BACH, Johann Sebastian
Sonata for solo violin no. 1 in G minor BWV 1001
II. Fuga
Linus Roth, guest professor
Paula Mejía España, student
After the complete performance of the Fugue, the first comment Linus Roth makes is that the last chord was too long. He liked the “alla breve” part very much, but the main problem he sees in the fugue is the bowing. The professor prefers to play the chords arco down, and with the baroque bow a certain bow stroke feels very natural and the articulation is also more logical as he shows by playing. He continues to make comments on the articulation and speed, bow strokes and amount of bow more suitable for it, playing the baroque bow to show it (although the balance with this bow is different and he has to adapt it). At certain points, more flexibility of the right hand and more contact with the string are necessary to get a better sound.
He then corrects the direction of the bow for several moments and the position of the violin. For a certain long note, he asks her to play with vibrato and reflects on the erroneous idea that in baroque music it should not be played with vibrato, mentioning authors and books that did comment on it.
Although it is customary in Baroque to play more in 1st position and open strings, for a certain moment the professor suggests another fingering because it is more suitable for the voices. It is important to know how baroque music was performed (baroque bow, articulation…), to listen to interpretations by great scholars of these baroque works and to learn their fingerings, etc., but it is also important to combine this with the new things that are being learned so that the musical discourse makes complete sense.
Regarding the dynamics, he talks about how they are indicated in few moments, which gives freedom for their realization, and at a certain point although it is tradition to always start phrases in forte piano, Professor Roth proposes to start piano. He continues to propose other interpretation options, making different suggestions for bows, fingerings, etc. Afterwards, more presence of the bass pedal note is needed and further ahead the sound should resonate more. For the end, Roth also proposes some change in the direction of the bows to improve articulation and connection of notes, more in line with a great “fulminating” ending. To conclude, he ends with some reflections on studying with baroque and modern bows, the types of sound also depending on the type of strings, etc.
Language: English
