Early Music America Spring 2014 - (Page 28)

THREE SMALL NAILS A Rhode Island luthier discovers some early principles of violin construction by reverting to basic techniques used by the Cremona masters By Tamara Bernstein 28 Spring 2014 Early Music America for contemporary lutherie may have noticed an extraordinary number of instruments by a single maker in a recent issue of EMAg. Photo after photo in the Winter 2012 issue shows instruments by Karl Dennis in the hands of prominent musicians from coast to coast: Shira Kammen's vielle (two photos); Elizabeth Field's Baroque violin (three photos), the viola da gamba of Chatham Baroque's Patricia Halverson, and the Baroque violin of Daniel Lee of the Sebastians. Violinist Scott Metcalfe, pictured sans instrument with his Blue Heron Renaissance choir, is also a long-time Dennis client. And since that issue appeared, Chatham Baroque's violinist Andrew Fouts has also begun playing a Dennis instrument. A full list of notable North American musicians who play Dennis instruments would also include Baroque violinists Robert Seletsky, Christopher Verrette of Tafelmusik, Laura Gulley of La Donna musicale, and New Yorkbased Dongmyung Ahn, as well as Emily Walhout (viola da gamba and cello) and Laura Jeppeson (vielle), among others. Many of Dennis's clients are repeat customers: Robert Mealy, director of historical performance at Juilliard, plays a Dennis vielle and what he describes as a "spectacular" lira da braccia by him. Lee's Dennis instruments include, in addition to the Baroque violin shown in his EMA photo, a violino piccolo (modeled after a Brothers Amati from 1613) and a modern violin. A journalist's query to numerous Dennis clients unleashed a minor tsunami of e-mails and phone calls. Several players commented on the way his instruments don't seem to need R EADERS WITH AN EYE playing in, but sound wonderful "straight out of the box." Fouts describes his ﬁrst encounter with his Dennis violin in fall 2013 as "a Cinderella moment." While visiting Dennis's workshop to have his 18th-century French violin adjusted, Fouts tried the luthier's newly completed Baroque violin-a 1735 del Gesù model. "It felt as if it had been made for me!" he wrote. "Although its neck is wider and a bit shorter than the neck on my [18th-century] violin, it ﬁt ergonomically to my hand, and I was able to play more easily in tune. It was as if I had been wearing ill-ﬁtting shoes all this time and now had something cobbled speciﬁcally for me. "The ease of its playing also comes from how evenly responsive and resonant it is throughout its entire range, Fouts says. "There are no weak notes or wolf tones. Which isn't to say it's monochromatic! Each string has its own timbral characteristics and also ﬂows well into the next." Washington, DC-area violinist Elizabeth Field describes her Dennis Baroque violin-a grand pattern Amati model from 2007-as "an extraordinary instrument that just keeps getting better and better. "Karl's instruments have a depth of tone that keeps developing the more you play them," she wrote in a recent e-mail. "They dispel the inane notion that Baroque instruments are somehow softer and more delicate than their modern counterparts. Their voices should be robust and varied and should offer an expressive palette closely imitating the inﬁnite range of expression of the human voice. Baroque musicians were no sissies, and Karl's instruments give us a real Baroque voice." Seletsky, who is a scholar of old stringed instruments and bows as well as a period performer, has followed Dennis's work since the early 1990s. "Karl is

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Early Music America Spring 2014

Editor's Note
Reader Forum
Sound Bytes
Musings: My No Early Music Dream
Profile: Choral Conductor Amelia LeClair
Recording Reviews
Donors ex machina
Three Small Nails
Early Music Is a Capital Idea
Composing Electronic Music for Baroque Instruments
2014 Guide: Workshops & Festivals
Book Reviews
Ad Index
In Conclusion: 4,568 Pages Ago

Early Music America Spring 2014