Upbeats: Season 5, Episode 4 (Braving the Solo Violin) Artwork

Braving the Stave

Hosted by Jonathan James and joined by Angharad Smith, a.k.a ‘JJ & Haz’ , this bubbly duo delve through all music and genres, sharing with you their personal favourite pieces, along with some musical jokes that add a playful and informal feel to the podcast. Working as part of Arts Active's Cardiff Classical programme, we run lots of exciting extras alongside it to support the concerts. Check out the Arts Active website for more - www.artsactive.org.uk
Got any comments for JJ and Haz? Email them to A2@artsactive.org.uk
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Yn cael eu cyflwyno gan Jonathan James, yng nghwmni Angharad Smith, neu ‘JJ a Haz’ fel y’u gelwir, mae’r ddeuawd fyrlymus hon yn pori drwy bob math o gerddoriaeth a genres, gan rannu gyda chi eu hoff ddarnau personol, ynghyd â rhai jôcs cerddorol sy’n ychwanegu teimlad chwareus ac anffurfiol i’r podlediad. Gan weithio fel rhan o'r rhaglen Gyfres Glasurol Actifyddion Artistig, rydym yn cynnal llawer o bethau ychwanegol cyffrous ochr yn ochr ag ef i gefnogi'r cyngherddau. Edrychwch ar wefan Arts Active i gael mwy - www.artsactive.org.uk
Oes gennych chi unrhyw sylwadau i JJ a Haz? Anfonwch ebost i A2@artsactive.org.uk

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Braving the Stave

Upbeats: Season 5, Episode 4 (Braving the Solo Violin)

January 26, 2026 • Arts Active • Season 5 • Episode 4

JJ and Haz set out their musical resolutions for the new year before enjoying the world of solo Bach violin ahead of Irène Duval's concert. And Haz falls in love, temporarily.

Mae JJ a Haz yn creu eu haddunedau cerddorol ar gyfer y flwyddyn newydd, cyn mwynhau byd ffidil unigol Bach cyn cyngerdd Irène Duval. Ac mae Haz yn syrthio mewn cariad, dros dro.

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Transcript - Braving the Solo Violin

Hello and blwyddyn newydd dda to everybody. My name's JJ.

And my name is Haz.

Happy New Year to you too.

Happy New Year.

Is it too late in the January month to be…?

No. Everyone knows January lasts about five to six years. So you can just wish…

JJ
It feels that way.

Haz
Yeah, it's really bleak. But I'm wearing yellow on purpose because it's like dopamine dressing. You're supposed to trick yourself into being happy. And you've given me the strongest coffee I've ever had in my whole life.

It slaps, I think is the expression.

Haz
Yeah, it’s a good thing
JJ
It's a kick in the face.

Yeah, I'm bouncing off the walls, so...

Haz, you're looking Nordic, if I may say.

Haz

Thank you.

JJ

Because you've got this burnt yellow, as you say, shirt, but also... what do we even call these? They're like woollen gaiters.

And my friend complimented me on them and I think it was a compliment. She said, those are amazing. Did you make them yourself?

Thick knit, thick knit.

Haz

Yeah.

JJ

And very colourful. There's a lot of colour going on in this room and it's all down to you.

Thank you. A brilliant start to the new year. And we hope that your years have started well, even if you're listening to this in February.

Or whenever you want. And I hope that your New Year's resolutions are still going strong at this point.

Yes, now let's just ask about that because I'm quite proud of... I love this period. I know some people avoid... either resolutions or intentions, as they call it, because they think there's no way they can ever keep them, etc. But for me, it's this opportunity to be creative, to reinvent yourself, almost, on a yearly basis and just think, okay, so how can I change?

I like it. What do you like around resolutions?

Well, I like to set things that I don't already do. For example, I'm not going to smoke anymore.

But I don't anyway. But that doesn't matter because it's like writing down…

See what you did?

Yeah.

JJ

Yes, aha. Okay.

