next 15 years I took arranged a safe haven in a Jewish part in two performances of Elijah. boys’ orphanage in Berlin. This was for me a deeply moving experience. “The orphanage director, Dr. Kurt Krohn, was devoted to his 100 or so “Although I do not play an charges and, with his staff, ran the instrument, music has been one orphanage to the best of his ability of my passions throughout my life and coped with an influx of boys and has helped me get through such as myself who were at risk. troublesome periods.” “He took a liking to me and To share your story in arranged for me to attend a Jewish LARKmusic magazine please Gymnasium, where he thought I email isabella.valentini@ Professor Leslie Brent would thrive better. larkinsurance.co.uk Game of ping-pong offered passport to a new life chance game of ping-pong gave Leslie Brent “Bunce Court became a fixed point of reference for the passport to a new life. He was one me. I felt loved and that is so important for any A of the first of 10,000 child refugees child.” to arrive at Dovercourt reception centre, near Harwich. Leslie, left, never saw his parents or only sister again. He said: “It was not for Head teacher Anna Essinger, who had fled many years that I discovered their fate Germany to open Bunce Court School on but I am grateful to the staff for dealing the North Downs, in Kent, was waiting at so discreetly with the loss of my family, the Dovercourt, ready to take some of the burdened as they must have been with youngsters back to her school. She had their own loss of loved ones.” He added: travelled with one of her pupils, Gabi Adler. “The school also taught me to form critical Leslie, 91, said: “Gabi put in a good word for opinion and stand on my own two feet.” me as we had got on well playing ping-pong. When I bumped into Anna, she knew who I was Appreciation of arts and classical music and asked ‘would you like to come to my school?’ I was encouraged by Anna Essinger. She put on stammered ‘yes please’ and that was it, my life took concerts in the school’s amphitheatre and invited the a new direction. That event profoundly affected my local community, friends and supporters to watch survival, development and career. performances from Shakespeare to The Magic Flute.
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Ulrich Gerhartz in his workshop at Steinway & Sons in London Picture: Will Tisdall
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ULRICH GERHARTZ IS THE KEY frame and this year she needed a new MAN AT STEINWAY & SONS IN pinblock before being restrung once MORE WAYS THAN ONE. AS more. DIRECTOR OF CONCERT AND “This work is like open-heart surgery ARTISTS SERVICES HE IS PIANO and can only be carried out in the TECHNICIAN EXTRAORDINAIRE Hamburg factory. Happily, she came TO THE STARS, WRITES PRIVATE back to my workshop with a new CLIENTS DIRECTOR JULIE WEBB lease of life. “She was built in 1980 and is a lrich Gerhartz talks about unique case; generally a well-used pianos as if they are people, concert grand will only see up to very important people. 15 to 20 years’ service before being retired. U“They are all individuals,” he says. “I select them when they are “Violins last hundreds of years but young and raw, but they need time that’s not the case with performance and alot of work to find themselves pianos. and develop. That’s what I give to them.” “Of course, we are talking about performance pianos here, a domestic He leans into a Model D concert grand piano will stay in a family for piano in his London workshop at generations.” Steinway Hall and says: “I went to the Hamburg factory six weeks ago and Ulrich continued: “These selected this piano for the London performance instruments are a Concert Hire fleet. massive feat of engineering; there is 20 tons of tension in a grand piano, “The instrument is just starting to held by a cast iron frame within a wake up. I like it because it was born hardwood case that supports the right, with a character suitable to be frame. When you create tension and part of our fleet.” pressure at the same time you want So we are not just talking about the soundboard to vibrate freely, to pianos, but personalities. take the energy from the vibrating string and push out the sound of the Another piano Ulrich is particularly fond of is the ‘Old Lady’ at Wigmore piano. Hall. He says ‘she’ is much-loved by “There are 12,000 parts in a the older generation of pianists who Steinway and they all have to be appreciate the history of the keyboard in tune with each other. I am like and her ‘warmer, singing quality’. a mechanic, under the bonnet The Old Lady is one of three resident of a high performance piece of Steinway & Sons Model D concert engineering. This job is all about grand pianos which he maintains performance. Yes – performance, at the London concert hall, in performance, performance.” Wigmore Street, a stone’s throw from When concert halls or individual Steinway’s headquarters. pianists order a new piano Ulrich He said: “The Old Lady has been often travels to Hamburg to hand- rebuilt many times and that has pick one that he thinks will be an included being sent back to Hamburg appropriate choice. He said: “When for repairs on two occasions. This I select a piano I am looking for a included refinishing of the cast iron specific character which will
