Interview with Jack Liebeck

I met Jack Liebeck after a small recital he did in a great little restaurant in Townsville during the Australian Festival of CHamber Music a few years ago. We had a brief chat and I had a look at his beautiful 1785 J.B. Guadagnini violin. Since then he has continued to support and perform at the AFCM for quite a few years. This month he is finally performing with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

Born in London in 1980, Jack Liebeck made his concerto debut with the Hallé Orchestra aged fifteen. Now established as one of the most compelling young violinists on the concert platform he has performed with many of the worlds leading orchestras.

In 2009 Jack signed an exclusive contract with SONY Classical, for whom he has released the Dvorak Violin Concerto with Garry Walker and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Dvorak Sonata and Sonatina with Katya Apekisheva.

Jack has recently been appointed Professor of Violin at the Royal Academy of Music and is co-founder and Artistic Director of Oxford May Music Festival, a festival of music, science and the arts.
Jack plays the ‘Ex-Wilhelmj’ J.B. Guadagnini dated 1785

I recently asked him a few questions about instruments, playing, posture and more:

What inspired you to take up the violin in the first place?

I’m not sure what made me want to play the violin exactly.   My grandfather was a good amateur violinist, but he died before I started playing.

Do you remember your first violin?

My first violin was a half sized rental violin from a shop in London.  I remember that it had an unpleasant smell of rosin and other humans having played on it before me!

When did you get your first violin that you were really happy with?

When I was thirteen I was able to play a lovely Grancino which I played on until I was seventeen.

What do you think players should look for in a good violin?

That’s difficult, I think that budgets always play their part.  An instrument that complements a players particular quirks and demands. A player who likes to play with a light touch will need a violin that is easy to play. Someone with a more hands-on approach must have a violin that likes to be coaxed into making a sound (I am one of the latter).

What do you like about your current instrument?

My Guadagnini is a real powerhouse, and with the right touch can be made to roar as well as sing beautifully.

What are you really fussy about on your instrument’s set up?

I am not that fussy to be honest, my violin was set up in 1998 and I have not changed it since then, apart from an occasional sound post adjustment.  I always make sure I have fresh strings and that the bridge is straight!

What strings do you use and why?

I normally use Evah Pirazzi’s on A,D and G and a Pirastro Gold on the E, I feel that they are very neutral and powerful.  In the last couple of weeks I have been trying Evah Pirazzi Gold strings which are a little thinner so make my violin a little less tricky to play.

What kind of bow are you using, and what do you like about it?

I play a Pierre Simon bow, without it’s original frog. It is silky smooth and has a very precise bounce.  The bow does not fidget much considering the substantial amount of force my Guadagnini needs to make it sing.

Who are your Heroes?

My violinistic heroes are Jasha Heifetz and Nathan Milstein.  Those players played with such conviction and passion. In more recent times, I spent much of my youth going to hear Maxim Vengerov whenever he was in London, I think he is an awesome violinist

What do you think was the reason that you are as successful as you are?

I don’t like talking about how successful I am, or not…  I have always let my violin do the talking, that is what my teacher Mateja Marinkovic always drummed into me.

How important was the support of your parents?

It was so important. I don’t come from a musical family, it was very important for me to have as much of a normal life as was possible even though I was dedicating all of my formative years to a very single minded and risky goal.

Who else played an important role in you music life?

My violin teacher was another father figure in my life.  We worked for many hours every week, until I was totally exhausted (and he was grey-haired!). I was so lucky to find him and have that kind of strict, hands-on violinistic upbringing.

How would you describe your posture?

I am physically very relaxed when I play, I try and let gravity do as much of the work as it can.  I don’t have a violin mark under my chin because I don’t grip the violin. Naturally I have round shoulders so I try to make sure I’m not too hunched.

How has your posture helped you become a world class musician?

I’m not sure, I think that being physically free means that you can communicate better with other musicians and of course the audience.

What do you think players need to look out for in their posture?

Keep your legs relaxed and bend your knees! Sounds crazy, but with rigid legs your upper body cannot be relaxed!

How do you produce a great sound? (This one is for my 6 year old son who asked the question… but I think it can definitely help a lot of players)

Let gravity do the work, hang your shoulder and elbow. Don’t hold UP the bow, let it hang from your right hand.  Then, once you have mastered that you can really influence the touch of the bow on the string to gain an almost atomic level of feel with the bow.  It’s important to be economical with the bow, there is always a sweet spot of pressure, speed and position.

What do you love about performing? Teaching?

Performing is such a privilege!  There is no other aspect of life where on the one hand you’re on this knife-edge between perfection and catastrophe, and at the same time you are in a dream world making great art come to life.

Teaching is extremely interesting and can be a brain-teaser at times!  I love working with my students and seeing them improve and especially when they start to see their own progress.

What do you think are the greatest challenges facing young musicians today?

I think that popular culture, and it’s expectations are very difficult to get past these days.  I wonder if all those visually unattractive musicians of previous generations would have had such big careers these days where a pretty dress has such impact and seems to often over-ride the musical qualities.

What advice would you give young musicians that want to become world class musicians like you?

Practice hard, be a realist, develop your strengths and work on your weaker points.  Enjoy the music, in the end it’s all about the music.

Here is a short video of Jack Liebeck performing ‘Ecuerdos de la Alhambra’ (Memories of the Alhambra) composed in 1896 by Spanish composer and guitarist Francisco Tárrega

Jack Liebeck will be performing in Brisbane in October 2012.

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