Haz

You write something on your to-do list. So you like “Do bins”, even though you've already done the bins, you can be like, “Heh! Tick.”

I've never heard of this as a device or strategy.

Maybe you’ve never had to. You've never lived with a crippling anxiety. But yeah, something I do. I don't know. But yeah, do you have any New Year's resolutions?

Well, let's just talk about the musical ones.

Make it relevant to this lovely Braving the Stave podcast. I'm going to learn a notation software and I am going to sing more. That's my main one.

Okay, so what is the notation software?

Well, I'm very comfortable just writing things down with pencil on manuscripts and I sort of begrudgingly, I begrudgingly use what's a freeware called MuseScore to do all the, sort of, typesetting of it. I know that you're a whiz and you can do this in your sleep.

I'm not a whiz at all. I pay a hefty subscription just for something, but I don't need to. I just want to be more... Yeah, I guess like you more free flowing with it, more organic, rather than….

I want to type without looking at the screen. I just want to hear it in my head. Maybe just close my eyes and… look, I've got a little test for you and for our listeners.

Haz

Lord. Okay.

JJ

So I just want you to listen to this excerpt of… I think it's mainly a string orchestra, there's some wind that comes in later. And I want you to tell me whether these are real or sampled instruments.

Mhhm. Okay.

JJ

Okay?

Haz

Okay. Let's go.

Here we go.

[Music plays]

If that is software, then we are all out of a job.

It's pretty scary, isn't it?

Yeah, that's really good.

That was indeed software. In fact, that was the Spitfire Orchestra. It's a professional demo of their sound. And yeah, I was so blown away because normally when you have done an arrangement, and you want to share it with your friends just for them to have a listen from the notation it sounds pants doesn’t it.

And you're playing it from your laptop and it's like really tinny. And you're like, “Oh no, it's going to sound better than this. It sounds better than this.” And they're like “Mmhmm.” It sounds pretty rubbish. Yeah, that's great.

It's an awful puddle of a sound. And so yes, so this should be a game changer. How about you? What are your New Year's resolutions musically?

Okay, musically, apart from the giving up smoking, obviously. I am going to be saying yes to more gigs that scare me, and not because they are far away with people that I hate, because that is terrifying for anyone, but because they are musically difficult. And if anything comes up that I'm like, oh, I don't want to play that then I usually say no, because I don't want to learn the part, which sounds awful.

So you're going to be practicing more, is what I'm hearing.

Listen, Jon, I don't want to make any promises I can't keep. Don't put words in my mouth that I don't mean, all right? But I'm going to definitely maybe take on things that might, you know… and they're like, “Oh, by the way, this one has a few solos if you're happy.” Usually I'll be like, “Nah, you're all right” because I've got, you know, another gig might come on that date where I can just play some background music.

Well good luck to you, is all I can say. I think that's a… fanfare that, as in brilliant. Do it. Do it.

I'm open to any offers, including fanfare. So that's one. And the second thing is championing the positivity that comes around singing.

Because I know you said singing as well. I think over Christmas, my little sister was in the kitchen with her baby and she was just singing All I Want for Christmas Is You, not knowing that anyone was listening to her. And she was just singing along. And I was like, “You sound amazing”. And her instant response was like, “Oh God, I'm not a singer”. And I was like, if someone cooks you a meal and you're like, “Wow, this is delicious” you wouldn't say, “Oh, but I'm not a trained chef”. You would just be like, “Oh yeah, cheers, it's all right, isn't it”? So I'm just…

JJ

It tastes good.

Haz

Yeah, it tastes good, doesn't it? Or “Thanks for enjoying it”, whatever. So I'm going to try and sing more and. I'm going to stick a big thumbs up to all the naysayers and anyone who's like…

JJ

Just do it anyway.

Haz

Just do it.

I've heard your voice and it's brilliant.

It's stunning, isn't it, actually?

It is stunning.

Whereas my voice is, let's say, I want to say... meek,

Haz

No, no.

JJ

Mild.

