THE STRAD, 1984 (P.525~P.528)
Chicago is an important centre for making , playing and dealing in stringed instruments, with excellent makers, an orchestra of world rekonow and a reputable making school. Report: Anne Inglis. Photos: Lance Knobel.
‘For the truly cultured pet, a Chicago Symphony Orchestra pet bowl. Specially weighted to make it untippable. In bright red plastic with white artwork on the side.’ This offer is one of the ‘specials’ available to listeners in the Chicago area in return for pledging a contribution to the Chicago Symphony in one of the local radio marathons on WFMT, the classical music station. These sessions of enterprise are lengthy – a typical marathon is 60 hours long, non-stop – but they ensure that the coffers of the Chicago Symphony never run dry. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is undoubtedly the foremost musical ambassador of this the second largest city in the USA, but what might not be immediately realized is that I Chicago provides the most concentrated area of instrument making in America. There is a thriving school of making, several excellent individual makers, a notably Carl Becker, shops that combine S a considerable degree of making with c restoration and dealing, for example the r Reuter brothers, and then the main t heartbeats of Chicago dealing and t workshop restoration, Bein & Fushi and a Kenneth Warren. There is one essential difference between the making and play- ing fraternities in Chicago: most of the Symphony players have long-standing Chicago loyalties, while, as one dealer put it, ‘instruments move out of Chicago with the cold’
Orchestra Hall, the Symphony’s main base, is situated next door to Bein & Fushi, and not far from Kenneth Warren, a convenient location for all concerned, though not quite convenient enough for Samuel Magad, co-concertmaster of the Symphony, who, though on perfectly amiable terms with his neighbours, bought his most recent instrument, a 1729 Guarnerius del Gesu, from Jacques Francais in New York. ‘I like the sound and I’m suited to this fiddle, says Magad. The Chicago Symphony owns a number of instruments, among which are two Strads, benefiting selected members of the orchestra at specific points in their careers. Samuel Magad, for example, took advantage of one of these when he was appointed assistant concertmaster needed a good instrument.
Magad, though, finds allegiance to one instrument difficult – at least this is the impression given by the galaxy of violins and bows he has owned. He started with a Becker, then for his first instrument in the Symphony – 26 years ago – he played a Landolphi, ‘very soprano sounding’, graduating through others to a G. B. Rogeri, ‘a beautiful, lovely round quality’, a Seraphin, ‘I wasn’t suited to this bigger sound’ (this instrument is now played by Philip Seltzer in the Emerson Quartet), and finally to the del Gesu, selling the Seraphin, and bows by Peccatte and Pajeot, to help finance the purchase of the del Gesu, ‘it is the timbre of sound I like, and it soars above the orchestra’. This last quality is necessary for the concerto role that all principals play in American orchestras, a vital difference in the hierarchical structure of American and British orchestras.
SOLO CONTRACT
In Britain it is rare for the concertmaster to be offered a concerto role – indeed in most cases it is not expected – butin the USA solo playing is included in a principal’s contract. So when I visited Samuel Magad he was in the process of coming to grips with Hindemith’s Kammermusik No. 4 which Claudio Abbado, the Symphony’s principal guest conductor, had persuaded him to learn, ‘much against my better judgement. Have you heard this piece? I never have – and it’s very difficult to visualize’.
Magad shares the leadership of the Symphony with Victor Aitay – the leader’s chair is alternated weekly, an arrangement not liked by all, it seems. Aitay is familiar to STRAD readers through his endorsement of Sensicore Strings, an advertisement running for some years now where Aitay is shown with his 1715 Baron von der Leyden Strad. Other principals of the string section in the Symphony have also been with the orchestra some years, for example Milton Preves, viola, who this year celebrates his fiftieth anniversary with the orchestra. Preves has been principal viola since 1939 and has played under every music director of the Symphony except Theodore Thomas, the founder. Preves plays a 1723 Montagnana, just another of the galaxy of fine instruments found in the Symphony’s string section.
