编辑推荐
*Steinhardt (Indivisible by Four: A String Quartet in
Pursuit of Harmony) turns this memoir about becoming a
classical concert performer into an adventure. Beyond the specifics
of a lifetime spent learning music (Steinhardt hated to practice
but remembers swooning to Beethoven as a six-year-old), the first
violinist of the celebrated Guarneri Quartet shapes his story with
a series of almost mythical odysseys and visions that parallel his
technical and intellectual progress. There is the search for the
right teacher and the right violin, as well as quirky impressions
of such virtuosos as Heifetz and Swigeti. But above all is
Steinhardt's ultimate challenge: interpreting J.S. Bach's Chaconne,
the most moving but inscrutable of all violin solos. Throughout,
Bach is the standard by which Steinhardt measures himself, the
artist whose "interlocking qualities of intelligence and
sensitivity" he emulates. He knows Bach's history, deconstructs his
music, even dreams about the man. When Steinhardt writes of his own
fondness for mountain climbing or playfully labels an 18th-century
instrument crafted by Sanctus Seraphim "the violin's answer to a
fashion model—slender, high-arched, shapely," his subtext is,
inevitably, the effect on playing Bach. Watching this accomplished
violinist take on the master is riveting; the feeling of immediacy
he creates in its telling is an opus at once heroic and brillante.
(Publishers Weekly (starred review) )"Entrancing...There are
marvelous stories here...this is a delightful and deeply touching
book." (Richard Goode, pianist )"My heart soared while I
read this book. I actually was moved both to laughter and tears."
--(Alan Alda )"Arnold Steinhardt has written a rapturous,
witty and passionate memoir of his life-long search for the perfect
violin." (John Guare, playwright )
内容简介
A rapturous, witty, and passionate memoir ... Violin Dreams is
not only the story of a man becoming an artist, its a history of
twentieth-century music. John Guare, Tony Awardwinning playwright
Arnold Steinhardt, for more than forty years an international
soloist and the first violinist of the Guarneri String Quartet,
brings warmth, wit, and fascinating insider details to the story of
his lifelong obsession with the violin, that most seductive and
stunningly beautiful instrument. His story is rich with vivid
scenes: the terror inflicted by his early violin teachers, the
sensual pleasure involved in the pursuit of the perfect violin, the
charged atmosphere of high-level competitions. Steinhardt describes
Bachs Chaconne as the holy grail for the solo violin, and he
illuminates, from the perspective of an ardent owner of a great
Storioni violin, the history and mysteries of the renowned Italian
violinmakers. Violin Dreams includes a remarkable CD recording of
Steinhardt performing Bachs Partita in D Minor as a young violinist
forty years ago and playing the same piece especially for this
book. A conversation between the author and Alan Alda on the
differences between the two performances is included in the liner
notes.