The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: Check out The Violin Channel. Read about the International Competition for violin and cello in Harbin, China plus news, videos, celebrity interviews and playing tips

By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear loves the string family of the violin, viola, cello and double bass – as solo instruments, in duets with the piano, in piano trios, in string trios and string quartets, and of course in orchestras.

The various string instruments can be so songful and sound so like a human voice – plus without the words!

There are so many things The Ear, as a string fan, just learned from The Violin Channel:

That Deutsche Grammophon has an office in China. Which should come as no surprise, really, since so much of the classical music world – especially in strings and piano – now seems increasingly located in China.

That prize winners in violin and cello were just announced at the International Competition in Harbin, China. (The city of Harbin is, by the way, the capital of Heilongjiang province, the sister state of Wisconsin in China.) Frenchman Christoph Croise, below, took the top prize for cello. 

That the website also has several blogs, including some that offer practical advice on playing, specifically about bow strokes for example.

That the website tells you about new recordings, including some news by Benjamin Beilman, who soloed impressively here with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra in the Violin Concerto by Ludwig van Beethoven.

And it keeps you up to date on new YouTube videos, including one by the late Henryk Szeryng playing the Violin Concerto by Robert Schumann.

The Ear especially likes the master classes and the 20-question interviews called Meet the Pros. (You can hear one with Sarah Chang in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Here is a link:

https://www.theviolinchannel.com

The Ear hopes you enjoy it enough to bookmark it or subscribe to it.

Let us all know what you think.

The Ear wants to hear.