Salvatore Accardo: Just because every note is at its right place, it can’t yet be called music

Although Béla Bartók was no violinist himself, but a pianist, he cultivated a good friendship with several excellent violinists, especially with Yehudi Menuhin. A very demonstrative manifestation of their ties of friendship is the Sonata for Solo Violin, which was commissioned by Menuhin. „This work is a real masterpiece, in fact the Bible of violinists. Regarding Bartók’s violin compositions, it seems he wasn’t only friends with violinists but also with the instrument itself, the violin.” – stated the Paganini virtuoso.

Salvatore Accardo  with the members of the Bartók World competition and Festival. Photo: Liszt Academy / Zoltán Adrián

Salvatore Accardo is regularly invited to sit in the juries of various competitions, thus as a juror he has been to Moscow, Genoa and three times at the Long–Thibaud–Crespin Competition in Paris. As to his position as the head of jury at the Bartók World Competition in Budapest, he commented: „This invitation was very important to me, as this way, I had the opportunity to listen to the performances of numerous young violinists. Today, young musicians are in a much tougher situation than in my time, as there are plenty of gifted young people, and thus competitions play an especially crucial role. A contest doesn’t only have opportunities in store for the 1^st prize winner. In fact, in the long run, it is the silver and bronze medallists are the ones who end up making a solo career.” – added Salvatore Accardo. He continued that „the reason for this is that competing and giving a recital are two different genres. My colleagues and I often note that there are violinists who were born for contest, while others were born for concerts.” He also remarked that „the level-headedness of competitors is not enough in a concert, as during a concert performance one needs a wide range of emotions. The most important part of music is feeling. If this is missing, the audience will not give the feedback the musician desires to receive.”

„In my opinion, we shouldn’t focus on spotless performances. I keep telling my fellow-jurors to ignore small mistakes, for we all make minor errors. I think that in a competition too it is the actual interpretation that matters and how the contestants make music with their instruments. Just because every note is at its right place, it can’t yet be called music ” – pointed out the head of jury of the Bartók World Competition.

Dr. Vigh Andrea  and Salvatore Accardo. Photo: Liszt Academy / Gábor Ancsin

Salvatore Accardo has a special relationship with Bartók’s oeuvre: „When I was 19 or 20, just two weeks before a recital in Germany, I was asked to stand in for a German violinist.  It didn’t even occur to me not to say yes. I was very glad to play Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2, but I hadn’t practised it before, as it hadn’t been on my repertoire.” – recounted the highly acclaimed musician. He added that „although I had learned the piece by heart and I had heard several versions of it, at the very moment when I promised to perform it, I didn’t actually know it.  I had only two weeks to make it my own. The concert itself evoked fantastic feelings in me, and it was incredible to collaborate with the Frankfurt orchestra. From then on Bartók was on my repertoire.”

Salvatore Accardo pointed out that in competitions where Bartók’s compositions are not compulsory but only optional, the contestants tend to opt for them only rarely. He explained that „if they do pick Bartók, they mostly perform his Sonata for Solo Violin. The Violin Concertos are very tough to play for a young violinist. First, because they have little experience playing with an orchestra, second, often young conductors don’t have enough experience in Bartók’s orchestral works either. The „margin of error” is too high, so they rather opt for Beethoven or Tchaikovsky’s compositions, as both the orchestras and the conductors are very familiar with them. In Paris once, during the performance of one of Shostakovich’s Violin Concertos, the orchestra had to stop, but not because of the solo violin but for the conductor. Obviously, everyone would like to avoid a situation like this in a competition.  

Salvatore Accardo a Quartetto Accardo koncertjén. Fotó: Zeneakadémia / Tuba Zoltán

Meastro Accardo expressed a firm view on Hungarian contestants having a potential advantage over others when playing Bartók’ works due to their roots in folk music: „I used to hear numerous Italian competitors perform Paganini’s works, but unfortunately they didn’t play them well. Though Béla Bartók was doubtlessly Hungarian, his oeuvre goes far beyond his roots. What matters is that the profound emotional world of Bartók’s music comes across in the performance. If it does, the interpretation is successful - regardless of the musician’s nationality.”