{"id":1645,"date":"2017-10-01T00:00:47","date_gmt":"2017-10-01T04:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/?p=1645"},"modified":"2018-01-01T23:01:47","modified_gmt":"2018-01-02T04:01:47","slug":"phelps-npr-inner-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/phelps-npr-inner-voice\/","title":{"rendered":"NPR talks to Cynthia Phelps about Guiding the NY Philharmonic’s ‘Inner Voice’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guiding the NY Philharmonic’s ‘Inner Voice’<\/h1>\n

Heard on Morning Edition<\/p>\n

As the principal violist of the New York Philharmonic, Cynthia Phelps is at the pinnacle of her field. But leading a group of viola players, even at one of the world’s great orchestras, isn’t exactly glamorous.<\/p>\n

Unlike the higher-pitched violins, the violas rarely get the tune. They’re politely referred to as an “inner voice.” But Phelps says that her section, which she has headed for 15 years, plays a key role in the texture and feel of the music.<\/p>\n

“It’s subtle but it’s exciting, and it’s the kind of thing that is great about being an inner voice,” she says. “You have a lot of control over how you allow the tune to be played.”<\/p>\n

She says that expressing a conductor’s grand musical vision often comes down to some obscure details, like whether you’re pulling your bow up \u2014 or down<\/p>\n

“Often times, a conductor will just lean down and mutter something while he’s in the middle of traffic-copping everything else, and it’s up to me to translate it to the very back stand to make sure they heard it,” Phelps says.<\/p>\n

“A lot of what I have to say has to do with how our rhythm is fitting into the texture of the group,” she says.<\/p>\n