LDV88-9

Because the violin and its technique have changed since Bach. In the keyboard world, there was an epistemological break between the harpsichord and the modern piano that stringed instruments haven’t experienced, but it’s important to know that there have been breaks with the past in violin making too. The bass-bar [a strip of wood that reinforces the belly of the instrument on its underside], the tension, the slope of the bridge have all been changed. The bow evolved even more radically, following the tension of the violin. Concert halls have changed, and in any case, the Sonatas and Partitas were not intended for a concert hall audience. Faced with all of this, we have to go towards the truth of the text, as we do with any work, knowing that we are addressing an audience that isn’t necessarily familiar with this musical universe, in halls that were not designed to project the sound of a small Baroque instrument. This dance between ideal and reality is the axis in which I find myself.