# in-house musicians as soloists...



## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

I was just thinking about some wonderful recordings I own on CD or LP from the Golden Age of Classical Recordings where star power is bypassed and in-house musicians take center stage. For Mozart's _Clarinet Concerto_ and _Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola_; George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra harvest the soloists from the orchestra; making it more of a first-among-equals as opposed to yielding to the celebrity concert musician who becomes the "special guest star."

Likewise, the world's (arguably) foremost Bach specialist, Masaaki Suzuki, uses in-house musicians from his Bach Collegium Japan for his HIP recordings of Bach's _Violin Concerto_, _Double Violin Concerto_, and _Concerto for Violin and Oboe_.

Both Arturo Toscanini with the NBC Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy with the Philadelphis Orchestra used in-house cellists for their recordings of Richard Strauss' _Don Quixote_ (Frank Miller w/Toscanini and Lorne Monroe w/Ormandy), and coincidentally they BOTH had the same in-house violist, Carlton Cooley, taking center stage as Cooley happened to be the principal violist under each maestro at the time those recordings were made.

Of the many recordings I own of Vivaldi's _Four Season_, four make use of in-house musicians in the lead role and each is very good; Joseph Silverstein of the Boston Symphony and under the baton of Seiji Ozawa; Michel Shwalbe w/Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic; John Corigliano Sr. w/Leonard Bernstein and the NYPO; and multiple in-house violinists with Christopher Hogwood and his Academy of Ancient Music.

So I'm interested in knowing the history as to how the superstar concert musician evolved and to what extent we even need to not just have in-house musicians take center stage. Does it depend upon the work, as some concertos are so difficult to require someone of superstar status? Is the cult of personality? And do in-house musicians have a better way of understanding and listening to their fellow players and following the musical vision of the conductor as the dynamics are taking place in the context of a unit or "family" as they interpret the dialogue that happens between soloists and orchestra in the art of the concerto?


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

In many orchestras the concert master is expected to perform at least one concerto with the orchestra each season. In Phoenix's orchestra the very able concertmaster has done concertos by Elgar, Beethoven, Korngold and Tchaikovsky in recent years. But there are few concert masters who have the star power to really bring in the crowds, which is unfortunate. Some players are just as good as the travelling stars but they don't want the hassle of traveling town to town. And there are some stars out there who don't want the daily grind of playing in an orchestra and some just aren't suited to the job anyway. For several years one of the greatest conert masters ever, Steven Staryk lived in my area after he retired. I made a point of meeting him. He was Beecham's leader with the Royal Philharmonic. That famous Scheherazade - that was Staryk. He was also the concert master for Concertgebouw and Chicago - he was a first class virtuoso and found a great balance between playing solo and serving in orchestras.

Then there are the other in-orchestra soloists but given audience preferences for piano and violin concertos, those players don't get to solo so much.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I've got a DVD of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto with Masur, and the concertmaster of Leipzig Gewandhaus. Found a clip of it on Youtube. Not one of my favourites, which are Stern and Accardo, but I think hold its own against other performances.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

When Leinsdorf came to the BSO, he found that they didn't even have a budget for soloists, so he did Brahms with Silverstein and with he and Jules Eskin, and Don Quixote with Eskin.


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## david johnson (Jun 25, 2007)

In-house is fine.


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

The Brahms and Beethoven concertos with Herman Krebbers soloing in front of the Concertgebouw are among the finest I know.


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