网摘(艺术类阅读),- In love with a mellow cello

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                In love with a mellow cello

Denis Brott and the 1706 Tecchler cello: 'A unique instrument ... a combination of projection and warmth.'By Leonard Turnevicius The Hamilton Spectator(Jul 29, 2006)

Ask Denis Brott to describe what it's like playing the 1706 Tecchler cello and he's lost for words. "It's hard to describe. It's kind of like love. You know it when you feel it."

Brott has been in love with the Tecchler ever since it was bought for him in 1987. "It is my 'voice,'" said Brott over the phone from his Montreal home. "It is a unique instrument. It has a combination of projection and warmth."

This unique instrument is 300 years old, and to celebrate its "birthday," Brott was invited by his older brother Boris to perform at next Sunday's Brott Festival High Tea at the Art Gallery of Hamilton.

The concert program will survey some of the music written for the cello over the past 300 years. There'll be Francois Couperin's Suite for Two Cellos, Bach's Fifth Suite arranged for two cellos by Laszlo Varga, as well as Gian Carlo Menotti's Suite for Two Cellos.

For these works, Denis Brott will be joined by Katerina Juraskova, his former student at the Conservatoire de musique de Montreal, now principal cellist with the McGill Chamber Orchestra. Denis will also perform some movements from Chopin's Cello Sonata, and Brahms's F Major Sonata with pianist Winston Choi.

Performing cello music from the past 300 years is one thing, but tracing the provenance of the Tecchler is quite another. Apart from the fact that it was crafted in David Tecchler's Rome workshop, nothing further is known of the instrument until the late nineteenth century. By 1887, the Earl of Wilton was listed as the first of its many owners. In 1924, the Tecchler was snapped up for L800 by Antonio Antoncich, a Chilean businessman.

He allowed Emanuel Feuermann to use it for his 1936 South American tour. In 1962, the Tecchler was sold to Donovan Schumacher, principal cellist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, for $13,000 US. Eighteen years later, he sold it to Samuel Mayes, principal cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Brott's acquisition of the Tecchler was two years in the making. In 1985, he worked with Gilles Lefebvre to set up the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank.

The bank's initial operating fund was kick-started by a $100,000 legacy from the Barwick family. William Turner, CEO of Consolidated Bathurst and a friend of the Brott family, then arranged meetings with CEOs such as Allan Taylor of the Royal Bank, and Arden Haynes of Imperial Oil.

"We went on a kind of dog-and-pony show -- me with my cello, and he visiting his corporate buddies," said Brott. Within two days, they had raised $250,000.

The instrument was purchased for $200,000 US, but with one condition: that it be solely for Brott's lifetime use. The 1706 Brott-Turner-Tecchler cello has since become the first of 15 instruments managed by the Musical Instrument Bank, which today has an aggregate value of $15.3 million US.

"What you find with great instruments is that it's a bit like a race horse: it's always a little better than you are. You keep trying to find ways to maximize its potential, and its potential seems almost limitless. You're only limited by yourself," Brott says.

He credits the great sound of the Tecchler to the choice of wood: Spruce on top, maple at the back. "This instrument has an amazing wood with what they call 'fire grains.' The grain of the spruce on the top goes vertical, and these fire grains go horizontal or at an angle. Fire grains in wood tend to take the vibrations which travel up and down the veins of the wood, and spread them in a rather magical way."

He does however use a carbon fibre bow which was given to him by Yamaha. "I love it", said Brott, though he admitted to using another bow, his Dominique Peccatte, for concerts.

On Wednesday, he'll be wielding a baton as he leads an open rehearsal of Brahms's Third Symphony with the National Academy Orchestra.

In his formative years, Brott studied conducting and cello concurrently. He also founded and conducted a youth orchestra in his native Montreal. By 22, he had retired from conducting. "I thought there were too many conductors in the family," he said. "But I have from time to time gone back to it. And I'm starting to do that now.

"I teach, and I'm always interested in motivating young people in finding ways to excite them about this wonderful profession in which we are privileged to function.

"And no matter how difficult it is, and it's getting more and more difficult to make a living as a musician, it (music) still has this incredible regenerative power, and communicative power that I don't know of anything else that matches it. Music is where words leave off."

Leonard Turnevicius is a music educator and organist.

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