Interview, Veit Hertenstein

A fascinating and rather enchanting album from violist Veit Hertenstein - arrangements of Prokofiev's ballet-music for Romeo and Juliet and selections from Shostakovich's Op. 34 Preludes for the piano - puts the spotlight on this often-neglected instrument, as well as reimagining the vivid orchestral colours of the ballet in a more intimate, chamber-music form.

I spoke to Veit about how he put this intriguing project together…

Some of the movements of this suite (perhaps particularly the iconic Dance of the Knights) take on a drastically different personality in this intimate arrangement. Do you think there’s a risk of losing some of the force of the music “in translation”?

No, I don’t think so. This arrangement is simply so well done that one cannot but notice this volcano of emotions within Prokofiev’s music.

You mention that you’ve encountered Prokofiev’s ballet from the dancer’s perspective, as well as the musician’s; do you think this informs your approach to performing it?

I believe it certainly helps and enriches my approach towards interpreting this music. The music was composed to accompany the ballet. Knowing the ballet, both from watching it in the audience and being part of it as a performer, brings me closer towards what Prokofiev might have had in mind.

How much alteration did you find the Shostakovich-Zyganow Preludes for violin needed in order to suit them to the viola?

Surprisingly little! It was my intention to stay as close as possible to the Zyganow arrangement since I know that it has the full approval of Shostakovitch himself. Shostakovitch actually wrote a letter saying that he forgot that he composed the piece for piano solo after hearing Zyganow playing his violin version!

In terms of available repertoire, the viola seems to lag far behind the violin and the cello – after all, this very CD consists of arrangements rather than compositions originally for the viola. Do you find yourself often having to “resort” to playing arrangements?

Nowadays, arranging music for different instruments has a slight taste of not being "authentic" - a thought I cannot really understand. Of course, we want to be as close as possible to the composer, and playing his music with the instruments he intended seems like a good idea to start with. But I believe we should keep several things in mind. First of all, we should consider that until only a few decades ago, all the great performers like Kreisler, Rachmaninov etc. arranged music for their instruments. Composers also arranged their own music, such as Schumann's Adagio and Allegro, which is written for French Horn and Piano but also arranged by the composer himself for Violin, Viola or Cello and Piano. Also, a lot of composers arrange great music by their colleagues. How many versions of Bach's Ciaccona are there? By Brahms, Busoni and countless others - all very much respected composers. I believe one of the greatest beauties of music is that there are so many ways of interpreting it. And I personally would include well done arrangements to this range of different perspectives on a piece. I don't agree with every single arrangement that exists, but I think that we should be open minded enough to engage with them.

Indeed, you must surely be aware of the instrument’s status as the butt of innumerable jokes and jibes – far more so than any other member of the orchestra. How do you think this first came about?

Probably the "problem" was that us violists are always nice and friendly people who can be funny as well ;)