Practice Makes Something New
Viola player Ida Bryhn (28) and violinist Sara Övinge (20) talk about talent for practice and the pleasure of contemporary music. We met Ida and Sara for a conversation about festival music, instruments, practice and emotions.
– We will do different things. What Sara will do, I have no idea.
– Me neither.
– Maybe I will do a headstand.
They laugh.
– You go first, Ida!
– I will do something I’ve been looking forward to all my life: perform the work Naturale (Su melodie siciliane) by the Italian composer Luciano Berio. It was written for percussion, tape recorder and viola and is based on Sicilian folk music.
– Tape recorder?
– Or maybe “tapes” is more accurate. Tapes with the original song. The Sicilian folk song is something special, not at all like the Norwegian one. It is more rhythmical, closer to cow-calls. Southern cow-calls. Now I feel quite lost, but this is a really good thing. I look forward to playing with a percussionist, something I have never done before. A talented guy called Eirik Raude from the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra will be handling the percussion. I will also perform some pieces by Hungarian György Kurtág. Finally, I will perform a piece I’ve commissioned from a guy called Emil Bernhardt. He’s at home writing it right now. He’s a childhood friend, a fine musician who stopped playing and started composing instead.
– I will play some Kurtág too. A violin piece called Signs, Games and Messages. It consists of many little pieces.
– There is a viola version too. In these pieces I think what he does is collect ideas. They seem like they are intended as comments to people about what is going on. Like he’s describing his own circumstances in life.
– There are two composers writing works for me right now: Martin Rane Bauck from the Norwegian Academy of Music, and Marie Samuelsson, one of the greatest composers in Sweden today in my opinion.
– And she writes for you?
– I won a contest, a listener’s award on Swedish Radio P2, in which the prize consisted of her composing a work for me. We can expect an original work full of surprises. Probably something besides violin playing as well – maybe some singing or screaming.
– Are you ready to scream?
– Absolutely. And I will play music by Gisle Kverndokk. I’ve played him before.
– Will you be playing with anyone else?
– No, this will be a solo set. But I promise, I will vary musically.
– Ida, you claimed that you’d been looking forward to playing Berio all you life…
– Not all my life. Maybe half. The first time I heard the piece performed, was in Italy. I remember the mood clearly. It was in an Italian church on a scorching summer night, and it made a lasting impression. Later, I have heard it on several occasions.
– How do you find praciticing? Ida?
– I would say that talent often is mentioned when it comes to younger performers. But the most important thing is the talent for practicing. Without it, becoming a good performer is impossible. You also need a method, and for that you need a teacher to teach you the craftsmanship of handling instruments. It’s fun to think that there are different schools, like the French or the German, that among other things regard how you grip the bow, and that your teacher had a teacher who had a teacher, and that we have a family tree pointing to where our technique comes from. I know that there is a line from my teacher to the Scottish viola player William Primrose, and that feels good [laughs].
– Who was your teacher?
– Kim Kashkashian.
– Seriously?
– Yes.
– Sara, how are you dealing with practice?
– For me, all technique is shaped by the technical. I rarely think about the technical side of things, I just try and try again until I find the tone or sound that I’m looking for. If I don’t succeed, I play a few more times and try again and again,. But in a certain moment, I have to put it away because I can only do it for so long. Then I lay it to rest for a few days. I do everything I can not to wear myself out. There is a lot going on, also outside of the practice.
– Ida?
– Musicians are different. Some strive for perfection, and that’s fine. Closing in on perfection can be a powerful expression artistically. But for me, techincal perfection is not the main thing. And if you find perfection during practice, it’s not something that can be cast in iron. Something will always happen that makes each performance different. I remember a striking comment that was made during my education. A friend said about a friend that “He’s not that good technically, he’s just practising a lot.” Well put, I’d say. A person who barely needs practicing only appears a couple of times each century.
Sara adds:
– I like to say that the foundation is made in the practice room. Here you can let things unfold spontaneously at the podium. I want something new to happen each time. Having the music in my fingers gives me freedom to do what I want, right there and then.
– What is a good education for a musician? Sara?
– For me, the instrument has always been the main thing. Musical history and musicology hasn’t been that important to me.
– The teacher plays a great part in a good education, but apart from that, I’ve learned a lot from my fellow students.
– Oh yes. Me too.
– Talking and having common goals and interest, going to the same teacher… I believe I have learnt half from teachers and half from fellow students. When it comes to history and musicology, my teachers in Boston were so good. They made me feel that not only was this relevant, but incredibly interesting. Before, I had little interest in these subjects. I’m glad I got rid of my arrogance.
– But you never got rid of you arrogance, Sara?
– Unfortunately, no. I never did.
[Laughter]
– Did you miss anything in your education, Ida?
– I would have loved to learn more about social studies in relation to music. Society has at all times determined both what kind of music has been written and how we perceive it. Every kind of art we create reflects society, whether we like it or not.
– Finally: How do you feel about contemporary music? Sara?
– When I first heard contemporary music, I thought it was difficult. It felt like it was more important for it to be strange than coming from the heart. Now I listen in a different way, in a better way, and there is so much nice music. I also like that the term “contemporary music” is so broad and contains so few rules. Besides, playing freshly written music is fun. Then nobody can compare your performances to previous ones [laughs].
– Ida?
– I seem to feel it in my body when new music is good, like a feeling of pleasure. No matter what kind of musical expression, it has some kind of organic basic mood to it. That is one criterium. I also think that when we play older music, we should think about the ways it has been performed earlier, but the music written today is meant for us who live and play today. This should be reflected in the performance.
Text: Thomas Berg
Photo: Rune Kongsro