Cello Masterclass
This evening, I played for a cello masterclass by American cellist, Stephen Framil, at the conservatory. He has a doctorate degree in music from Indiana University where he was a student of Janos Starker.
4 students played for him, and works performed included Shostakovich's 1st Cello Concerto (1st movement) and Cello Sonata (3rd and 4th movements), Stravinsky's Suite Italian (1st 3 movements) and Kodaly's Cello Sonata Op.8 for solo cello (1st movement).
Framil talked mostly about the bow arm and vibrato for the concerto and Suite Italian, and a few of us felt that maybe he didn't know the works well enough to talk about them. But when he came to the 2 sonatas, he was very at ease and he taught with such detail (especially for Kodaly) that he could have easily gone on and on if not for the time restrain.
The 2 and a half hour masterclass finally ended at about 8.30pm. I wished he had talked more about the concerto and Suite Italian, though.