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suit a particular venue, pianist or pianists is important, I file away the every hammer, every string, every repertoire.” information. When you look after a key,” he says. pianist for a concert you do not just He said: “Pianos for the Proms, for It was never Ulrich’s plan to become look after the piano but the whole example, are selected to be suitable probably the world’s most important to fill a 5,000-seater auditorium package; how the piano is lit, how the piano technician. He said: “I wanted and successfully compete with a full pianist like to sits on the stage, what to train as an architect or be involved orchestra. preference of action and tone – bright in design. and light, slightly heavier – and “For instance, if the programme everything in between.” “As a schoolboy I was always includes the five Prokofiev concertos, drawing, painting and making with three different pianists due to furniture but I wanted to learn how play, it is crucial that the piano suits to make something properly. I grew the venue and the repertoire, almost There is a need to to realise that the dialogue between regardless of players – that’s the brief. the architect and craftsmen is not recruit more piano always easy. “However, at Wigmore Hall, a piano is prepared for a softer sound, with technicians, possibly “I thought I would learn a handicraft less sound projection. It has to be so I would have that understanding easy to control, while at the Royal students who do not before becoming an architect. Albert Hall pianos need a bright and “I applied to Steinway & Sons in clear sound with fast projection.” follow a full-time Hamburg, got an interview, and as Ulrich’s attention to detail and love of soon as I set foot in the factory I knew his trade goes far beyond being a job. music career I wanted this to be my career. It was He considers his work, and that of his as simple as that – I have been here 30 team of technicians, as ‘a service to years and I have never looked back. music’. Ulrich says he does not have perfect pitch and uses a tuning fork as a “I was one of four apprentices in He is on call seven days a week and reference for the required pitch. the workshop and we were all given runs his own diary. He said: “My job Everything is guided by well-trained woodwork tools, our bench and the is a lifestyle. I am fully immersed into blue apron of the cabinet maker – ear and experienced hands. this world of pianos, I never really and I am still proud to wear the blue stop.” “Every note has to pull its weight – apron today. His work supports the world’s top pianists – and many of them are now close friends, such is the bond between player and technician. He flies across the globe to prepare venue pianos for concerts or carry out an annual service which is part of his unique Steinway package. One of his many famous clients is concert pianist Murray Perahia. “Murray is a great hero of mine,” says Ulrich. The admiration is reciprocal and Murray describes Ulrich as a ‘tireless worker who strives for the highest ideals’. Murray told LARKmusic: “I have worked with Uli over many years, in concerts, recording and private work. “All aspects of taking care of the piano whether it be voicing, tuning, regulating the action, pedal ... he gives everything the utmost care and attention. “I trust him completely and I know that if Uli is working on my piano it will be at its best, its optimum condition.” In response to such an endorsement Ulrich is modest. He said: “Knowing Julie Webb watches Ulrich at work Picture: Will Tisdall 14 LARKmusic
I trust Uli completely and if he is working on my piano I know it will be at its best, its optimum condition Murray Perahia
“The pianos we build in Hamburg allow me, and artists, to be creative with touch and tone. I could not look after artists if I did not have the infrastructure to create the sound I want – it would be like a master chef who is told he or she could only use cheap ingredients – they would lose everything that inspires them to create the greatest dishes.” Concert pianist Murray Perahia Picture: Nana Watanabe Ulrich also feels strongly that there should be more opportunities “We had to go into the timber yard players all come for concerts; the for people to join his profession. and choose a piece of wood, complete Royal Festival, Wigmore Hall, the Steinway has apprentices and with its bark, and make it into a Barbican and so on. Ulrich also mentors many freelance plank. For the first 10 weeks we were technicians at venues worldwide. trained in cabinet making of the “In 1994, I took over the Steinway finest quality, the quality expected by Concert and Artists Department He said: “There’s a shortage of Steinway & Sons. and got involved in building up a qualified piano technicians and first-class fleet of concert pianos at tuners. There is a need to recruit “For three and a half years the Steinway Hall. I introduced a regular more, possibly using students who apprenticeship took us through piano maintenance and replacement