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JOYOUS EXPRESSION
    - An Interview with Simon Hewitt Jones

by Christopher M. Wright

© 2004 Christopher M. Wright
All Rights Reserved

Violinist Simon Hewitt Jones, reviewers rave, is "a born performer ... a name to watch," who "command[s] the audience to listen by sheer weight of personality."  The first of three brothers in a musical family, Simon started playing the violin at the age of four and currently studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London on scholarship. He has won many competitions and awards including Young Soloist of the Year (2003) from the Eastbourne Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared on BBC radio and television and performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

In this discussion, Simon talks about why there are fewer performers than musicians and why Shostakovich was moved to write his string Quartet #8. Oh yes, and you'll also learn why it pays to play with monkeys.

Read Simon's thoughts on the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto

AIM: Your weblog on your website says you were bitten by a monkey while on holiday - what happened?

Simon: I had gone to a scientific park in the middle of France where visitors can walk around and see gorillas and all sorts of monkeys. They're wonderful creatures. I got quite close to a small monkey and we started teasing each other. The smaller they are, the more cheeky they are. I was trying to feed him a leaf and he got annoyed. It wasn't a deep bite - I was back to playing the violin the next day.

AIM: You're barely 20 and already successful. What goes into the making of a world-class violinist?

Simon: It starts with the environment. I've always had music around me. My father's a cellist with the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden and my little brother (Thomas Hewitt Jones) is an organist and composer. I started training early and I practice, practice, practice. So some of it is dedication, determination and hard work. But the real difference is having something to say musically. I see myself as three things - As a violinist, I have to think about technique. As a musician, I have to show stylistic awareness. But I also have to be a performer. I know a lot of musicians who can play something very touching for someone they know, but a good performer has to communicate the same feeling to an entire audience. It's hard to put into words how you project that and put the feeling across in a performance setting.

AIM: I saw a TV show about a society in New York that auditions young musicians and grooms them for classical concert careers. The final selections are made on the basis of exactly what you're talking about. The show depicted a staff meeting where each candidate was discussed - 'so and so's a good musician but the other one really projects.' Why did you choose to record the Shostakovich String Quartet No.8? What is it you think you have to say to the audience?

Simon: Traditionally, the quartet was said to represent various parts of war. He supposedly wrote it in reaction to the bombing of Dresden [in World War II]. In some respects this may have been true, but later research showed that Quartet No.8 was in fact mostly autobiographical. He lived under a terribly repressive regime in the old Soviet Union. We in the West sometimes take our liberty for granted but he had to struggle to write music with integrity under those circumstances. Quartet No.8 was an expression of this.

AIM: He was publicly denounced by the Stalinist authorities more than once for failing to write music in accordance with the correct policy of Socialist Realism, whatever that was supposed to be.

Simon: So he was aware of an ideal as he wrote this music - no matter how oppressed people are, they will inevitably strive for freedom of artistic expression. The music expresses an eternal longing - a striving for what is right. Shostakovich survived, but he intended this Quartet as a memorial to other Soviet artists who didn't, according to his memoirs. He wanted to write a requiem for everyone who was spirited away in the night.

AIM: That's pretty serious stuff for somebody who likes to play with monkeys. Can you really convey that level of seriousness at age 20?

Simon: Telling you in words is one thing, but the most joyous thing is to play the music and express what I'm sensing that way. Also, I'm studying with some very inspiring and learned figures. These are experienced people who were part of wonderful music ensembles in the 20th Century, like the Amadeus Quartet. My current teacher studied under Yehudi Menuhin so he’s passing down all the wisdom that Menuhin had to offer. I'm learning some powerful concepts to find my own voice.

AIM: What should the average person listen for in the Shostakovich piece?

Simon: It's not an easy place to start for someone just beginning to listen to classical music. But on the other hand, there's an intensity and a power to it that speaks universally. It's overwhelming, but not in a bad sense. It represents so much of what occurred in the 20th Century. It'll reach out and grab you.

AIM: What other MP3 tracks will be available?

Simon: It's an all-Shostakovich program. There's an Adagio with two movements derived from one of his operas.

AIM: Any plans for a U.S. tour?

Simon: Not imminently, but certainly in a couple of years from now. The Internet opens up some exciting new possibilities. Because of my website, I have an audience in over 60 countries. In the near future, it might even be possible to arrange one-off concerts if enough people in a city - Chicago, for instance - tell me they're interested. For an artist, that’s the power of the Internet. My website lets me communicate with my audience beyond the concert stage.

AIM: Thanks for being my guest. I hope we can do this again.

Simon: My pleasure.

Update 2009 - Simon talks about why he finds the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto a never-ending source of inspiration:

Simon: The Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto was the first piece of music that really resonated with me. I came across it when I was a very small child watching a video about the famous Tower Bridge in London. As the bascules majestically raised to let a ship pass underneath, a melodic soundtrack soared high and loud, grabbing the imagination; it was undoubtedly grand and purposeful music, yet for all its might, it was still touchingly beautiful and serene.

Perhaps that's where the genius of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto lies: it is a juxtaposition of virile virtuosity and inward reflection. Listen for the intensity of the melodic direction in the music: one melody leads to another, which leads to another, and another, compelling us to listen and dragging our attention ever onward. Sometimes there's a yearning quality; other times it's a fragile, shimmering beauty that draws you in.

Listen out, too, for the vigour of the orchestra. Triumphant entries of the larger orchestral forces may interrupt your moment of reflection, but the richness of texture and timbre that they introduce gives a timeless warmth that never fails to inspire.



The first three clips in the player above are the Tchaikovsky; CD link below -

 

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