I may not know much about sports but damn it I sure as hell know at least something about violinists (I think). The second time Joshua Bell appeared in Joseph Gingold’s violin class (at age 13 if I recall correctly) I was seated about 4 feet directly in front of him. Joshua played the entire Mendellssohn concerto perfectly (from memory). The only correction Gingold made was to a slight portamento Josh had put in during the second movement. “You must have gotten this from Galamian?, it is too dear–please take it out.” I had needed to clap ridiculously hard and loud to make up for the icy reception Joshua was receiving from the all admittedly brilliant but also apparently rather jealous violinists in Gingold’s studio at the time. I can still recall the sheer coldness in the room 40 years later.

As an undergraduate composition major at I.U. I attended as many of the Gingold violin master-classes as I could manage, took four semester of violin from one of his assistants and therefore had to play my semester juries in his studio in front of him. That I survived any of it seems pretty miraculous to me today. Even though it was really impossible for me to keep up the violin over the years I certainly had the knowledge of and “sound” of what constitutes truly spectacular violin playing and technique drilled into me well enough. Over the years I’ve become even more convinced that really brilliant playing (on any instrument) is approximately 90% technique and 10% truly engaging musicianship. If you want to argue those percentages with me, fine. You can go hear that playing and leave me at home. I’m also talking about the kind of technique where when you are playing at your 70% you’ve already surpassed most other players on the planet.

Daniel Lozakovich is that rarest of items. A truly brilliant musician who may not yet have any real idea or appreciation of how breathtakingly good he truly is. There are always to be found sections of pure technical passage-work in the major violin concertos (or showpieces) that I always latch on to. Often (in spite of being quite difficult) they are neither outwardly showy, spectacular or demonstrative, but instead are musically developmental or transitional and critical to the overall musical coherence and success of the work. Many of the even greatest violinists simply “run through them” or more accurately in my view “run over them”. Daniel, will invariably treat you to every single note and articulation mark that you didn’t even know was there.