Ask Augustin 42 - Ask James Ehnes

In late July 2020 I traveled to Seattle to record some chamber music for the Seattle Chamber Music Society virtual festival. While I was there, I sat down with my friend James Ehnes to answer some questions from fans!

James Ehnes is not only one of the best violinists of our time, he is also one of the friendliest, and his chamber music festival in Seattle is one of my favorite places to visit each summer.
I did not bring my own Canon camera equipment on this trip to Seattle, so I borrowed a camera that I wasn't very familiar with, put it on a tripod, put all the settings to "auto" and hoped for the best... That wasn't very smart - it turns out this camera's "autofocus" function is a bit tricky, as it tries to refocus sometimes for no reason, making things blurry. Perhaps this does fit with the theme however, as we talk quite a bit about making recordings at home and all the things that can go wrong!
We also answer questions about the recording equipment that we use (James and I actually use the same microphones for our home recordings!), and even get into some technical talk about double-stop harmonics and our left hand posture.

[jimmierustler]

To be fair to the Camera i'd probably be stressing out being in that room too

[herbertkronzucker]

Two of the most well-rounded and exciting violinists of our time! The room has no idea how much talent it contains.

[alexsaldarriaga]

We are so fortunate to be living in a time when we can witness this friendly and insightful conversation between two great artists. Thank you for sharing this!

[mikas]

Literally two of the top 5 violinists in the world in the same room 🤩

[dvides]

Two of the most wonderful sounds in the violin world in the same room :)

[chuckcornelius]

good pieces that nobody knows? - how about the Ysaye sonata for two violins? incredible piece. gee, if only there were two great fiddlers to play it. hey, wait a minute...

[BH]

"The most important thing to remember is not what you doing but is what comes out" Mr Ehnes that was so profound thanks for that comment !!!

[alecrobinson]

I went to one of those recitals that James was talking about, in Canada. It was great, it was a whole bunch of pieces that people really like, but think that everyone plays, so nobody plays them. He and Andrew Armstrong did the Spring Sonata, the Handel D major, and the Devil's Trill. I forget what other pieces they did, but it was great to hear those live.

[andreabarone]

Yes James is very friendly and a wonderful violinist. I had the opportunity to interview him for an arts newspaper I was writing for many years ago. He was an interesting interview! You guys are good together!

[andrewroberts]

Hadelich's performance of the Brahms sonata I played a while back was streets ahead of anyone else. And it was lovely to hear my friend who is a professional violinist say he was her fav violinist

[greenviolist]

Oh wow! This is awesome. These guys are such amazing violinists

[RedAnimagus]

Love seeing talented people working together and getting along so well

[alias]

Augustin! Che piacere averti scoperto. Finalmente posso emozionarmi un'altra volta sui miei concerti preferiti con il suono nuovo della tua bella anima.

[levoncello]

You are a very good teacher also. Thanks a lot.

[FodorPupil]

I love this video. Please do another! And another and another. So great!! Focus issue aside, this was just great to see
Thank you. ❤

[lolamas]

Muchas gracias por esta conversación, por compartir tantas cosas interesantes! Os admiro muchísimo! 👏👏👏👏💜🎶💜🎻

[dianal.]

Your content is amazing! Fantastic channel! Thank you so much for sharing all these wonderful videos!🌻🌻🌻

[brofenix]

Woah super cool :) They seem genuinely friendly with each other and that's awesome to see!

[nickele]

Actually, that autofocus incident also makes a great point about learning an instrument (or learning anything, really): It's ok, important even, that we make mistakes, that we don't beat ourselves up about them, but accept them and use them to do it better next time. Well-demonstrated. 😉 I'm not trying to be a smart-ass, I'm glad you handled it the way you did and we got to see this episode, which was both fun and really interesting (especially liked all those details about the harmonics). Thank you!

[cesarrobertochavezdelgado]

You are amazing guys, two of my favorite violinists, i loved the video!