A wolf at heart
Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja has found her perfect pack in Camerata Bern on her album of folk-infused 20th- and 21st-century works, as she explains to Charlotte Smith
Concerto Award Patricia Kopatchinskaja
Plaisirs illuminés Francisco Coll: Les plaisirs illuminés; Ginastera: Concerto for Strings; Veress: Musica concertante; plus works by Bartók, Kurtág and Ligeti Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin), Sol Gabetta (cello); Camerata Bern/francisco Coll Alpha Classics ALPHA 580
‘When you aim for perfection in your playing, there can be no spontaneity and no surprises. This is an incredible pity, because art is about invention. Of course, you must practise like a slave, but in the end, you should throw that baggage away, become a bird and fly over everything.’
Although Patricia Kopatchinskaja is speaking about recording her Concerto Award-winning album, Plaisirs illuminés, she might be describing her whole philosophy as a performer. Over the years, the idiosyncratic Moldovan-born violinist has developed a reputation for vivid and dynamic live interpretations – from practically dancing as she performs Ravel’s Tzigane barefoot to donning brilliant white clown makeup to embody Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire. And although the idea of capturing that sense of in-the-moment spontaneity on disc can sometimes seem a daunting prospect, there is no doubt that she has achieved her goal on this now award-winning album, recorded with the chamber orchestra Camerata Bern, for which Kopatchinskaja has served as artistic partner since 2018.
Included on the recording are works by Alberto Ginastera and Sándor Veress, the latter composed especially for the Swiss-based group in 1966; a new double concerto for violin and cello, the album’s title work, by Spanish composer Francisco Coll; and several smaller works by Kurtág, Bartók and Ligeti. For Kopatchinskaja, there are two threads, or ‘nerves’ as she so colourfully puts it, that link the works: their basis in folk traditions and their incredible virtuosity – not just for the soloists, but for every member of the ensemble.
‘I wanted to play something that would challenge everyone,’ says Kopatchinskaja. ‘I wanted to have fun, but also to travel together to the highest musical horizons. Approaching these works is like being a mountaineer and seeing in front of you the most beautiful peak. You are drawn to it,
knowing that experiencing the sun and the air up there will change your soul.’
Listening to the album, it’s clear that it features deeply complicated compositions, but what, specifically, was challenging for the players? By way of an answer, Kopatchinskaja recounts an anecdote about Veress. ‘There’s a funny story in which a member of an orchestra once dared to suggest in a letter that his work was too challenging,’ she says. ‘“Maestro,” he wrote, “we have practised the piece again and again with a metronome, but it is still very difficult” – to which Veress replied, “Well don’t worry, I will bring two metronomes for you to use!”’ Particularly in the Veress, individual musicians must play simultaneously in different metres and in order to keep this polyphony of time signatures in check, ‘each player must be very clear about their own part and never lose concentration’. For the Ginastera, on the other hand, physical stamina is paramount. ‘You need to be able to run a marathon to play this work,’ says Kopatchinskaja. ‘You need arms like
Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s like playing ten weddings in one night.’
The main task for all works on the album, though, is to retain a sense of musicality despite the technical complexity, she stresses. It’s for this reason that the ensemble welcomed composer Francisco Coll to conduct their performance of his double concerto Les plaisirs illuminés, despite being a normally conductorless ensemble. ‘It’s not about the difficulty of the work, but the spirit of the composer,’ explains Kopatchinskaja. ‘Francisco is a daring, intelligent, brilliant young man – a painter as well as a composer – and we wanted to have him onstage with us. His energy gave us another way of enjoying the music.’
Also welcomed to the project was Kopatchinskaja’s frequent collaborator, the cellist Sol Gabetta – and it was for their individual temperaments and their mutual energy as a duo that Coll wrote his work. ‘Francisco knows us both very well, so he was able to swallow our personalities and to produce something very personal,’ says Kopatchinskaja. ‘He is fascinated by Sol’s generosity, by her sensuality of sound, and also by the way that she perfects her sound – she works in such a caring way on individual elements and small details. And in my playing he was looking to capture something wild and adventurous. He understood us entirely, creating a beautiful tapestry of friendship and of crazy journeys together.’
It’s little wonder, then, that despite being recorded in a studio ‘through cold, artificial wires’ the album brims with dynamism and character. In part, the folk wellspring at the core of each work can claim responsibility – for music that might at first glance seem intimidatingly dense and dissonant has at its core ‘an earthy humanity that vibrates and
‘Coll understood us entirely, creating a beautiful tapestry of friendship’
speaks directly to your animal,’ says Kopatchinskaja. ‘There is so much colour, so many ideas and such rhythmic richness.’
But it’s the close and intense musical partnerships that make the album truly special. ‘When I meet with Sol, everything becomes music,’ she enthuses. ‘It’s like when you go to the market to buy the freshest vegetables of the season and they smell so fragrant. And then you cook together and enjoy the meal with your family. It feels like that when we rehearse; it’s not like practising as you do at a conservatory, and even an incredibly complicated modern piece that might otherwise cause a pain in my stomach is transformed into something I can truly relish.’
Camerata Bern enjoys an equally strong connection with the violinist, and although they took a little while to refine their method of working together, Kopatchinskaja credits the Swiss ensemble as being fundamental to ‘the best musical moments in my life’. Crucial to the success of their partnership is a sense of genuine collaboration. As an artistic partner, Kopatchinskaja does not impose her ideas in a dictatorial way, but instead is keen to encourage everyone to be open-minded. ‘I bring my ideas to rehearsals, but I am prepared for these to change, as every member of the ensemble works with the score and is so knowledgeable about the work,’ she explains. ‘The musicians have become so strong – like wild animals
– so their energy matches my own and we channel this intention into every single note.’
An example of this can be seen in their articulation, Kopatchinskaja explains.
Ask your average ensemble to play piano and they will play softer, though it might take ten minutes to achieve the required volume. But during a recent performance of Schubert’s ‘Death and the Maiden’ it took ‘one second and they were so soft that you could hear the air conditioning,’ she marvels. ‘Or when I make an accelerando, they come right with me. So, it’s like working with the best team of knights I could imagine.’
It’s the dichotomy between exacting precision and artistic passion that perhaps best sums up Kopatchinskaja as an artist. ‘A wolf needed many generations to become a dog, but I think I’m still more a wolf,’ she says. In Sol Gabetta and Camerata Bern, the violinist has found the perfect balance between wildness and discipline.