Haz

Subtle and complimentary of the season. But you've got to have this positive… we're not going to talk ourselves down anymore.

We're going to talk ourselves up with our singing.

Talk ourselves… Absolutely. yeah.

Now this is the sound that I'm actually aspiring to. I wanted to share it with the listeners as well. He's a wonderful Welsh folk artist called Owen Shiers and he leads this… well, I want to say a band, even though normally it's just him and a guitar, called Cynefin, which means the old paths or old walkways, sometimes referring to the sheep paths that crisscross the fields.

Haz
Cynefin, mmm.

JJ

So yes, he's reviving past traditions, as folk artists do, but he's also a farmer. So he's looking at ancient farm practices and making… or rather just making sure that certain organic practices stay alive.

God, he sounds dreamy! Oh my God!

Now, listen, I'm about to show, and you're going to see the live reaction, or hear the live reaction, that Haz gives to his photos. Because I, basically, I think this guy looks a cross between a Welsh farmer and a Hollywood romantic interest, basically.

Right, end of podcast. I'm just going to go and...

Okay, so I'm going to just shift the computer over here.

[Gasp] yep, absolutely. What a lovely voice he looks like he has. He looks like he tends his sheep really well and also takes care of his mother. Do you know what I mean?

Yes.

Haz

Nice guy.

JJ

He's a good lad and we're looking at a photo of him just sat casually in a field with his guitar.

He looks like a generous tipper, you know.

Absolutely. What's not to like? Listen, this is him singing. Let's see if he can just measure up to his image there. So this is Cân Y Melinydd, which is the song of the miller. an ancient song that he's rearranged and it's him actually singing with another wonderful voice. This is Mari Mathias, who is a Welsh folk singer as well. So here we go.

Oh. I think that it Haz definitely head over heels.

Yeah, I mean, we just recorded this bit and we had to re-record it because my mic was so far away from my face because I was lustfully looking out the window with a dreamy expression on my face.

JJ

Practically drooling.

Haz

You've got to hold the mic closer. So yeah, that is… what a nice voice.

Nice everything. That was Owen Shiers and his band Cynefin. I mean, I say band but, you know, his outfit. Do check him out. Now, we need to talk about the forthcoming, depending on when you're listening to this, concert in Eglwys Dewi Sant, in Cardiff City Centre, as part of the series there, the lunchtime recitals. This time it's been given by Irène Duval, who is basically braving the solo violin.

JJ
Oh!

JJ

That's courageous, isn't it?

That is actually way harder. When you strip it back and you've just got solo violin, there's no hiding behind anything at all. You have…

Yeah, exactly. Wow!

So guess what she's playing?

I'm going to say Ligetti.

No, I hope not. Is she playing Bach?

She's playing Bach.

Haz

Yeah!

JJ
Yeah, of course she's playing Bach. So there's solo Bach and in between there, there's Ysaye and there's a lovely piece by John Tavener and… we'll come to that as well. And I can say that I will be doing a separate chat with Irène at some point next week, so that will be a bonus episode, just to do a deep dive into this beautiful programme. But let's, first of all, have a listen to her because I think she's absolutely the real deal. It's such an exciting sound and I was immediately swept away. This is her playing the first movement of the Fauré Sonata No. 2.

[Music play]

JJ

That is a luscious sound, isn't it?

Yeah, and very French. I think it would be really interesting to hear her play Bach after something like that, because you have to really flip between styles of playing.

Yes, and just to be clear, the Fauré isn't part of her programme.

That was just to give you a sense of the warmth of her tone. And she is very cosmopolitan. She has mixed parentage, French-Korean. And she was brought up, I think, until the age of 11 in a mixture of countries. So Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, before settling in France to go to the conservatoire there. And we were just listening to a bit of Fauré just then and she definitely has that sort of sensibilité, that sensitivity to the French sound, doesn't she?

Yeah, I think maybe with that sort of travel and being in different places, she's the sort of person that you would ask in any city, like, where's the best place to eat? And she'd know. You know.

