Benedetti said no to ‘too easy’ music score
Nicola Benedetti sent back a piece of music written especially for her by an illustrious jazz musician because it was not challenging enough for her.
The Scottish star told Wynton Marsalis, who has won nine Grammy Awards, that she wanted something that would really test her skills.
Benedetti, from West Kilbride, returned the score and gave the American her own recommendations to help inspire him.
She said: “Did I ask for the piece to be harder? Yes, that’s pretty much true.
“The way I put to him was, because 99 per cent of the time I play repertoire that was written for solo violin, my largest experience is playing things that take a long time to learn.
“That is where I’m most comfortable; getting something where I look at it for the first time and think, ‘This is unplayable’.
“I’m forced to spend hours and hours trying to work out how, physically, I can get my fingers and mind around this music.
“So that’s what I was trying to say to him.
“I also sent him a lot of violin parts from pretty much every legendary violin concerto that’s in repertoire now. He just studied all those scores.”
The result was Marsalis’ Concerto in D, which was premiered in London last November.
She recently played it for the first time in the US and the 29-year-old will soon return to Scotland for a week of homecoming concerts in August.