Favorite Players

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Permalink Reply by Jason S on March 2, 2009 at 4:13pm

Mark O'Connor would have to be my favorite. I knew him before he got into classical music. I love his "old time fiddling" style and tone. He has won many fiddle contests and is great at improvisation. He's the type of musician that can start playing a song with you that he has never heard and halfway through can take a solo and play it extremely well. He used to be a full time Nashville studio session player so his tone is very clean and he has great intonation.

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Permalink Reply by Kandice Larrimore on March 4, 2009 at 6:26pm

So I take it that you've played with O'Conner before?

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Permalink Reply by Corinthius on March 4, 2009 at 10:18pm

My favorite player would have to Nicola Benedetti. She inspired me to play the violin. I just love to watch her perform, the way she gives it her all, her intonation, and her overall performances are just great.I especially enjoyed when she played Mendelsohn's Violin concerto in E Minor op 64. I wish that I could play as well as she does.

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Permalink Reply by Jason S on March 5, 2009 at 9:11am

I have played music with him, he is one of the most talented people I have ever met. Last time I saw him and played music with him was at a fiddle contest in Mountain View Arkansas. He didn't compete because he doesn't do that anymore (probably because he would win every time ha!) but he showed up with some friends and it was great to hear him play.

Kandice said:

So I take it that you've played with O'Conner before?

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Permalink Reply by Lauren K. on March 6, 2009 at 8:05am

My favorite player is Joshua Bell. I love how passionately he plays his music. His album Romance of the Violin is probably the best out there today! I was able to see him in concert in Mobile! For his encore piece he played one of the Red Violin Caprices!! It was gorgeous!

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Permalink Reply by Jay Beaune on March 8, 2009 at 6:07am

I would say Hilary Hahn is the inspiration at my house. Even though I play viola, my daughter plays violin and we listen to her together. We just saw her at a recital in Feb. She was awesome! We got to meet her afterwards and get a few autographs.
What about Leila Josefiwicz? Is that how you spell it? Anyway she plays outside of her body. Shes great.

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Permalink Reply by Kandice Larrimore on March 11, 2009 at 5:59pm

I would have to say that I have two violinists that inspire my playing, well, three, including my teacher. His playing is what I really try to copy. His musicality and tone is so focused and clear, and his technique is impeccable. As a teacher, he inspires me to be patient and to always do my best. Joshua Bell and Hilary Hahn are my other two 'superstar' (if you will) violinists.
Joshua's interpretation of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto is one of the most.....creative and fun I have ever listened to! Both of his Romance and Voice of the Violin albums are so sensitive and throbbing. I try to listen to and incorporate his musicality and sensitivityy in my playing.
Hilary's playing is what I would call 'spritely'.She plays with so much energy and is so focused. I heard her play a 20th century sonata the other day and I thought She makes it sound so easy to play The weird harmonies don't even phase her! Anyone who could put the Schoenberg on the charts has real talent.

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Permalink Reply by Mellifluous on March 24, 2009 at 9:22am

my favorite player is Maxim Vengerov

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Permalink Reply by Cindi Kazarian on March 24, 2009 at 11:06am

For violin - Hilary Hahn is one of my favorites. She has an elegance and purity in her playing that I've never heard elsewhere. For viola, Kim Kashkashian is oat the top of my list. She has the most magical tone. I also really enjoy the music she records and the different composers and musicians she works with. She takes chances and is really interested in lots of different kinds of music outside of the typical classical realm. I also really like Scott Slapin's viola playing. His recording of the Bach Sonatas and Partitas is on my constant playlist at home.

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Permalink Reply by Lillian Poole on March 25, 2009 at 6:47pm

One of my favorite professional players is Edger Meyer, he's really awsome at the bass! My favorite player period is my orchestra teacher, who's lots of fun.

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Permalink Reply by Justin Truell on April 3, 2009 at 1:54pm

I would say:
Violinist: Joshua Bell
Cellist: Yo Yo Ma

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Permalink Reply by Greg Cahill on April 7, 2009 at 11:55am

Ditto on Kim Kashkashian as a favorite violist, but not only for her playing skills—she's a really adventurous programmer when it comes to recording interesting repertoire, often by Armenian composers and arrangers (check out her Tigran Mansurian: Monodia CD).

For violin, these days, I've been diggin' 23-year-old Russian violinist Alina Ibragimova—stunning musicality and technique and, there again, a willingness to launch a career by recording relatively obscure but infinitely fascinating music rather than the safe warhorses (I love Hilary Hahn's playing and am glad she has recorded a contemporary work by Jennifer Higdon, but she told Strings we shouldn't expect her to stretch out too much because concert promoters want the same safe standard rep. Too bad. That's our loss.).
Strings magazine published a cover story on Ibragimova in February 2008: Read it here


Read more about Alina Ibragimova: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alina_Ibragimova">

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