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Cultural life, the radio four podcast, she reveals her formative influences and experiences, and how her passion for playing was there from the start. I knew very young there was no question i wanted to play the violin. There was no question that that was what i must do and had to do and wanted to do. Have you played here much, nicky . They chuckle nicola benedetti, welcome to this cultural life. Thank you so much for having me. Its an absolute pleasure. You were born and brought up in north ayrshire. What are your earliest musical memories at home . What memories do you have of music being played at home . The bee gees and abba. Later on, good dose of shania twain. That was all my dads taste. My mum definitely had a kenny g record. Um. She laughs saxophone . Theyll kill me for saying all of this quite like this, but its the truth both of your parents were born in italy, werent they . Yes. Was it an italian household culturally growing up . Its a good question. I would say both parents ....
But its the truth both of your parents were born in italy, werent they . Yes. Was it an italian household culturally growing up . Its a good question. I would say both parents assimilated very concretely and quite deliberately with scottishness and scottish culture, but they also came over very young. My mum was three years old. An italian speaking three year old with an italian mother and scottish father. Um. Came over to scotland and, er. Was sort of banned from speaking italian quite quickly. It was considered to be detrimental to her education and all sorts of things. We know better now. So my mum lost most of her italian, um. And it was a very scottish upbringing from that moment forward. And my dad, he came over when he was kind of ten or ii. Came over without his parents. Had a rough time, you know, adjusting to such a different culture. It was a good, healthy mix. But as far as mealtimes go and food, we were italian all the way. You mentioned you started playing the violin at t ....
Another big experience that you ve chosen for this cultural life is meeting the american composer and trumpeter wynton marsalis. he wrote a violin concerto for you, which was premiered by the london symphony orchestra and then recorded in 2019 by the philadelphia orchestra. how did that composition process work? how involved were you? oh, i was very involved in. ..violinistic things. i maybe suggested a few things. he would say that i sent him pages and pages of suggestions, but they were extremely specific. like, can the flute be changed to pianissimo here? it was almost always to get orchestral musicians to play quieter so that you could hear me. but. you felt you were being drowned out? i m sure you couldn t hear that in the hall. you could hear it? do you remember that specifically? everything you couldn t hear, i marked in the score and said, you cannot hear it . what about that? what was the problem with that, if you had to analyse it? first, you start with the. well, the firs ....
For you, which was premiered by the london symphony orchestra and then recorded in 2019 by the philadelphia orchestra. how did that composition process work? how involved were you? oh, i was very involved in. ..violinistic things. i maybe suggested a few things. he would say that i sent him pages and pages of suggestions, but they were extremely specific. like, can the flute be changed to pianissimo here? it was almost always to get orchestral musicians to play quieter so that you could hear me. but. you felt you were being drowned out? i m sure you couldn t hear that in the hall. you could hear it? do you remember that specifically? everything you couldn t hear, i marked in the score and said, you cannot hear it . what about that? what was the problem with that, if you had to analyse it? first, you start with the. well, the first problem is that you can t hear me. that s the first problem. i mean, that s the plight of any violin. one violin against a bunch of trumpets and trombones ....
Through his playing. and i still say that his recordings were, and are, some of the most, like, profound and natural and.just, like, elevated expression through a violin. he.he.he s a musician first, violinist second. but more than anything else, he is singing through his instrument. it s.it s a.it s a warmth and a vibration that is, you know, it s. yeah, i could talk about that for a long time! another big experience that you ve chosen for this cultural life is meeting the american composer and trumpeter wynton marsalis. he wrote a violin concerto for you, which was premiered by the london symphony orchestra and then recorded in 2019 by the philadelphia orchestra. how did that composition process work? how involved were you? oh, i was very involved in. ..violinistic things. i maybe suggested a few things. ....