Zen and the Art of Tengfei Zhou’s Double-Edged Sword

BY ROBERT MAXHAM

In his recent complete recording of Jean-Marie Leclair’s Six Sonatas, op. 3, for two violins without bass, Tengfei Zhou has achieved a success that has eluded some of his illustrious violinistic predecessors: recording music with himself as partner, while avoiding the Scylla of mannerism and the Charybdis of aridity. Perhaps the repertoire both encouraged and facilitated Zhou’s efforts, but his impressive—and highly enjoyable—results speak for themselves. And the buoyancy that characterizes his performances reveals itself in an almost equal degree in his discussion.

Q: Some writers on the violin have expressed the opinion that Spohr’s duos stand at the pinnacle of the genre, perhaps because of the symphonic sound Spohr extracted from the small ensemble. But don’t you think that Leclair had an equally keen ear for the sonorities he could extract from two unaccompanied violins and an equally great talent for actually extracting them?

A: I agree. But Spohr and Leclair lived about 100 years apart; and, in the technical point of view, Spohr is much more advanced. It’s really difficult to compare them, since they lived in two different eras, and the style of their composition is totally different: Although I might like Chinese food the best, I wouldn’t say it’s better than any other food.

Q: Given their mastery of the idiom, why do you think Leclair’s sonatas haven’t become more popular? Have you considered playing or recording Leclair’s later set?

A: Perhaps there are just too many great works written for violins? Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart have all written works in this genre, and they are much more famous than Leclair. If more well-known violinists of our day performed or recorded Leclair’s sonatas, they would probably become more popular. I think it’s a fashion trend. I first heard the sonatas in a CD I bought almost 20 years ago, with Perlman and Zukerman performing the Fourth Sonata. Before that, I don’t think I had even heard of Leclair. But yes, I would like to record the later set (op. 12)—if only I can find the sheet music for it. I had great difficulty finding the complete set of op. 3 a couple of years ago.

Q: I’ve always noticed a similarity in the styles of writing for the violin of Leclair and Locatelli—it seemed to me they employed similar figuration, though Locatelli transposed it into the highest registers. Still, Leclair seems to me by far the better composer. Have you noticed similarities in the styles of those two violinists?

A: I am not familiar with Locatelli’s work other than his 24 Caprices for Solo Violin. But he and Leclair lived at the same time (Locatelli was two years older than Leclair and they died in the same year) and Leclair played and consulted with Locatelli while he was in Holland (1737–43); that’s probably why their styles are very similar, especially in Leclair’s later works such as his op. 12. However, Locatelli explored the extreme virtuosity of violin playing while Leclair’s music remains much more balanced. To me, Locatelli’s music is like spicy food; it’s good to have it once in a while, but Leclair’s musical taste is good on any day.

Q: I’ve always thought of Leclair as hard and flinty, and I think your recording brings out the “gemlike” quality of his writing better than any other I’ve heard. What attracted you to Leclair’s sonatas in the first place?

A: I always thought Leclair had a unique career—he was trained as a ballet dancer and violinist at the same time. I have no idea how they danced during those times, but I imagined it would have been light and bouncy. That’s what I want my listeners to feel. I first heard Leclair’s op. 3 with Perlman and Zukerman performing the Sonata No. 4, then by chance I bought Kogan’s DVD performing the Sonata No. 3 with his wife. But it was not until I heard Perlman and Zukerman performing the No. 5 (on YouTube) that I was motivated to search for the complete sheet music.

Q: In reference to the “symphonic” textures of Spohr’s duos, don’t you think Leclair achieves something quite similar in the opening movement of the Sixth Sonata? Yet you didn’t simply create a set of lush sonorities in this movement, but allowed the phrases to rise and fall, achieving a natural rhetoric. Would you comment on the textures of these sonatas?

A: The opening movement of the Sixth Sonata is one of the most special moments in the complete set of sonatas. It is spiritually uplifting, and its simple harmonies (when played in tune) make you feel as though the notes are hitting all your pressure points, almost like a healing experience or acupuncture; at least that is how I felt when I played it. With this kind of writing, I didn’t really have to do anything more with it than just go along for the ride.

Q: I noted the double recordings made by Heifetz (Bach’s Double Concerto) and Grumiaux (sonatas by Mozart and Brahms) and their somewhat sterile effect. But you’ve managed to create a very strong illusion of two separate violinists. Was that one of your goals in separating the two violins so widely in the stereo recorded sound?