Yes, and immediately interesting, right?

Haz

Totally.

JJ

You've got so much to talk about. Whereas, you know, I grew up in Devon. Where do we go from there?

Nothing wrong with that. But yeah, she sounds really cool. You can ask her all these different questions. I'm interested.

Exactly. I'm looking forward to that interview a lot. So, let's talk about solo Bach because the E Major Partita by Bach features large in her programme.

First of all, have you played it on the viola? Have you done a transcription of it or…?

Don't you worry, you can rest easy in your bed. I have not threatened Bach with any action towards the E Major. I have played a lot of the solo cello works that have been transcribed for the viola by Dr. Sir Simon Jones and have actually played it to him in a masterclass, one of the solo Bach ones.

That sounds scary.

It is scary and he was lovely and gentle whilst being direct. But there's nothing quite like when someone asks you, “You didn't do the slur there?” And then rather than… I forgot and it was, rather than say like, “Oh yeah, whoops, silly me.” I just said, “Oh yeah, I changed a bowing there.” And then, forgetting that he actually transcribed and arranged it, and then have him say like, “Why did you change that?”

Yes, you don't want to be sort of messing around.

Yeah, exactly. So those are our works, but I've also heard a lot of solo Bach played by the trombone and the tuba.

Right. Now, I can't imagine quite a tuba doing that.

Now, let me tell you, the trombone, it was intentional. I went to go see that. It was beautiful. The tuba, lovely friend of mine, used to go out with another friend of mine and I would wake up to hearing the tuba being played downstairs on the sofa.

Oh, that's harsh.

Right. To wake up to that. Listen, I've got a different instrument doing their own version of the Bach unaccompanied, for violin this time. So, this is on mandolin and this is Chris Thile, who's a brilliant mandolinist. And I just, I think it works so well for mandolin. It's more of a cousinly skip to the violin.

Haz
Yeah.

JJ

Certainly more than the tuba. And so this is the Gavotte en Rondeau from the Partita in E Major. And it's almost as if Bach wrote it for the mandolin.

[Music plays]

That is the cutest little arrangement.

What a lovely ditty and it really dances on the mandolin.

We were, like, bopping away.

Well, you were.

Yeah, it sounds like… well, I don't mean to diminish the playing because it's so technical. I think to make something sound so easy like that, you have to be really quite hot at your instrument, don't you?

Yes, I mean, he's, I think, one of the world's best, really. He makes it sound so easy and dainty and light of foot, doesn't he?

And emphasises how practically all of the movements in these suites and partitas are inspired by dance and by folk dance as well. So that really comes through on the mandolin.

Haz

Yeah.

Perhaps less so on the tuba, I would say, depending. Depending.

Well, I don't know. If you can make Bach sound good on any instrument, because Bach does sound great on any instrument, but you can make it sound extra specially zingy or extra specially whatever you want it to be. That makes it… I don't know, enjoyable and comes from the heart. It comes from the heart.

I think it’s a really courageous move, on lots of fronts, to do solo Bach. Now, first of all, let's just think from the composer's perspective. If you're composing just for a single line instrument, okay, so on strings you can imply harmony through double-stopping or just by, yeah, the treatment of the line. But really, you're having to sustain interest just with a single line.

Yeah. You're implying a note underlying that you might want to hold that for the whole bar. So you're almost expecting the audience to be able to hold that chord in their heads while they're listening to it. So you're putting a lot of trust in the audience itself and then a lot of faith in the player that they have the technical facility to be able to carry it all through.

But it's a bold move to decide to do that in the first place, right?

Haz

Oh it’s balshy.

