Sunday, March 18, 2012

Ebony.com: 'Q&A with Violinist Tai Murray, Classical Music's A-List Sister'


[TOP: Eugène Ysaÿe, Six Sonatas for Solo Violin, Op. 27; Tai Murray, Violin, Harmonia Mundi HMU 907569 (2012) (68:48) BOTTOM: Tai Murray (EBONY)]

Our friend Sergio Mims has interviewed violinist Tai Murray for EBONY Magazine. We present two excerpts and a link to a YouTube video (9:50) of Tai Murray performing a Sonata for Solo Violi by the Belgian composer Eugène Ysaÿe:


By Sergio Mims
“Here's the thing about Tai Murray: while she is exceptional, she's also quite familiar. Check her out in this exclusive EBONY interview about how she started playing the violin and why there is nothing else that she would rather do.

"EBONY: First off why a recording of Eugene Ysaye’s (1858-1931) violin sonatas instead of one of say Mozart’s or Beethoven’s? He was better known as a violinist than a composer and is definitely on the outside of the mainstream of classical music composers.
MURRAY: I hear what you’re saying and for me it was that when I was at Indiana University for a large part of my training and studies and he was a major focus of my musical education because of the history of that place. A lot of the professors who taught there at that time knew him and knew the violinist he dedicated the sonatas to. My teacher, Yuval Yaron, made an incredible recording of the sonatas that was one of my favorite recordings that I play often. So starting in my early teens I was playing pieces by Ysaye, so now a decade and a half later it made organic sense to me to do a recording of the complete set of sonatas. They were a large part of my musical thought processes for a long time, so yeah, it felt like the right thing to do for the recording.”
EBONY: When did you start?
MURRAY: When I was five and the interest started some years before then. And fortunately I had a family that was very supportive and was capable of steering me in the right way once I started. So it was just the violin.
"EBONY: But the broader question is why classical music instead of some other form?
MURRAY: Because that is the history of the violin. That is the precedent for the violin. Since the history of the violin is deeply rooted in classical music, that’s what always appealed to me. I understand that the violin could be used for any form of music, but that’s the amazing thing about music or any instrument.”
YouTube.com
Tai Murray, violin - Sonata for solo violin, Eugene Ysaye http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw4D8ZbXGx0&




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