do not follow a path into full-time case-making, rim bending, sound programme in all major concert music. Steinway needs to have the board and veneer departments, venues to ensure the highest standard best technicians to look after the best action assembly, regulation, tuning of pianos are available to pianists. pianos. and voicing on both upright and grand pianos. Twice a year we were “As a result, the quality of pianos “Our reputation is everything and sent to a specialist school near nationwide is much improved which the pianos we have on concert Stuttgart to learn the theory and makes the Steinway brand stronger. platforms all over the world are a construction of piano manufacturing. The demand for quality has grown real responsibility for Steinway & and will always be there.” Sons. Our biggest support and quality “After my apprenticeship, I knew I control is through our artists who did not want to work in the factory. Ulrich believes that the price of a choose to play our pianos. Almost bizarrely, my parents Steinway piano, and the servicing, is “I feel deeply responsible for being transferred to London and so in 1989 sometimes misunderstood. He said: given charge of these pianos. I am a when I visited them and asked the “People think they are expensive General Manager at Steinway & Sons custodian – I work for Steinway and I but after visiting the factory to see regard these as my pianos.” in London for a place, he said ‘when how much labour and loves goes into do you want to start?’ building the pianos they understand! “In London’s restoration centre I “Steinway pianos have the best could learn to rebuild rather than possible sound because of their unique A Lark Insurance and Steinway make new pianos. London is also, construction and the materials used, & Sons evening will be held early let’s be honest, the place to be. as well as the time and skill put in 2017. To express an interest in into each one. I would not be in this “Our showroom sells more pianos attending contact julie.webb@ than any other dealer in Europe – profession if Steinway was not striving larkinsurance.co.uk and London is where the greatest only for the very best.
15 larkinsurance.co.uk Fabulously four As the Endellion String Quartet approaches its 38th season, Lark asks the four musicians what keeps them together
sychologists say a moment’s “They are so together,” agreed first- Rembrandts and three van Goghs; awe is good for your health time guests, while regular followers every piece we play is a masterpiece – a feeling of admiration nodded in acknowledgement at the and there’s infinite depth. and elevation can erase the P spirit, romance and intensity of the We all have strong musical ideas stresses of everyday life. music. and those ideas are not too far apart. At a recent Lark-sponsored concert The Endellion String Quartet – Most of the time, we do not struggle given by the Endellion String Andrew Watkinson (violin), Garfield to find pieces that will satisfy us. Quartet at Wigmore Hall, it is Jackson (viola) and David Waterman There’s also a practical reason to likely that the well-being of the (cello) – have worked together for 37 which the quartet attribute their audience went up a few notches years, while Ralph de Souza (violin) ‘luck’. From the beginning they have while listening to a scintillating joined them in 1986. The musicians’ rehearsed at David’s north-west programme of classical music. mutual respect for each other’s talent London home. shines through their work. There was a collective gasp and Garfield: It’s been our base for whispers echoed around the So what is the secret of their practice since Day One and always London venue when the Quartet’s longevity? having somewhere central to meet masterful rendition of Beethoven’s has been a key factor. The room Andrew: We’ve been lucky. Our life String Quartet in F Op 59 No.1 where we play is light, it has a high is a bit like living in a house with five came to a close. ceiling and the acoustics are really good. It’s a great space to rehearse. On the practical side, we can drive into London and park before we go to concerts. It has made life much easier. Andrew: We’ve just kept on playing. We had no particular plan and we just continue to work towards the next concert. Suddenly 20 years and then 30 years have passed. Ralph: We never really think in time. We carry on doing it – if we did give it too much thought it would be terrifying. I have been playing since I was 10, when I first came over from India - that was when I played in my first quartet. We all teach at music colleges in London as well as at courses around the country. We also mentor non- music groups, too, so we are always busy. Garfield: Playing in a quartet was not something I was going to do. But no matter what I tried, fate sucked me in. Just before we got together I’d left another quartet and had handed over my viola to my successor – but within The Endellion String Quartet: Above, from left, Andrew Watkinson, Ralph de an hour the phone rang and it was Souza, Garfield Jackson and David Waterman. Andrew asking me to join another Right: Concentration during rehearsals - plus slippers and mugs of tea quartet.
