The Four Violinists

Last February, I participated in a new event called "The Four Violinists" in Japan.
The Four were all women including myself.
I would have stayed away definitely if I had been asked in the past, but this time I accepted the offer, because it looked interesting somehow.

We practiced at our old School in Senkawa, Toho Gakuken School of Music.
I met Ms. Kawada for the first time. She was lovely. When I entered the room, she bowed while practicing Kreisler's piece.
I also met Toda Yayoi. She looked dignified as a mother of two babies. I said "you need physical strength most at this time ", a remark like one more experienced.
Kato Tomoko and I had studied together since we were 5 years old. We also shared the same career in the early stage. We started at Toho music classes, studied with Mr. Kubota, then with Mr. Eto. After graduating Toho, she went to the Julliard School of Music, and I went to Europe. We had not had much chance to see each other ever since.
Several years ago, I asked her to join in my concert of "the evening of solo and duet". This time we considered the program together again, however 90% of the conversation was just all sorts of casual topics.

Well, the rehearsal by we four started, while trying to settle the proper distance among each other.
The first piece was "the sonata for four violins" by Telemann.
"Beautiful" all of us said simultaneously.
How can we make up a concert with four violins? Violins may only squeal. I was dubious about the idea, and the other members thought the same way. This Telemann's sonata completely wiped away these worries. The second piece demonstrates utterly different music depending on different tonalities.
"Telemann is something" was what I honestly thought.

The next one was the piece for four violins by Baseviz. She is Polish and a good violinist herself, and composed other ensemble pieces for several violins. The piece we picked was an interesting one.
First violin was Ms.Kato. She recommended this piece because she wished to play it herself when she listened to her students playing.

On top of everything, what made us explode with laughter was the place arrangement of each player, which Ms.Kato and I randomly set. In short, the arrangement of who is playing which part in each piece was perfectly suited to each individual's characteristics.
"Kawada, play this"
Ms. Kawada, who is the youngest, was ordered to play the first part of the piece by Fummel, a German composer of 20th century.
She protested saying she practiced the second part, but in vain. She was forced to play the first part by sight. She played it very well and the musical idea was perfectly suited to her.
After that, every piece she played triggered comical occurrences. In the fourth part of the Basviz's sonata, and in the second parts of the Mozart piece, she suddenly encountered a funny rhythm in her accompaniment part. "Why me again?" she screamed, and we burst out laughing, so that we couldn't continue playing. I was convinced that I came back here for this laugher.
Yayoi suddenly uttered a shout something like "cock-a-doodle-doo", when she played the second part of Baseviz. Whenever she shouted, everybody else tried hard not to laugh, looking at each other.
I took the first part in "The Magic Flute" by Mozart. There were parts where four violins appeared insufficient to cope, but the original musical idea overcame all the difficulties, simply because it was such a magnificent piece. It was a rare occasion that I played famous arias by violin. Arias in "The Magic Flute" could not be challenged by any of Mozart's violin sonatas or concertos.
We owed many thanks to Hiro Kurosaki and others in Vienna, who chose these pieces and arranged them for four violins.

The following day was a stage performance at the Kawaguchi LILIA Hall. I had just came back to Japan two days before. Even if I was used to the time difference, I was not physically fit to commute due to insufficient sleep. My sister escorted me traveling by train, which was a great help. When I come back from Europe, it takes several days until I can walk through a crowd in Shinjuku without feeling dizzy or going hither and thither.

Before the performance, the four of us took postures each in her own way. Yayoi, who was in the middle of raising her babies, lay on the sofa. I guessed she must have been very tired. She was to play Chaconne by Bach. Ms Kato concentrated on practice on the stage. She was practicing Zigeunerweizen. Ms Kawada was to play Kreisler's short pieces, which could well be the most difficult ones. Besides, she was supposed to play them first as a solo.
As for me, I was struggling to fit myself into my dress, wondering when I had put so much weight.

The four of us appeared in front of a full audience, wearing superb costumes. Later, someone told me that it was a flamboyant concert by recent standards. The first piece was Telemann. The sounds by we four were getting smoother enhanced by the hall acoustics. The phrasing, which we had practiced so as not to tumble, went smoothly. His music was so beautiful. But, it also had complexity behind the simplistic appearance, where we should be careful. Then, each one's solo performances followed. Umemura Yuko accompanied us on the piano.
I took on" Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso" by Saint-Saens. This piece was really hard both in terms of sense and technique.

The second half started with "The Magic Flute", Hummel and Basevitz, then an encore. We became a bit panicky backstage, looking for music sheets and confirming the place arrangements. However, our smile of spring seemed to be conveyed to the audience. It was an overwhelming success. Honestly, I was not sure about this at the beginning. We finished our tour of 5 concerts successfully. The concerts were perfectly suited to the beginning of Spring.