Last update - 00:00 19/12/2006
Musical genes
Contrabassist Nimrod Kling, 30, has been a member of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra for the past four years. He comes from a very musical family: His mother, Talia Mense Kling, 67, performed with the IPO for dozens of years; her brother, Ya'akov Mense, was a cellist with the IPO; her sister Ruth Mense was an IPO pianist; Ya'akov's daughter Mira is a violinist with the Rishon Letzion Symphony Orchestra. On his father Teddy's side, Nimrod Kling is just the contrabassist son of a contrabassist.
Complicated? Absolutely. Teddy Kling, age 57, played with the IPO for decades. He learned to play from his wife. He began at age 17 as her student, and within two years became her husband. They have been married for 40 years, and have four children and three grandchildren. Their eldest son, Uri, 35, builds violins. He studied this art at the world-renowned Antonio Stradivari school of violinmaking in Cremona, Italy.
"How did Nimrod begin playing the contrabass? We didn't push him," explains Teddy Kling. "It just happened."
Talia Mense began playing with the IPO in 1963. Teddy was accepted in 1970, immediately after completing his military service. Since then, they have lived and played music together. Teddy approached the contrabass from a jazz background. "It's pretty common," he says. "Until age 15, I studied violin. Then I was attracted to popular music - mainly the Beatles. I switched to guitar to play music the kids liked. I played bass guitar, and then went to Talia to learn contrabass. I wanted to play the instrument professionally. At some point, I realized that playing jazz in pubs is not a career, not a way to make money, and if we are really honest, somewhat less musical."
Nimrod Kling, the son, says: "I took playing the contrabass for granted. It was a natural continuation of my interest in jazz. I played Dixieland jazz with my dad and Uri when I was still a kid. I studied violin and cello, and like my father, played guitar in high school."
Nimrod's first contrabass lessons began under the tutelage of German contrabassist Reiner Shafritz. Nimrod studied with him in Berlin for six years, immediately after his army service. During that period, he gained experience performing with a European youth orchestra.
"Shafritz accepted me after my mother told him about me," Nimrod says.
Are there differences in technique among members of your family?
"You can see my father and I hold the bow in reverse - that is, not like a violinist but like a 'German bow.' My mother holds it in the standard position. She says she would like to hold it like we do, but it's too late to change. "
Who among the three of you is the final authority?
"We talk among ourselves and argue, but there's no one like my mother. She is the greatest bassist in existence, and my teacher said the same thing, despite the fact that he belongs to a school that objects to women participating in orchestras."
Talia: "I began studying contrabass at age 12, after playing the violin. We lived in a two-room apartment on Shenkin Street - my brother, my sister and I, who studied music, and another two sisters, and we got along without any problems. I practiced in the bathroom, because there was no other choice. Who decided I would play the contrabass?
"It was actually my mother, who was not musical. My brother Ya'akov brought the instrument from Belgium, after completing his service as a bugler in the Jewish Brigade. Leon Green, a Dutch contrabassist whom the conductor Koussevitsky brought here to strengthen the philharmonic, was looking for a place to practice in the morning. The orchestra sent him here. My mother was happy to host him, and he taught me for free."
Do all three of you have perfect pitch?
Nimrod Kling: "No. None of us do. Only my Aunt Ruth had perfect pitch, but we have highly developed hearing. Understandably, when listening to an orchestra, we hear the bass line. Listeners who do not play a bass instrument, even professionals, usually pay attention to the higher voices, the prominent melodies."
Do you prefer to play in a smaller section, where your contribution is more significant?
"On one hand, yes, but on the other hand, when I perform as one of 12 contrabasses, as in Mahler's Seventh Symphony, it's a lot of fun. You're surrounded by tremendous power as you feel the instrument tremble in your hands to produce the deep sounds that are the foundation of every structure."
The period in which the three Klings - mother, father and son - played in the philharmonic's contrabass section was "terrific fun," Nimrod says. The family's musical joy lasted only two years, until Talia retired from the orchestra two seasons ago.
"They offered Nimrod a chance to stay in Germany, but he chose to return because he knew my term was about to end, and it was important to him that we play together for a few years," Talia says.
How did the Mense Dynasty begin?
"It began with us, not the parents," Talia says. "Father was a clerk at a health maintenance organization, Mother was a housewife. Ruth, Ya'akov and I developed the family's musical history. I went to study at Juilliard in 1960, and came back after three years, straight to the philharmonic, after I had auditioned from the United States."
Her husband Teddy was her last pupil. "He was 10 years my junior. I'd had students in Israel even before I went to Juilliard, but Teddy was a special student, a rarity. The teacher-pupil relationship between us lasted only a few months. After that it was already something else."
And how was Nimrod's audition?
Nimrod: "A regular audition. As a rule, at contrabass auditions the entire section is on the panel in the first stage, along with the first chairs of other sections. In my case, mother and father were not members of the panel."
And Teddy's auditions?
Talia: "I sat in the hall when Teddy auditioned, of course, not as a member of the panel. When the audition was over, [Conductor] Zubin [Mehta] turned to me and said, 'You can become his student.'"