16 Pictures: Will Tisdall
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In rehearsal: From left, Andrew Watkinson and Ralph de Souza Picture: Will Tisdall
Andrew: The wonderful thing playing the music we do, is that so much of it can be learned forever and Music is a language, we can continue to improve on how to communicate its extraordinary depth. not just a background David: We have a large repertoire covering centuries from Purcell to the he Endellion String much about music so we demonstrate present day. The core is the Austro- Quartet’s longevity has how many ways a piece can be played, German line from Haydn, Mozart, also brought them to the how much choice we have working Beethoven and Schubert through T attention of major organisations together as a team and how we go Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms about resolving any conflict to create to Schoenberg, Webern and Berg. who have been quick to see that the musicians’ unique decision- a harmonious melody. Over the years we have developed a making, understanding and Many people are amazed by being in way of approaching each composer acceptance of each other’s roles are a room and hearing music at close in this line and although each piece is hand. They love how immediate it is a unique individual, there are family skills that can be transferred. when we resolve things together. resemblances between them which Andrew: Teamwork is what hopefully give richness and depth to companies are after – and project We get them to sit with us, literally in one’s interpretations over time. management. the middle of us, and they get a true Composers out of that tradition who sense of our communication. perhaps wrote one or two quartets – We have, over time, developed such as Sibelius and Smetana – Why are we still ways of defusing and avoiding present different challenges and we contention, although it is impossible work hard to try to enter into the spirit together? Perhaps it is to communicate why we are still of each style. because the music is so together. The French works of Debussy and Perhaps it is because the music is Ravel are full of colour; refined, astonishing and it’s a so astonishing and it’s a lifetime of delicate and full of subtle perfume. work. Music is a language, not just a They are distinct from their German lifetime of work background. It has to be spoken. contemporaries and from each other, and from the genius of Faure. People are interested in how we work Ralph: It’s funny, though, talking together and why we still do it, after about French and German music. all this time. They want to know if we For details on the Endellion When it comes to instruments, criticise each other, how we deal with String Quartet’s teamwork everyone wants to own a good French disagreements and how we make and leadership sessions please bow. The Italians make the best decisions. contact Jessica Sharp, Director violins and many consider the best of Sponsorship and Corporate music is German! We need a British I tell them it’s always very civilised. Events, at jessicasharp@ quality component. We play bridge before a concert, and btinternet.com during the interval, and try to keep For the Endellion String The answer? We at Lark consider the relaxed. Quartet’s concert dates visit Endellion String Quartet to be that endellionquartet.com very great British component. David: Some people may not know
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LARKmusic MUSICAL NOTES News from Julie Webb Lark Private Clients Director
any Happy Returns to Nigel Kennedy who turned 60 on December M28. Happy His CD, My World, was released a few days before his birthday and I found it touching to learn that the first part of the album, Dedications, salutes his 60th, mentor Yehudi Menuhin. Yehudi recognised Nigel’s talent early on, gave him a scholarship Nigel and paid for his tuition and lodging for 10 years. Nigel acknowledges: “I probably wouldn’t have been a classical musician except for him putting me in that environment.” Nigel shot to fame in 1989 with a recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons but the new CD features his own compositions. He said: “My vision is to make music that transcends all conventions.” Dedications is also a tribute to other musical role models such as Isaac Stern, Stéphane Grappelli and Mark Nigel Kennedy has recorded a CD which is the first of his own compositions O’Connor. Nigel now divides his time between was buzzing with talk of Rebeca’s graduate, told LARKmusic: “It was homes in the UK and Poland. He is interpretation of Ravel’s Scarbo and an amazing experience. “When married to Polish lawyer Agnieszka his hallucinatory score from Gaspard sailing, we play every day so I get to and has one son. de la Nuit. know my audience. That is unusual for a musician and, on the next Rebeca, who was mentored by Julian sailing, it all happens all over again! Sea