Kreisler fritz biography of william

When we invoke the Viennese violin style, we are really speaking about one man, Fritz Kreisler. Others with a similarly lilting way of playing, such as Erica Morini, Willi Boskovsky and today’s Rainer Honeck, have cheerfully trundled along in his wake. In Kreisler’s hands, the violin had a unique voice: it did not just sing, it radiated a spectrum of hues, distilling a blend of warmth and sweetness that was rarely cloying, because it was so musically deployed. His double-stopping was legendary and he coloured notes by placing his fingers in unusual positions.

He could weave this spell on quite humble instruments. Myriad violins by famous makers passed through his hands, but also some to which most rivals would not give a second look. When he came to London to record concertos, orchestral players crowded round, begging him to try their fiddles; and when he obliged, they had never before heard such sounds issue from their implements.

Kreisler’s gifts extended to piano playing – he and Harold Bauer once performed Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata at a concert in Portland, Oregon, then swapped instruments to play it again at the party afterwards – and to being memorably creative: ‘I began to compose and arrange as a young man. I wanted to create a repertory f

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