Mr. David Cerutti performs internationally as violist and violist d’amore. A resident of New York, he is co-principal violist with the Orchestra of St. Luke's and member of the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble. He appears regularly in the U.S. and abroad with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Orpheus, and has been a guest soloist on the Double Exposure series at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.In spring of 2012 he will be featured on viola d'amore in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Leos Janáček's The Makropoulos Case.
We, the Janáček Association Japan, sent Mr. Cerutti some questions on viola d’amore and his performances at MET. We are much grateful to Mr. Cerutti who kindly replied our questions.
Q: Could you please talk us your music life and viola d’amore: How did you come to this rare instrument?
Cerutti (C): Since a young age I had known about the viola d'amore. I grew up in a small city near San Francisco, California, and in that city there was an instrument repairman with a very small shop. On his wall hung a viola d'amore, and I remember being transfixed by it, wondering what it would sound like with strings on! The minute I found a recording featuring the instrument, I bought it: Walter Trampler playing all the Vivaldi Concerti written for that instrument, and I nearly wore the record out listening to it as a teenager. As a teenager, I was especially attracted to baroque music. I think I always knew that eventually, I would learn how to play the viola d'amore. It wasn't until years later, at the age of about 30, I had already moved to New York City and was working as a free-lance musician. Much of my income was earned playing in period-instrument groups, and it wasn't long before I was asked to play the viola d'amore in a concert featuring the St. John Passion of JS Bach. I was completely consumed by an obsession with the viola d'amore for many months, and at the time, as a member of the Smithson String Quartet in Washington, DC, I had access to the manuscripts at the Library of Congress, where I made quite a few photocopies of works for viola d'amore. I soon after purchased my own instrument, and taught myself how to play it well; this lead to several solo engagements with the Little Orchestra Society of New York, where I played many of the Vivaldi Concerti, and several other groups here.
Q: And how did you come to play at the performances of the “Makropulos” at the MET?
C: In 1991, I was a finalist in the auditions for a position in the viola section at the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and began working there as an "extra" musician. Today, most of my income is derived from working in that venerable ensemble, and I cannot begin to say how thankful I am for that experience and opportunity. One of my fellow violists from the Met heard me play a very difficult contemporary piece, for viola d'amore, in 2005 at Lincoln Center, and he was impressed with my performance. Last year, this colleague overheard a conversation at the Met about Maestro Bělohlávek wanting to use viola d'amore in this season's production of Vec Makropoulos, and were wondering HOW they would find a violist d'amore. My colleague spoke up immediately on my behalf, suggesting that they use me for the job. This is how I came to do the solos in Makropoulos. This is the first time the Met has used viola d'amore for this particular opera, and it is a thrilling experience for me. My colleagues in the orchestra love the unusual sound of the instrument also.
Q: It is of course not easy to describe music by words. Nevertheless we are tempted to ask you about “the unusual sound” of viola d’amore.
C: I often compare it to the sound of the Indian Sitar, which also has sympathetic strings: there is almost a sizzling quality to it due to the resonance of those strings, which are not bowed but run underneath the fingerboard. The viola d'amore has a veiled, silvery quality, shimmering and sweetly metallic to the ear, rather transparent. It is more like the sound of a viol than a violin or viola, I hesitate to use the word "nasal". These qualities, mostly due to the sympathetic strings, give the instrument a kind of unique presence when heard among other instruments, which have neither the sympathetic strings nor are made with viol bodies. Also, since the post-Baroque version of the instrument has 14 strings (7 bowed and 7 sympathetic), it is under quite a bit of pressure, and thus it does not project nearly as well nor in the same manner as a violin or viola, and has less volume possibility. There is simply too much pressure on the belly of the instrument (because of so many strings) to project as well as a violin or viola. Also, the angles between the strings are quite small, and so one cannot use too much weight with the bow, it's too easy to hit neighboring strings. Volume is achieved by bow-speed rather than using much more weight in the bow-arm.
Q: What does the conductor expect by using viola d’amore?
C: I think Maestro Bělohlávek wanted to give Janáček's version of the piece, which was written with the designation "viola d'amore" in the score. Generally, the solo passages for the viola d'amore are divided up between the first violin and principal viola, due to the sonic issues inherent in using the viola d'amore.
Q: Have you ever played viola d’amore in other operatic or instrumental pieces of Janáček?
C: No, never. I have already suggested they use me for Katya Kabanova! I hope to play his String Quartet "Intimate Letters" in its original version one day, as well as the Sinfonietta. There may be even more pieces Janáček has written with viola d'amore that I am not aware of.
Q: How about were rehearsals and performances at the Metropolitan Opera House in last weeks?
C: At the end of every season at the Met, there is much fatigue in the orchestra, due to the extreme number of productions staged each season, and this year has been no exception. Britten's Billy Budd and Wagner's Ring des Niebelungen are being staged concurrently, and there seemed to be less rehearsal than usual for Makropoulos. However, Maestro Bělohlávek is a passionate musician who knows what he wants, and despite the aforementioned difficulties, the first performance on April 27th was splendid, and the orchestra sounded amazing. Karita Mattila is a huge vocal and dramatic presence, and the entire cast is amazing.
Q: Is it technically not difficult to play a baroque instrument in a modern orchestra and in a huge opera house?
C: Yes, it has proven to be necessary to use some discreet amplification, at least at the Metropolitan Opera, as the house is quite huge, even with its excellent acoustics. Also, much of the thickly-scored sections are impossible to cut through on the d'amore, without some amplification.
Q: Sometimes it is said that Janáček was attracted to viola d’amore just by its name. After having played the instrument in the “Vec Makropulos”, do you agree the opinion above? Or have you found any hidden charm of the viola d’amore from Janáček’s score?
C: There is only one spot in the score where the writing is very idiomatic for the instrument. I think Janáček didn't really know the instrument well, and I have heard that his acquaintance with it was rather limited; however, he uses it in several very important pieces. I heard that to him, the instrument recalled the voice of Kamila Stosslova. Indeed, the first entrance of the viola d'amore is at the entrance of Emilia Marty in the opera.
Q: Where is the “only one spot”?
C: In the second act, at Figure 97 in the score, Prus is accusingly questioning Emilia Marty about the letter, she retorts "do you think I'm lying?...wait a moment. How much would you sell me the envelope for?" Here, the viola d'amore plays arpeggiated figures which are so idiomatic to the instrument, the sympathetic strings really can vibrate in hypnotic fashion.
Q: Have you any other interesting matter on Janáček that you experienced?
C: I have loved the music of Janáček for many years, at least since college when I played the Sinfonietta, still one of my favorite pieces of all time. Also the Glagolitic Mass, and Pohadka for cello and piano, as well as all of his operas and choral works, and his piano sonatas: masterpieces. There is so much drama and pathos in his music, as well as a mystical or magical aesthetic. I think this is why his operas are so fantastic: the obsessive qualities he brings to the music are perfect for an opera such as Makropoulos. Sometimes when I hear a particular passage in his music, it's like a cry of anguish or joy, or anger!
Q: Could you please give a message to Japanese adherents of Janáček.
C: I have been to Japan many times, touring with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra there, and have always been fascinated by the Japanese reverence for art of all kinds, but especially music! What a beautiful country full of the most ancient culture and the most ultra-modern technology, of fire and ice, of Samurai strength and the delicacy of the tea-ceremony or the reverence for nature's beauty. It's no wonder that there are many adherents of Janáček there, whose music embraces every possible emotion, color, and indescribable condition of the human soul.
©David Cerutti, issued by the Janáček Association Japan in May 2012