of music Lloyd Webber after she won the “The Lincoln Center is an area on the nother violinst who I much Delius competition at Birmingham ship where passengers stop by and I Aadmire is Kerson Leong, who Conservatoire, said: “Every concert have come to like this.” performed in the Lark-sponsored is for the audience, not yourself. The Visit rwsandassociates.com/ former prizewinners concert at the moment you start playing you hear lincolncenterstage Menuhin Competition this year. them, you know them, and you are Kerson, a Canadian, is one of a able to take them with you.” Never too late growing number of musicians who have been enjoying concerts at sea! Julian Lloyd Webber said: “Rebeca played the French horn as a plays with a depth of insight and Iteenager but wanted something He joined the Queen Elisabeth Music understanding which is all too rare.” smaller to carry so for my 21st Voyage aboard the Silversea’s Silver birthday I asked for a flute. Earlier Wind this summer and said: “We hen Miki Sawada was chosen this year I decided it was time to played on the ship and stopped in Wto perform at the christening bring it out again. I found a local Portugal and Spain to give concerts. of Holland America Cruise ship MS teacher and had to learn from scratch It was a wonderful experience Koningsdam, she was the first to to eliminate bad habits such as performing Bruch Concerto #1 play the ship’s new Steinway Model B recorder fingers! at the Alcazar, in Seville, and the concert grand piano. I have just passed my Grade 2 with Monasterio De San Jeronimo, in distinction and I’m now getting on Granada.” Miki and the ship’s chamber orchestra with Grade 3. So it doesn’t matter performed flawless renditions of what age you are – you can still learn. oncert pianists Rebeca Omordia I love my lessons and my teacher and and Miki Sawada have also the Netherlands’ National Anthem C I have a good laugh! gained a great acclaim while and US National Anthem in front of performing on cruise ships. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands. Read my Lark Ascending blog Fred. Olsen’s 900-guest ship Braemar Miki, a Yale School of Music at larkinsurance.co.uk
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20 LARKmusic ICE BABY Meet new Lark Scholar Renate Sokolovska
hen Renate watch my mother play the piano and is studying A-levels. Sokolovska was a my father sing. “At the Purcell School I studied with baby her mother “Dad also played the viola and so I Anna Pope, who is an exceptional would wrap her W wanted to play, too. However, he had teacher, and went on to take my tightly in a blanket and leave her a different dream for me. degree at the Royal Academy of Music. outside in a cradle. “Dad bought me a flute and I took “I went out to work, touring and There’s nothing too unusual about to it straight away. In my first year playing across UK and Europe. Since that except the temperature in Siberia of playing I won second prize in a then I realised that when you are was -25C. competition – although I was tiny working there is no time to perfect Renate’s Latvian father, Daumands, and played on a piccolo. your technique, so my boyfriend, and her Russian mother, Tatyana, composer George Stevenson, and I “I left my school after a couple of took a year out to study in Russia. had moved to Siberia when years to study at the Emil Darzin Daumands was appointed as Pastor Music School. “George studied composition and I in the town of Novokuznetsk. took advanced studies at The Moscow “Later, when Latvia joined the Renate says her mother, Tatyana, still Conservatoire with Olga Ivusheikova insists the fresh air was good for her and Oleg Hudyakov. only daughter. “It inspired me to further my learning Renate, 30, said: “Perhaps I do have and I was thrilled to be accepted for strong lungs because of my mother’s the Royal College of Music Orchestral theory!” Performance Masters Programme. She added: “Novokuznetsk is a “I want to spend two years completely mining town and my first memories, immersing myself in learning. apart from the snow and ice, were When I found out I had received a scholarship from Lark Insurance of my parents taking me and my everyone said ‘you are lucky, they are brothers to the Banya, the traditional lovely people’. Russian bath. “It is no exaggeration to say I would “Here we would have our weekly not be able to pursue my musical wash and then have to run into the ambitions without Lark’s help. snow – then do it all over again. It’s a traditional Russian idea and “At the recent Lark music evening considered good for body strength. at the RCM I was nervous but when I am rarely ill, and have great I met David Foster and Julie Webb resilience, so it might have worked. they were so warm and encouraging. I can’t tell you how happy I was.” “Actually, my parents have had Resilient: Left and above, Lark some mad ideas over the years; after Scholar Renate