JJ

He did a whole set of suites for all sorts of instruments and partitas to show off the instrument and to show off how well he could write for the solo instrument. So that is bold. Then comes the bold decision to play the thing and to interpret it right on your tod on the stage as Irène Duval would be doing. And then I think there's a third level of boldness when you do that in a large concert hall because, you know, it's an intimate sound. It's a solo violin in this case. But let's take, and this is my treasure swap for you. Let's take this celebrated recording of Alina Ibragimova playing the opening, the Prelude to the E Major Partita on the Albert Hall stage as part of a prom just dedicated to the Bach solo suites and partitas. Can you imagine that?

No, I would just rather die because that is so terrifying and you have to be so brave and brilliant and yeah, I can't wait to hear this.

Okay, so here's my treasure for this week or for this month. Alina Ibragimova with the Prelude.

[Music plays]

That is amazing.

It's so crystal clear. A live recording, everybody.

That is like, I'm baffled and boggled that anyone can play like that. It's so beautiful and it makes me feel like my hand is cramping. Like, just listening to it. And when it started, I was like, “Ambitious tempo.” And then it just carried on and got even better and.

Lovely contrast within that and implied dialogue and it's just beautiful, intelligent playing isn’t it.

Yeah, and crystal clear, which I loved.

Thank you for sharing that. I think my treasure swap is another solo violin and it sounds pretty similar, actually.

JJ

Go on then.

Haz

In that it's just a beautiful rendition of it. I've chosen Hilary Hahn.

You see, both she and Alina Ibragimova have this positive, what's the word… it’s a kind of an intensity to the tone.

Yeah, take no prisoners.

Yeah, absolutely. It's right in there isn’t it.

Yeah. But not, like, forcing it and not, like, brutalist, but just kind of like, “This is… I'm going to play now, here it goes.”

JJ
Yeah.

Haz

They just go for it and I love it. And I've gone for Sonata No. 2. of the solo violin sonatas in A Minor and I've gone for the 4th movement which is the allegro and I still try and play this one about 1/4 of the tempo and about 1/10 of the tuning and about 100th of the timing just to warm up because I think it's so lovely and the openness of the A minor really helps get everything in tune and in… yeah I love this one.

Brilliant.

[Music plays]

Such a strength of tone, as we said.

Yeah, beautiful, beautiful playing.

Beautiful dance, everything you'd want from solo Bach. We should say, just in case listeners don't sort of appreciate the function and role of solo Bach in a string player's training, that it is a rite of passage really, isn't it?

It is. And when you're doing your finals, like, in university, in music college, they say, “Oh, what are you going to play?” And everyone's like, “Well, solo Bach.” “Cool, yeah, I meant what else?” Like, because everyone plays a bit of something for one of their exams. It'll be like, “Yeah, well, I'm doing solo Bach.” “Yes, of course. What else?” You know, that sort of thing. So, You did, I'm sure. Did you?

Well, I didn't have to do any performance exams. Thank you very much.

All right, you can play some now then. Go on.

I've learnt my solo bach. Yes, I have. I did the D Minor. And yes, I'm so I'm really looking forward to talking to Irène Duval about her particular sense of challenge around solo Bach, because everybody… They are well known, these suites and audience members will bring different expectations. So there's that kind of scrutiny and extra, sort of, level of bravery involved as well, just due to the familiarity. And with that, we come to the end of our podcast as well.

Which makes me so sad, but also really happy to think that we might get to hear Owen Shiers again at the end of this. Can I request that, please?

I see what's going on here.

Haz

Uh huh. Uh huh.

JJ

You're his new biggest fan, I take it?

And I always have been since literally like 20 minutes ago.

Well, as it's you Haz, yes, we can listen to the first track from his second album. It's called Helmi for he is, an actual oat farmer and this is about farming practices that he's keeping alive. Just a quick reminder that there will be a bonus episode as well to this podcast Haz

Yes!

JJ

to listen out for with Irène Duval. I'm really looking forward to that conversation.

Perfect. And then later on, I'm sure I will be running my own series of podcasts with Owen Shiers.

I see. It's going to be like that. Well!

It's not. We'll see you next time, definitely.

How fickle you are.

This is Owen Shiers, then, and his band, Cynefin. Hwyl fawr.