Meg’s Question

Hello, my name is Janz Castelo, violist with the BPO, and I will be tackling the most recent installment of “Ask a Question.”

Meg asks:

Are your favorite pieces to play also your favorite pieces to listen to or do you enjoy listening to certain pieces you don’t like playing and vice versa?

Excellent question! Off the bat, I can tell you that playing the viola part to slow movements of Beethoven piano concerti is deadly! They are exquisite to listen to, but to me playing them is dreadful. Honestly, they are exhausting to play. Most people probably think that playing fast and loud is the most tiring, but to me (and most likely other string players) it’s the slow quiet stuff that kills me. In slow playing, everthing you play has to be super-controlled, delicate, refined, etc. which requires tons of muscle power. It’s like holding a yoga pose (think tree pose) for 10 minutes straight! Not fun, especially if your yoga skills are as good as mine.

There are also many works that I feel are fun to play but are not my favorite to listen to. I don’t speak for my colleagues, but to me a lot of Vivaldi falls under this category. Sorry Vivaldi lovers! Feels great to play, lots of up and down scales, fun string crossings, very exciting, but not the music that I like to listen to. Basically, in my opinion Vivaldi wrote some many great works, just not my listening cup of tea.

And just in case not everyone reading this realizes it, many of us actually listen to other music besides “Classical” music. So for me to play the music that I like to listen to I would have to join a salsa band or a Pixies cover band, neither of which I foresee in my near future (if anyone needs a violist for either of these, drop me a note).

Thanks for your question!