Solo spotlight: Concertmaster Nathan Cole on the 'Missa Solemnis'

In October, the BSO performs three works that have famous solo passages for the concertmaster, i.e., the first first violin. The concertmaster is the leader of the violin sections and, more generally, a liaison between the conductor and the rest of the orchestra. 

BSO Concertmaster Nathan Cole plays in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis (Oct. 9-11), music with deep lore in the BSO's history: when Symphony Hall opened its doors in October 1900, the Missa Solemnis was the first piece the BSO performed. The conductor's score has been used in performances in the years since by the likes of Serge Koussevitzky and Leonard Bernstein. Here, Cole talks about how he prepares for such a huge moment and how Beethoven invites musicians and audiences into his sonic world. 

You’ve been a concerto soloist as well as an orchestral violinist. How is playing an orchestral solo different from being a soloist in a concerto? 

For me, the biggest difference is switching roles. It’s certainly not easy to be a world touring concerto soloist, but your role is well-defined: your interpretation really should carry the day. In playing concertmaster solos, likely I will have been playing from within the ensemble for three minutes, five minutes, half an hour, and then here comes a solo, and the mentality has to switch. It can be tricky! With my colleagues here in the BSO, it’s a lot less tricky because I can be confident that I’m playing with other great soloists. 

How do you prepare contextually or historically for these pieces? Do you delve into the stories and what this music means or how it has been interpreted in the past? 

I think it’s very useful and interesting to look up quotes and stories and listen to old performances and yellowed newspapers and all of that. I love looking at those and getting what context I think is useful for what will be our performance. Ultimately, it has to come across to the listener, and it has to be convincing to me whether it’s a solo or to all of us as an orchestra. 

Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis is a really interesting solo for the violin because the work is vast, and you have this one movement where you’re a very prominent soloist, which relates to what you were saying earlier about being within the orchestra and then having to step into a completely different character. Have you played the Missa Solemnis solo before? This is not a work that shows up on concerts all that often. 

No, it isn’t. Except in auditions, I have not performed the solo. I’m really looking forward to it and to playing it with Andris [Nelsons] as well, who has such an affinity for the voice. The big difference in this solo, which as you said, is just, it’s huge. It is tempting as a soloist to want to do something, to make something happen, to sort of make a meal of every twist and turn. In a lot of Beethoven, you need to do that. He invites you to do that. There are all kinds of sudden and unexpected accents or changes of harmony, and here it’s such a broader canvas, and you have to just be in that world, in that sound and not disturb it really. It’s an otherworldly beauty that he asks for, which again, is, that’s pretty special from Beethoven. 

Some of these works can be very taxing physically. Do you have to prepare differently? 

Part of what I have to do to prepare as I get older is to make sure to start earlier, because the worst situation to say to myself, "okay, I got to prepare this really soon," and then, "oh, the next thing is this and I’ve got to prepare that." If you can get in good playing shape and stay there and always be working ahead, that gives you not only the physical confidence, but also that mental space, that breathing room to sit with the music for a while and to look for fresh inspiration. 

Have you heard from your colleagues about being excited to hear you? 

Yeah. There's some talk at breaks and off stage and there’s a lot of well wishes, there’s folks saying, “Oh, big weeks coming up for you," as if I’d forgotten! I love it. It’s all about the people that I get to make music with, and they know this is important to me and that I’m looking to represent them the best way I can. So, I appreciate that they ask and that that’s part of the fun. 

Robert Kirzinger is the BSO's Director of Program Publications.

Maya Shwayder is the BSO's Senior Contributing Editor and Copywriter.