Sokolovska Lark Private Clients Director Julie the fall of the Soviet Union we were Webb said: “Renate is a hugely able to reclaim some beautiful land European Union, my father was given talented flautist. She is an absolute in rural Latvia, where they decided to the opportunity to study for a Masters delight we hope we can help her try their hand at growing potatoes. It in Theology so in 2002 our family achieve her dream of playing in an was a wonderful experience, but the moved to Bracknell, in Berkshire. orchestra.” combination of marauding wild boar “We thought we would only be in and lack of good schools soon took us the UK a year until my father said on to Riga. he needed longer for his studies. My To see Renate’s full musical “I still say, though, we grew the best brother Peteris, who plays the cello, biography visit larkinsurance. potatoes ever! and I then applied to the Purcell co.uk School. I was 17 and Peteris was 14. To express an interest in “My parents went on to form a church attending a concert featuring rock band, touring across Russia, the “I also have two other brothers; Janis Renate please contact julie. US and Europe. They have always who is studying a PhD at Queen [email protected] loved music and as a child I would Mary’s University, and Richard, who
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Out & About with Isabella Valentini Lark Musical Instruments Division
ISABELLA VALENTINI READ MUSIC AT THE Amati UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM BEFORE WORKING AS A FREELANCE SOPRANO AND SINGING We hosted a trade stand at the Amati exhibition in TEACHER. WHILE OUT JOGGING SHE MET A LARK the Langham Hotel, London. Jamie, Sarah, Charlott INSURANCE MANAGER AND, TO CUT A LONG and the team made us feel welcome and our supply STORY SHORT, JOINED THE MUSIC TEAM THIS of chocolates also made us a popular fuelling station. SUMMER. This was a great way to make new friends and check in with some of our longstanding and faithful clients to hear about their trade and work, plus we might be one of the newest members of the were treated to some beautiful chamber music. I left Lark team but I’ve already gained a reputation feeling guilty for not having played my viola in a while for being one of the chattiest! I love meeting and decided to revisit some of the Bach suites … Ipeople and here’s a snippet of some of the events I’ve World Premiere Wednesday Partnership attended in the second half of 2016. Our World Premiere Wednesday partnership with Thaxted Festival the London Sinfonietta continues to flourish. Tenor We were proud to sponsor the Thaxted Festival Mark Padmore and principal cellist Tim Gill recently and Lark Scholar Alexandra Lomeiko performed brought a splash of new music to the early morning Vaughan Williams’ Lark Ascending in the opening breakfast and I found it a perfect way to start the day. concert of the centenary festival (which was launched British Violin Making Association Family run and focused on protecting by Gustav Holst in 1916). If the person who made the carrot cake is reading … I’d love the recipe! Rebecca, Emma and I had a fun day at the annual your possesions since 1948. British Violin Making Association (BVMA) event in Cremona Oxford. It was a lovely opportunity to catch up with I was told that Mondomusica is the violin makers’ clients and forge new relationships. We learned about Mecca and I was overwhelmed by the scale of the violin rosin (our Lark-branded rosin went down a exhibition. Violins, violas, cellos, guitars, bows, treat) and how the weighted balance differs between wood, tools, pegs – you name it, it was there! I even a classical bow and a baroque bow. managed to brush up on my Italian and talk to some Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment of the local makers about their trade. We spent some LARKINSURANCE.CO.UK time on Florian Leonhard’s trade stand before the I’ve also been lucky to get in on the action with the Lark Party (picture below), hosted at the beautiful Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Baroque Palazzo Trecchi. The guest list included dealers and music is my weakness) and have attended a chamber makers, musicians, friends and new acquaintances – recital in Marylebone plus one of their ‘Night Shifts’ it was such a success that we’ve booked for next year. (in a pub in Islington where we sat on the floor. Google it!). We’re hoping that the OAE can help We left for home tired but content. Delayed flights us to further understand historic instruments and and food poisoning could not dampen our spirits! historical performance practice.
The diary for 2017 is already overflowing with musical treats and events. We love meeting our wonderful clients so if you are interested in joining us at a Lark Music event, please contact me at isabella.valentini@ larkinsurance.co.uk larkinsurance
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