Unlike Samuel Magad, the principal cellist, Frank Miller, has been unswervingly loyal to his instrument, a modern cello by Paul Pilat made for Miller in 1941: ‘I really wanted a Goffriller, but in those days the banks would lend money only on Strads, so Pilat, who made “Italian” cellos, made me a copy of a Goffriller’. Throughout the years Miller has looked for an old instrument but never really found anything he liked enough to exchange for the Pilat, and with Miller’s fine history of playing who is going to worry about that? Miller joined the NBC Symphony under Toscanini in 1939 and stayed for 15 years until 1954 when it was disbanded – ‘I have nothing against any other conductor but Toscanini was in a class by himself. It wasn’t always easy playing lead cello to this great conductor, but it was the best education of my life’. How did Frank Miller end up playing for the Chicago Symphony? ‘I heard that Fritz Reiner needed a cellist as two had retired so, armed with a recommendation from Toscanini, I was assigned for a contract from 1959 – 60’. Miller had already agreed to be assistant conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra for the 1960 – 61 season under Antal Dorati (nephew of Reiner) and wanted to honour the contract, especially as Dorati became ill during the year. But he was invited back to Chicago anyway in 1961, to play first under Reiner, then Jean Martinon and now Georg Solti. `Solti is a different kind of person – he has pulled the orchestra by its bootstraps as high as it can go. There is a great string section and I think this sound must be attributed to the conductor’. Does the orchestra try as hard for a guest conductor? ‘Yes, we must – it is our personal integrity and we must keep up our standards.’
There are very few openings in the Chicago Symphony each year – not surprising considering the track record of so many of its players. Miller estimates that there are one or two places annually, and that about 128 apply for any place in the string section. There is an audition panel of 10 – 12 people and the auditions are held anonymously behind a screen – women are asked to take their shoes off to prevent any detection. Today candidates play a prepared selection of repertory but this was not always the case, as Samuel Magad recalls: ‘Reiner carried out all the auditions personally. He either liked you or he didn’t, and if he did he took you on the spot – now it’s very different when the anonymous finalists play before Solti. Also, today there is prepared material but then it was all sight-reading. Reiner put this mass of black notes by Wagner in front of me, gave me a minute or so to look at it and told me to play. The idea was to see how quickly you could absorb it, but you don’t go out and read concerts so now there is less emphasis on playing by sight’. Miller remembers playing everything he knew for his personal audition with Toscanini at the NBC – ‘for two hours I performed all my repertory, and all Toscanini’s’.
STRING SOUND
That Solti has brought the Chicago Symphony great direction is agreed by most – the last ten years have brought a new brilliant sound to the string section. As music director he is helped by Claudio Abbado, the principal guest conductor, and Henry Mazer, the associate conductor. James Levine also plays his part as the music director of the orchestra’s summer season which takes place outdoors at Ravinia, north of Chicago. The choice of programmes here has to be carefully planned since the schedules allow only one rehearsal per concert, or series of concerts with the same pieces. Playing the same programme more than once is an integral part of the concert calendar in Chicago; for every series of three or four concerts there are at least three rehearsals – no wonder Magad does not foresee the likelihood of having to sightread a concert. However, not all the concerts given in Symphony Hall are given by the CSO since there are all kinds of different series given by visiting orchestras, chamber groups, soloists, and not least the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the training orchestra of the CSO started in 1919 by Frederick Stock, the CSO’s music director after the founder, Theodore Thomas. This orchestra was the first training orchestra in the USA to be affiliated with a major symphony orchestra. The concerts given by the CSO are the only ones where a subscription scheme operates. Tickets for concerts in Chicago are scarce and there is a considerable waiting list before being allowed the benefit of subscribing – benefits not only for the subscribers but also the programme planners with their captive audience. American orchestras are run on a non-profit making basis encouraging not only monetary pledges to radio marathons but also healthy donations from local music aficionados so necessary to keep the wheels well oiled.
