The cellos
Steven’s cellos
Steven plays most of his concerts these days on the âMarquis de Corberonâ Stradivarius of 1726, kindly loaned to him by the Royal Academy of Music. It is a wonderful, unique cello, with a deep, poetic warmth and a particularly rich bass. Its rollcall of past players is impressive â including the French virtuoso Jules-LĂ©opold Loeb, not only the dedicatee of FaurĂ©âs famous Elegy, but also the cellist (hopefully on the Marquis!) in the first performances of FaurĂ©âs first piano quartet, and Saint-Saensâ fascinating Piano Trio no 2. Later, it was played by Hugo Becker, a famous pedagogue and performer who worked with such luminaries as Joachim and Busoni. More recently, the great Canadian cellist Zara Nelsova played on it for her whole career â including on her famous recording of Blochâs Schelomo with the composer conducting.
Since this instrument will never belong to him, however, Steven spent many years purchasing a Montagnana cello of 1745, a strong and noble instrument; for the moment, Steven plays it mostly for performances of works which he plays on steel strings â eg the concertos of Shostakovich, Kabalevsky, Dutilleux. Much though he loves his Montagnana, however, Steven found that he couldnât bear to part wholly with his JB Guadagnini cello of 1745, which he played exclusively from 1979 to 1998, and which he used for all of his recordings until the John Tavener string quartet, âthe Hidden Treasureâ (and took up again for the recording of the 5th Bach suite, with its scordatura). So he still part-owns the Guadagnini with his friend David Waterman, formerly cellist of the Endellion Quartet; although David plays it most of the time, the arrangement is that Steven can have the Guadagnini back for the odd concert if he lets David know well in advance! The Guadagnini is a gentler, more intimate instrument than the Montagnana; they complement each other well. On his album of short pieces, âCello Worldâ, Steven used both cellos in succession for different pieces; it is quite hard to hear which is which. There is even a little duo by Martinu on the disc, for which Steven used both cellos! The miracles of modern scienceâŠ
The American master luthier (now living in the UK) Robert Brewer Young has kindly presented Steven with his fine copy of the Marquis de Corberon Strad, entitled The Lady Joanna. Interestingly, although this cello was originally set up with steel strings, Robert wanted to try putting gut strings on it â and the cello blossomed! Finally, Steven has also been presented â some would say he is spoiled! â with a cello by the veteran maker Clive Morris. Steven met Clive when the latter brought along one of his first cellos for Steven to try before a recital; Steven was so taken with it that he ended up performing the last work of the programme on the Morris!
