The music that remains

When music is your job, a composition can become mundane, but as MICHAEL DERVANdiscovered when he spoke to five leading musicians, some pieces stay with you forever

TAI MURRAY, American violinist

Your earliest musical memory?Well, after I started playing the violin, the first recording that we got, on a cassette tape, was of David Oistrakh playing the Beethoven concerto. I listened to it so many times, I destroyed the tape.

Your most cherished musical memory?There are many I could choose from. Let's see. I studied at Indiana University in Bloomington in the United States. I heard Franco Gulli, who I was studying with at the time, play a recital of Beethoven sonatas with his wife, Enrica Cavallo. Both were over 70, but just fresh as ever. It was so inspiring. I left the concert thinking, wow, if I am lucky to live so long, I still want to be making music in this way.

What piece of music has taken up the largest amount of your time over the past year?Probably the Berg concerto, I played it last January. I spent so long just in it.

Your instrument: what is it, what does it mean to you, what is its monetary value?I have no idea how much it's worth. It's been loaned to me. It's a Tononi, and it was made in 1686. It means the world to me to be able to play on such a piece of great art, and it's a good lesson for me to know I cannot waste this. For me to be able to hold it in my hands is a special thing, and not something to be taken for granted.

Who do you follow on Twitter, and do you tweet?I follow Gemini, because I believe in astrology. I also follow National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and I follow the World Cup. I tweet maybe once in every six months.

HERVÉ JOULAIN,French horn player

Your earliest musical memory?I started with my grandfather, it was the natural thing. And he decided for me, he chose the horn. We were playing music, the whole family. I started in a wind band, and that kind of popular music was probably what I first heard.

Your most cherished musical memory?I like to think that the most exciting concert is when I am at home with the birds. The more I play outside, the more birds come, to, I dunno, to discuss with me. It's a fantastic way of improvisation, and also a kind of chamber music.

What piece of music has taken up the largest amount of your time over the past year?The Ligeti trio, because it's a new language, and it's something very special. I wanted to study it first and then perform it as often as I could.

Your instrument: what is it, what does it mean to you, what is its monetary value?I play a German horn, made by Engelbert Schmid. It cost €12,000, but I have to change it every four years.

Who do you follow on Twitter, and do you tweet?I am not in contact. I want to escape. E-mail is enough for me.

BRETT DEAN,Australian composer and viola player

Your earliest musical memory?My first musical memory would be listening to records with my dad. Also, we lived next door to my paternal grandparents, and my grandmother was a violinist.

Your most cherished musical memory?There were some evenings when I was with the Berlin Philharmonic that were pretty amazing. But, one of the most striking memories I have is of playing in a small town in New South Wales called Nimbin. It's a real drugging town. I went there with a student string quartet, and we played a recital of a late Haydn quartet, Shostakovich's Eighth, and Britten's Third, in a tiny town hall. We thought, this is too heavy, but the people were so into the music. Maybe they were high as kites. But they were concentrating. It was raining on the tin roof and, at the end of the Shostakovich, there was the longest silence I can remember, apart from when [Claudio] Abbado conducted Mahler's symphony number 9.

What piece of music has taken up the largest amount of your time over the past year?At the moment I'm doing battle with a new orchestral piece for the Stockholm Philharmonic in November. And I've also done some performances of my viola concerto, and that always takes time in the practice room.

Your instrument: what is it, what does it mean to you, what is its monetary value?I'm playing a modern viola, made by a wonderful maker in Germany called Kevin Gentges. It was made for me in 1995. It's now getting close to 20 years old, which is very young in string instrument terms. I really enjoy playing it, and I'm the only person who's ever played it, which is also unusual.

It’s nice to think that I’m starting out the history. It’s very playable, but it’s also big enough to make a lovely, rich, deep, dark sound. It’s worth small change by comparison with some of the instruments here at this festival.

Who do you follow on Twitter, musical or otherwise?I don't follow, and I don't tweet.

MASUMI PER ROSTAD, American viola player, member of the Pacifica Quartet

Your earliest musical memory?My mother took me to a music school, and asked me which instrument I would like to play. She listed off a variety of instruments. I didn't know what anything was – I was three years old, no, actually, four. Eventually, I just settled on the violin, [though I] didn't know what it was, didn't know what I was getting myself into. It was about nine years before I started playing viola. I don't remember much from that age.

Your most cherished musical memory?That's a tough one. There was the summer that I spent at the Marlboro Music Festival, reading through all the Beethoven quartets with Pete Wiley [cellist of the Guarneri Quartet] and a couple of violin player colleagues. That was an amazing experience.

I particularly remember reading through the Heiliger Dankgesangmovement, during an amazing thunderstorm. It was terrifying. It was such a powerful moment we all looked at each other and said, "Wow." We were all in the same headspace, and it was really remarkable for that.

What piece of music has taken up the largest amount of your time over the past year?We've been doing a Shostakovich cycle, so it's been the Shostakovich quartets. It's difficult doing a cycle, and we weren't familiar with all the quartets, so we had to learn a lot of them as we prepared for these performances. It's been amazing. I was generally surprised by how much variety there was in the music. At the outset, I was expecting a bit more unanimity of musical character and intention. But the variety was what really blew me away.

Your instrument: what is it, what does it mean to you, what is its monetary value?It's an English viola, made by Joseph Hill in 1770. When I first auditioned for the Pacifica Quartet, I was playing a Gasparo da Salò, which I had on loan, and it matched Brandon's cello, he owns a Gasparo da Salò. It was amazing, we had these two instruments, from the 1560s and 1580s, they were like brother and sister.

Shortly after that I had to get a new instrument, I’d been playing on a huge, 17-inch, modern viola, and it was great for my own personal practice and solo playing, but no good for a quartet. It was too sluggish for a quartet. I like my current viola for its quickness of response, and I like the older instruments for the variety of colour. I would love an old Italian, but they’re beyond me. The value of my viola is under $100,000.

Who do you follow on Twitter, musical or otherwise?I'm not a Twitter follower, actually. We have a Twitter feed, though, which is very sporadic.

KATE ELLIS, English cellist, co-founder of the Kaleidoscope music nights at the Odessa Club in Dublin

Your earliest musical memory?Jazz on the radio. Jazz Record Requestson BBC Radio 3. I was very, very young, and my dad used to listen to it every Sunday.

Your most cherished musical memory?Playing in my sitting room, with my first cello teacher, playing duets.

What piece of music has taken up the largest amount of your time over the past year?Gerald Barry's The Intelligence Park.

Your instrument: what is it, what does it mean to you, what is its monetary value?It was made by Peter Wamsley in 1750. It's my life, well, a part of my life. It's worth about €25,000.

Who do you follow on Twitter, and do you tweet?I'm very new to Twitter. Well, Kaleidoscope is very new to Twitter. Jim Carroll is very interesting. And I tweet via Kaleidoscope. It's becoming more regular during the lead-up to the concerts.

These interviews took place at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival 2011