America's Concertmasters (Detroit Monographs in Musicology/Studies in Music, No. 51) [Paperback]

Anne Mischakoff Heiles (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0899901395 | ISBN-13: 978-0899901398 | Publication Date: December 31, 2007

This unique book, based on extensive research on more than 180 concertmasters and dozens of interviews, looks at the training and personality traits that have yielded great leaders in the string sections of orchestras in the United States and Canada. After a brief overview of some of the early concertmasters in Europe, twelve chapters present the histories of the concertmaster position in twelve North American orchestras, together with in-depth profiles of twenty-two of the men and women who are the recent and present occupants of the first chair in these symphony and opera orchestras. America's Concertmasters depicts their love affair with violins, their political and psychological acumen, their activism on behalf of their colleagues, and how they model ethical and professional standards. It describes in their words how they advocate for and cede authority to the conductor they serve. And it examines how they make musical decisions, react in crises, and in practical ways deal with the pressures of their solo work.

Editorial Reviews

Review

After a brief prologue explaining the concertmaster selection and interview process, and an excellent introduction of how the concertmaster role evolved, Heiles takes us on a wonderful journey exploring the lives of concertmasters from ten of the major performing orchestras in North America. Among the issues Heiles seeks to probe are the traits that distinguish concertmasters from section players and soloists, the musical training concertmasters receive, how power is shared between conductor and concertmaster, how authority develops between concertmaster and section players, the range of musical interests today's concertmasters have and whether their musical activities differ from their predecessors, and their tips for those aspiring to orchestral careers. ... this book really should be on the required list for every performance major (string players especially) at the undergraduate and graduate levels of learning. It will give much understanding to the discipline and fortitude it takes to become a great player, and most important, a great leader. --Nola Campbell, NOTES, September 2008

About the Author

Anne Mischakoff Heiles has been on the faculties of the University of the Pacific, Northwestern University, California State University at Fresno, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, teaching viola and music history. She is the author of Khandoshkin and the Beginning of Russian String Music (UMI Press, 1983), Mischa Mischakoff: Journeys of a Concertmaster (Harmonie Park Press, 2006), and many articles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 580 pages
• Publisher: Harmonie Park Press (December 31, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0899901395
• ISBN-13: 978-0899901398
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,393,230 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A highly readable history of North American Orchestras, February 28, 2008

By 

Chris Felcyn "WRCJ-FM" (Brighton, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: America's Concertmasters (Detroit Monographs in Musicology/Studies in Music, No. 51) (Paperback)

While this is a much needed look at American concertmasters over the years, it also serves as a fascinating and highly readable history of virtually every major orchestra in North America. Along the way we're treated to extensive profiles of Boston's Joseph Silverstein, Cleveland's Rafael Druian and William Preucil, Detroit's Emmanuelle Boisvert, New York's Glenn Dicterow and many others.

Deserves a place in every music lover's library.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Also a virtual masterclass for auditioning for concertmaster, June 5, 2008

By 

gotta love the Cretaceous period - See all my reviews

This review is from: America's Concertmasters (Detroit Monographs in Musicology/Studies in Music, No. 51) (Paperback)

While being a history, the book is even more vividly an account of what current and recent past concertmasters have to say about playing as, and also auditioning to be, concertmaster. The interview with David Kim gives a bow-by-bow account of his own preparation for the Chicago Symphony audition. (He is concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, but his Chicago experience led him to it.)

Other valuable aspects are the many descriptions by the concertmasters of lesser known but worthwhile solo violin repertoire and new composers to watch; accounts of which conductors led which orchestras and what it is like to play under them; and of course who was concertmaster when. The astute notetaker can compile a valuable annotated repertory list and a great list for choosing CDs based on comparing the sounds different conductors get from essentially the same orchestra, how orchestras differ with the same conductor, and comparing concertmasters.

I enthusiastically recommend this book!

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable resource for musicians and (educated) music lovers, August 16, 2009

By 

Greedy Collector (IL, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: America's Concertmasters (Detroit Monographs in Musicology/Studies in Music, No. 51) (Paperback)

Yes, it is not a name coincidence, the author of this book is indeed the daughter of the legendary Mischa Mischakoff - arguably the nec plus ultra of an unsurpassed generation of US/Canadian concertmasters of Russian and/or Jewish origin.

Anne Mischakoff Heiles has already made her penmanship known in two books. I am not familiar at all (yet) with the earlier "Khandoshkin and the beginning of Russian string music," but I did read her previous book, a biography of her father, and I was already impressed. Writing a biography of a dear family member can prove a tricky business, as it is easy to give in to lachrymose recollections which may seem relevant to the author, but not so much so to the emotionally uninvolved reader. Far from falling into that trap, the author has offered a never hagiographic, always well-argued, factual vision of who her father was for the world of music, rather than for herself. This other excellent book - not the one I am reviewing here, but the one at

http://www.amazon.com/Mischa-Mischakoff-Concertmaster-Monographs-Musicology/dp/089990131X/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2

- was, if anything, at least matched by the new work, America's Concertmasters. A tremendous amount of first-quality research has gone into this op, and the writing is, as within the Mischakoff bio, both classy and easy to follow. I really don't believe we need the thirtieth biography of Toscanini (or the one thousandth biography of Wagner) anytime soon, but this book did truly fill a gap yearning to be filled.

Of course, Mischa Mischakoff's imposing figure appears again, as it should, in chapters dedicated to orchestras he served in - including New York, Philadelphia, Detroit (NBC doesn't have a separate chapter) -, but as part of a more intricate tree of illustrious concertmasters, many of whom of European origin.

The book combines in a great way never irrelevant, often charming bits of trivia and a lot of substance regarding the life meaning and the professional challenges a concertmaster strives for and meets. Not only aspiring concertmasters, but also (or especially) many conductors could learn a great amount of professionally and ethically valuable things from Anne Mischakoff-Heiles' book.

While the author lets mostly the voices of the musicians speak through her writing, the patient reader will be rewarded, among others, with an initial essay on the forming of the concertmaster concept, going back to Bach and Gluck's time, as well as an "Afterword - Paradox of the Concertmaster Position," a well thought essay on the historical consistencies and the concurrent historical changes which, to a great extent, have reduced the importance of the concertmaster in modern orchestras, without annihilating the essence of their vocation.

Appendixes include a fascinating (not surprisingly, heavy on Stradivarius gems) list of violins famous concertmasters used, and a list of musical premieres specific concertmasters have been involved in.

Highly recommended, a one-of-a-kind book.