"Bach's music confronts the player and the audience in a very personal situation, in a very alone way," he [Christian Tetzlaff] explained. "And I try at that moment to put away pretensions - in levels of violin playing, pretensions of being a strong man, of being invulnerable - and instead say, 'This is where all of us have common ground.' Most of the time, we try to tell oursleves 'I'm confidant' or 'I'm doing well.' But then, in a moment alone at home, you feel how close you are to some kind of abyss."Tetzler says he is not a religious man. What shall we say of him? He is spiritual but not religious? Earlier in the article the author, Jeremy Eichler, says of Tetzlaff:
He continued, "Music, even at terrible moments, can make you accept so much more - accept your dark sides, or the things that happen to you. Maybe it's just because you see that this is a common trait for all of us. You see that we are not alone." He said this with such quiet intensity that it seemed the opposite of sentimental. "And that's what the concert situation is about for me, when I'm sitting in the hall and also when I'm playing myself. It's about communication - I almost want to say 'communion.' As a player, you really don't interpret anymore. You listen, together with the audience."
Tetzlaff is not a religious man, but he describes his art in frankly spiritual terms. Performing music, he says, "is the job that has the most to do with the belief in the existence of a soul. I deal in Berg's soul, in Brahm's soul - that's my job. And you can challenge me, but I find that music is himans' most advanced achievement, more so than painting and writing, because it's more mysterious, more magical, and it acts in such a direct way. Trying to turn lead into gold is nothing compared to taking something mechanical like an instrument - a string and a bow - and using it to invoke a human soul.Something beyond the senses, something ineffable is evoked by music, art, and words, which I've had great difficulty describing. Tetzlaff's description as soul meeting soul articulates for me what I have never been able to put into words. It's not that I never notice mastery of the skills, or technique, or style, because I do, but either a soul to soul encounter happens, or it doesn't. When I hear Tetzlaff play Bach, we three meet soul to soul, and, in a concert hall, I'd encounter the other souls listening with me.
With my slow internet connection which allows the video to play only in fits and starts, along with my poor sound system on my laptop, I can't say whether the video is of good quality or not. I can but hope....
The quote is from "String Theorist" in The New Yorker by Jeremy Eichler. Unless you have a subscription, you can read only the abstract of the article.