VIOLIN MAKING SCHOOL
It could be said that the equivalent of the Civic Orchestra in the instrument world in Chicago is the Chicago School of Violin Making, one of only about three or four such centres in America and one of the more prestigious, its main rival being Peter Paul Prier’s school in Salt Lake City. It was started by Kenneth Warren and recently taken over by Tschu Lo Lee, a very well respected maker and restorer, and teacher too, it seemed, judging from the infinite time and patience he was giving to the students during my visit. The school had just taken over a new building, indeed at first the premises did look rather unlikely – a dilapidated house in a deserted street with a front door that looked firmly barred and locked. However, on learning that the front used to be a vegetable shop and the back a car shop the appearance was understandable, and on ringing the bell and then walking into a bright, shuttered room filled with students (natural light did not seem to be favoured as it causes shadows) the deserted feeling also disappeared. The school takes about 29 students altogether, and the course lasts three-and-half years. There is no ability test and consequently a long waiting list, with students constituting a broad international spectrum, for example there were two students from Korea, one from Switzerland, a Canadian, a Hawaiian etc. Next year the school is planning to accept students from the Republic of China.
The students advance gradually, starting with building a body their first term, two bodies their second and three necks their third according to the Amati, Stradivari and del Gesu models. The instruments, or composite parts, are examined at every stage by Lee, and in their turn the students are able to watch Lee at work as he carries out private work on the school premises. Lee considers this of tremendous benefit to the students and pointed out that other schools do not always cater for this aspect of students’ development. The fourth term is spent on a viola (the other bodies were all fiddles). After this the student should build two more instruments, which, including the examination instrument, makes the
minimum of six, a requirement stipulated by the course. The exam instrument is made during a six-week period; the instrument need be taken only as far as the white but another instrument has to be varnished and set up. During these six weeks the student is permitted to work I only school hours, necessitating fast working: There are also other parts to the exam – theory, history (written and oral identification), playing (the student r must give a short recital), but workmanship and theory are considered the most important. The marks for each section are kept separate, so a good craftsman is not penalized by poor playing, for example. There are four grades of marking: excellent, good, fair and unsatisfactory, with examiners, notably Kenneth Warren, being called in from outside the the school to give independent verdicts.
Lee has two assistnts to help with the students, one a student assistant Brian Derber, and the other Peter Stolley, an ex-student of the school. Stolley regarded himself as fortunate that he could go on learning from Lee, but final-year students I spoke to did not seem particularly worried about finding jobs — this confidence was quite reassuring. Some wanted apprenticeships, others wanted to start out on their own but all s were anxious to learn, learn and learn again. In terms of seeking a desirable home, as one student put it ‘Carl Becker is right at the top’, disconsolately adding, ‘but openings are rare’. Considering that Becker has only one assistant, Sebastian Zens, in addition to his son Paul working in his shop, at least when I visited him, the rarity value is not surprising. All the it more too as Becker is considered by makers worldwide to be a superlative craftsman and part of a family dynasty of great makers. Becker’s great grandfather, Herman Macklett (Becker’s – father’s mother’s father) worked as respected luthier in Chicago during the second half of the 19th century. But it was his grandson who really put the family into the limelight, Carl G. Becker, and who began the Becker numbering of instruments in 1901 with No. 1. He worked with John Hornsteiner at Lyon & Healy from 1903, leaving to work for William Lewis & Son in 1924, at this point beginning the numbering again at 100. It was also in 1924 that the family tradition began of adjourning to the woods in north Wisconsin every summer in order to make new instruments.
In 1936 Carl F. Becker, Becker’s son, started his first work on instruments, beginning on cello ribs, and then joined Lewis to be with his father in 1937. It was not until 1968 that the company Carl Becker and Son was formed and which now contains both ‘Carl F. Becker’s children, Paul and Jenny. It was Jenny who showed early promise particularly young, starting to work part-time at the shop when she was eleven – ‘she was by very determined’ confirms her father
The colours of the Becker instruments of range from light golden to red, but the quality of wood throughout remains consistent, and has extraordinary depth and a strength, shown, for example in the wear the and tear of the viola illustrated here which was made in 1952 by father and the son. Common characteristics of all Becker instruments include a soft varnish and a bright, very strong tone. How does Becker continue to produce instruments with the same tonal features? The thicknessing is very important – the differences in thicknessing do seem to explain the difference in sound. Other things, too, must be considered, arching, for example, varnish, and the coating of the wood’. Generations of experience, no wonder every student wants to learn something from him.
