Violinist.com Interviews: Volume 1

by Laurie Niles

In a day when any kind of music is available at the push of the button, why would anyone take up the arduous task of learning to play the violin, one of the most fiendishly difficult instruments to play well?

And if this music is so easily available, why would one aspire to the risk-laden career of a concert soloist, who makes great personal sacrifices for a life that involves traveling the world to play live concerts and leaves time for little else?

Violinist.com editor Laurie Niles seeks that answer in her newly published collection of interviews with more than two dozen of the top violinists in the world today. It's a celebration of one of the world's most enduring instruments, and the people who are helping carry forth the violin's legacy into a new generation.

"The Violinist.com Interviews: Volume 1" includes a foreword by Grammy Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn, who writes, "Laurie addresses topics that are comfortable but all-consuming, such as current projects, and delves into the delicate nuances of creativity. She captures specific moments in time. I love that. In this collection, you can observe her at work, but you will also travel along with her interview subjects."

The collection includes exclusive, one-on-one interviews conducted over the past six years with:

Anne Akiko Meyers
Adele Anthony
Rachel Barton Pine
Joshua Bell
Nicola Benedetti
Sarah Chang
Zachary DePue
James Ehnes
Simon Fischer
David Garrett
Augustin Hadelich
Hilary Hahn
Janine Jansen
Leila Josefowicz
Clara-Jumi Kang
Judy Kang
Tasmin Little
Anne-Sophie Mutter
Elmar Oliveira
Philippe Quint
Ruggiero Ricci
Stanley Ritchie
Lara St. John
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Philip Setzer
Gil Shaham
Maxim Vengerov

318 pages, Paperback

First published March 5, 2014

About the author

Laurie Niles was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in Aurora, Colorado. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and her Master of Arts in Journalism from Indiana University. After working for five years as a newspaper reporter, Laurie and her husband, Robert, founded the online musician community Violinist.com in 1996, which today reaches more than 200,000 readers a month.

As editor of Violinist.com, Laurie has written hundreds of articles and interviewed countless violinists and classical musicians. Laurie also has written articles for The Strad magazine, Symphony magazine and the American Suzuki Journal. She lives in Pasadena, California, where she also teaches violin and freelances as a violinist.

Reviews

[Laurie Niles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a lovely time writing this book and interviewing the 27 violinists featured in it. I hope it familiarizes people, young and old, with some of the best violinists of the current century and their interesting way of viewing the world and their work. The book includes a foreward by Hilary Hahn as well as photos of most of the artists interviewed. Violinists that I interviewed over the last six years for this book include: Anne Akiko Meyers, Adele Anthony, Rachel Barton Pine, Joshua Bell, Nicola Benedetti, Sarah Chang, Zachary DePue, James Ehnes, Simon Fischer, David Garrett, Augustin Hadelich, Hilary Hahn, Janine Jansen, Leila Josefowicz, Clara-Jumi Kang, Judy Kang, Tasmin Little, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Elmar Oliveira, Philippe Quint, Ruggiero Ricci, Stanley Ritchie, Lara St. John, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, composer Esa-Pekka Salonen, Philip Setzer, Gil Shaham and Maxim Vengerov. I hope you enjoy it!

[Cicely Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! I found many of the interviews very interetsing, but personally would have preferred more of an emphasis on each individual's process, as opposed to bio. I feel like Laurie tried to get them to disclose more but interesting how so many people just want to speak in platitudes - or perhaps just tell stories that are personally resonant and don't disclose very much.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would make a wonderful gift for your violin teacher or orchestra stand partner. It's like a box of fine chocolates: varied, rich, each one delicious in its own way. The author is a thoughtful interviewer who seems to be able to relate well to the famous violinists she talks to and get them to open up to her about a myriad of topics. Her subjects are all violinists at the top of their game, and the author deserves kudos for choosing a diverse group of interviewees in terms of musical interests, age, gender, and background. Each interview is reasonably short, too, so it's easy to dip in and out.

What violinists and fans of the author's violinist.com site (I am both) would see as the book's strengths--its depth, its attention to detail, and its reverence for its subject matter--may also limit its appeal, however. Like rich chocolates, only so many of these pieces can be consumed in one sitting. It took me a year to finish the book, and I am a member of the target audience. One issue is that although the book was published in late 2014, it collects interviews from much further back. Some of them refer to happenings that were current at the time, and which worked well on the website: an album release, a series of concerts, an award, a new project that the subject is excited about, a comeback from an injury or illness. But it's not "news" 6 or 7 years after the fact and those types of comments can feel a little stale.

I also found that a book about only incredibly successful violinists, mostly competition winners with solo performing careers and recording contracts, was less inspiring than one might expect. It was interesting, for sure: the amount of work put in by these artists to achieve what they did, the different paths they followed made for educational and entertaining reading. And there were a handful of stories about artists with non-traditional backgrounds overcoming the adversity of financial insecurity, accidents, or illnesses. But in aggregate I came away with the sense that they are a breed apart, almost another species entirely from the rank and file musicians I know in community orchestras and schools, playing Christmas gigs and giving violin lessons to kids. This book's approach gives dreamers something to dream about, but these days I find that I dream about different things.