Debra Li

USING his priceless Nicola Amati violin, well-known Latvian violinist Kremer will perform at the Shenzhen Concert Hall on Saturday night.

The program will include Gustav Mahler’s “Piano Quartet Movement in A Minor,” Ernst von Dohnanyi’s “Serenade for String Trio, op. 10,” “Piano Trio, op. 67” by Dmitri Shostakovich, and “Grand Tango for Violin and Piano” by Piazzolla-Gubaidulina.

Kremer and three other musicians from the Baltic region have just wrapped up a tour of South Korea and will begin their China tour in Shenzhen. They will also perform in Shanghai.

“The repertoire may look unfamiliar to the Chinese audience, and I guess that’s why (people) call me unconventional,” said the 60-year-old Kremer.

“I love contemporary music as much as classical, and have collaborated with many contemporary composers,” he said.

While many violinists also perform contemporary music, few are as famous as Kremer.

“I like to discover things myself, and like to share with the audience less known pieces. I’ve been continuing to enlarge my repertoire over the years,” he said.

Take for example the Marler piece he will play Saturday. After the music was discovered in a library some 30 years ago, Kremer was one of the first to perform it.

On the other hand, the musician has always had a feeling of admiration and awe towards classical masters like Bach. He has recorded two albums of Bach so far.

“Bach is like the Himalayas. People can conquer the summit once or twice in their lives, but they cannot boast that they completely know it. Bach is the monument of old times, and every time I perform his music, it’s a new endeavor. Mine is one of a thousand ways to do it, but I’ve done my best to read him,” he said

Kremer plays violin in a dazzling style but not for the “extravaganza,” in his words. “I want the audience to feel it’s alive, from yesterday, rather than a museum piece from long ago,” he said.

Both Kremer’s father and grandfather were both violinists and he began learning music at four. “It’s like my fate is decided before I was born, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have to work hard.”

Kremer practiced the violin four to five hours a day when he was young. “Often I didn’t like it then, but after I’d succeeded doing difficult music, I felt it’s worthwhile,” he recalled.

He said the violin was the strongest medium of expression of the human soul. “It’s like an old friend. When you love him more, he will give you back the love. With the violin, a person never feels lonely,” he said.

Before using the Nicola Amati, which dates back to 1641, Kremer had used an Andrea Guarneri and a Stradivarius.