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(More customer reviews)I have been wanting to buy this book for years, and I finally ordered it a few weeks ago. After it came in I read most of it within a short time, to compare its principles to the ones I have developed over time and to find answers to some of my as yet unanswered questions. I found the book interesting, disappointing, occasionally challenging and anyway a necessary read, in that order. As to the latter, due to the connection between Casals and Alexanian, I felt and still feel that any cellist should read it in the same way that one should read David Blum's Casals and the Art of Interpretation. The book is certainly one of the most systematic attempts to assemble and describe a good technical approach to the violoncello, a notoriously difficult instrument. However, I personally think that at this point it no longer stands the test of time for a number of reasons. The translation, first of all, is clumsy and often wrong - that speaks for itself. Then there is that preaching tone, so often met in cello tutors, warning students about insurmountable difficulties, indispensable eons of study, and the related crime and punishment dynamic, with the flames of hell awaiting anyone who has not done the right things. Then there is an approach that is, in my opinion, linguistically wrong and dysfunctional. The book seems to expect the novice to the cello to already know the whole of musical language and to be utterly fluent in it. This is shown in the way concepts and matters which are traditionally tricky to learn and master (notation, sight reading, harmonics, etc.) are presented: the writer seems blissfully unaware that a beginner is a beginner, and seems bent on making each and every explanation as tortuous and complex as he can. Then there is no transition between the usual exercises in the first two or three positions, based solely on the physical shape of the cello fingerboard and with no musical content to speak of, and references to the masterpieces of the cello repertory such as the various concerti a few dozens pages later on. Nothing in between in the shape of studies or as advice and information as to what to study and practise before one "gets there" (to the war horses of the repertory I mean). Then there are technical drawings which are dysfunctional at two levels: firstly, they simply are not all that clear, nor their values is to be taken from granted as regards deriving knowledge from them in absence of a teacher; secondly, they reinforce one of the ever-present problems of instrumental teaching, the misconception that by looking at the nuts and bolts and at the movements of the various parts of the body involved one learns how to play music. Again, this is profoundly dysfunctional (very much like trying to learn phonics in order to learn a foreign or second language) and by itself it is dysfunctional: it will not work, and it can easily engender additional and long-lasting problems. Then there is another classic predicament: Alexanian's hands. His hands were, by all account as stated by David Gerben in the Foreword, very large. Watch out! How many 'teachers' have I met who are blissfully oblivious that there is a logical and legitimate relationship between the respective sizes of interacting parts? There are simple ways, based on key technical requirements on the cello, to select an instrument that is appropriate for a pair of hands. None of this troubles Alexanian who seems to naturally base the whole of left-hand technique on the (uncommonly) large size of his hands. What are the good sides, then? There are many good things if one is prepared to dig them out, turn them over for inspection, try them out, and analyze them critically. I personally think that the technical approach envisioned by Alexanian compresses cello technique into a limited technique, limited because it is solely based on the idiomatic features of the instrument. I would remind the potential reader of this review that there have been great cellists (Luigi Silva being one, for instance) who intelligently questioned certain traditionally "cellistic" approaches to the cello. Again, there is in the book a large shortcoming: the idea that one can speak of a single, one-size-fits-all cello technique. That, I am afraid, is a great didactic misconception and Casals himself constitutes historical and artistic proof that individual techniques are not only possible but necessary, and if explored to the full can lead to great artistic achievement. Having said all this (but I could say much more) I paradoxically recommend the book for those who are genuinely interested in exploring a multitude of technical approaches. On the one hand, if you are enjoying a positive and fruitful teacher this book is quite unnecessary; on the other hand, here is a window into a particular world the knowledge of which, in my opinion, still matters.
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Complete Cello Technique: The Classic Treatise on Cello Theory and PracticeProduct Description: An unabridged republication of the 1922 classic,
Traité théorique et pratique du Violoncelle, this volume represents one of the most thorough explorations of cello playing and technique in the literature. In the course of his distinguished career, author Diran Alexanian played chamber music with Brahms, performed concertos with Mahler, and taught alongside Casals in Paris. A superb compendium of instruction, this reprint of the original dual-language edition features French and English instruction side by side on the page, complemented by numerous photographs, diagrams, and music examples.
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