The Violinist’s View Tasmin Little on Winter

The first movement of Winter has fast virtuosic writing and downward scales that don’t always fit the fingers you’ve got to play them with. It’s intended to be exciting and challenging as well. You’ve got that fantastic bit where the teeth are chattering; it’s very high up and we’re playing demi-semi-quavers – it’s not complicated as such, but it does require a lot of coordination because you’ve got to change your double-stopping in a nanosecond. The last movement is a bit of a finger-twister too. One of the biggest challenges in this movement is ensemble with the lead violinist and the orchestra – you’ve got some of the fastest writing that there is in the entire piece, and you’ve been playing for 45 minutes already. It’s quite a challenge to keep your concentration, keep it virtuosic, and keep it exciting, energetic and creative all the way through.