Simon Hewitt Jones - The Violin Blog

Mar

6

Iconoclast or Prophet?

Filed Under Violinists | 

I’d be surprised if you’d not already come across this, seeing how many views it has had on YouTube…

Extreme he may be, but the new mainstreams often start life on the fringe of what’s normal, and work their way in. If you think closely about what Gilles Apap does, you come to realize that the fusion of styles is deeply authentic - it respects tradition by combining novel ideas in a way that doesn’t dilute their core value.

And it’s a moving performance too, despite the stylistic juxtapositions. I challenge you not to laugh at 03:48. See? It’s genuinely affecting playing.

Menuhin certainly believed it. Here’s his message to Apap:

“The different folklorique music, particularly that of people who, sadly, are on the path of extinction, it’s up to us to assimilate it, it’s up to us to be inspired by what it has to offer, by its characteristics, and to grant this music a new resurgence by way of the creative imagination of musicians who are able to play anything. For me, you are the example of a musician of the 21st century. You represent the direction in which music should evolve; on the one hand, the patrimonial respect of the precious classical works, presenting them in the correct style and with the intense communication that was appropriate to their time; on the other hand, the discovery of contemporary [popular] music and its creative element, not only in the improvisation, but also in the interpretation.”

And you know what? That fits hand in glove with the technologically rooted social changes that we see now. And the possible effects that those changes will have on musical culture.

So I’d say he’s a prophet, albeit an idiosyncratic one, rather than an iconoclast. Which is why he revels in bad reviews, and why those who criticize his ‘inauthenticity’ don’t get it.

Oh, and if you want a laugh, visit his website :)

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