A: The idea of separating the two violins was suggested by my recording engineer. I was mostly concerned about the reverb, since the recording was made in a room the size of a concert grand piano with a baby grand piano inside. The microphone was set right on top of the f hole, since the ceiling was just high enough to play an up-bow on the E string. So even though the engineer was able to create reverb similar to that of a concert hall, there are times when you can still hear my fingers hitting the fingerboard. I should probably mention that at the end of making my CD project, the engineer was able to move to a much bigger recording studio, a room that could accommodate a string quartet with its baby grand. But that won’t make much difference to me, since it might still be just me playing all four parts next time.

Q: Do you think you could make an equally satisfying recording of, say, Mozart’s duos for violin and viola, in which the instruments participate in a very different kind of dialogue?

A: Recording the Mozart duos for violin and viola is actually one of the many recording projects I have in mind. I performed the G-Major duo with my cousin Xiao-Fu Zhou, with whom I was studying at the time. It was easy to communicate, since I learned most of my playing style from him. The idea of recording the two violins by myself came to me when I was reading a popular kung fu novel written by Jing Yong. In the novel, this kung fu master got bored while imprisoned by his enemy in a cave; he started fighting himself in one martial art style with his left hand against a different martial art style with his right hand. At the end he got so good at it that he was able to defeat his enemy, since it was “two” of him against one.

Q: Have you played these works with other violinists? How was the experience different from that of playing them by yourself? Ruggiero Ricci once remarked that he liked recording solo works best, because he had complete control of everything. Do you feel the same way?

A: I have not played the Leclair with any other violinist. When I was preparing for the recording, I first recorded myself playing one part, then played it back while performing the other part. It was an interesting experience for me—besides the fact that I had complete control of everything. I think if Leclair were alive today, he would probably do the same, just for the fun of it!

Q: The period-performance movement has been credited, rightly or wrongly, with reanimating works that had grown stodgy. The timbres of the period instruments themselves seem to have suggested certain approaches, usually starchier than usual. Have you ever tried to play these sonatas with a shorter, Baroque bow? Did the crispness and tartness of the period instrumentalists influence your manner of playing of Leclair, even though you play him on a modern instrument?

A: I find the sound of the Baroque instrument very soothing to my ears, perhaps because it is tuned to 415 instead of 440. No modern bow can create the same kind of articulation as a Baroque bow, and when I have a chance, I would like to try it on my violin. I have not really listened to a lot of Baroque recordings, but being an orchestra musician for the past 20 years, I had the privilege of working with some great conductors and I learned a lot from them in terms of articulation, phrasing, and sound when playing works such as Bach, Haydn, and Mozart.

Q: What kind of violin or violins did you play in recording Leclair?

A: The violin I used on the CD was made in 1992 by a Chinese maker. I got it right after it was made and I played a lot on it during my college years. Although the sound has really matured over the years, it doesn’t have the kind of power one would need when performing in a concert hall. But it’s amazing what technology can do these days. My other cousin, Xiao-Wei Zhou, is a violin maker. He has won several awards from the Violin Society of America and is now making a violin for me, so perhaps in my next recording project you will hear a different kind of sound.

Q: Nobody’s credited on the back of the jewel case with the (very simple) bass part in Pachelbel’s Canon. Did you play it yourself?

A: I did play the bass part in Pachelbel’s Canon, although I didn’t play it on a real cello but instead on a cello synthesizer. According to my engineer, the sound of the cello synthesizer was prerecorded from an instrument from the Vienna Philharmonic! That really saved me the trouble of borrowing a student cello and putting stickers on the fingerboard for the eight simple notes, since I had no cello training. I added the Pachelbel as a bonus track because of my wedding on March 7 this year. I wanted to use it for my processional, and although some of my young students were eager to perform at my wedding, it appeared to me I might get more nervous about their playing than about my wedding!

Q: What plans do you have for future recordings?

A: As for my plans for future recordings, there is just too much great music I would like to play! I find that the greatest difficulty in a project like this one at this time in my life is carving time out of the daily busy schedule. If only I could find a cave like the kung fu master and live there for a month or two, I could probably get a lot of projects done—provided there would be a recording studio inside the cave.

LECLAIR 6 Sonatas for 2 Violins, op. 3. PACHELBEL Canon in D • Tengfei Zhou, vn • EROICA 3452 (56:59)