L. Ravi Narasimhan" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Ruggiero Ricci conducted a wonderful master class at Whittier
>College........... While helping one student through the fiendish
>Wieniawski Scherzo-Tarantelle, he told a story about how he'd rigged up
>an induction motor to a phonograph so as to play Heifetz's recording of
>that piece backwards. He then proceeded to play it backwards, in tempo
>and without any apparent effort.
I heard that about five years ago Ricci gave another masterclass, during
which a student played the Paganini Caprice No. 5, and here he also
proceeded to play this piece backwards as well. Have any of the performers
on this list used "backwards-playing" as a technique for learning a
piece? I'm sure it can be done, but I'm wondering if the result is worth
the effort time-wise. I'm wondering if this just happens to be something
that Ricci is good at, or something that most virtuosos (and accomplished
experts) can probably do.
hector aguilar