{"id":371,"date":"2007-06-21T15:34:17","date_gmt":"2007-06-21T23:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/06\/21\/are-quartets-meant-to-stand\/"},"modified":"2013-02-07T18:12:01","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T02:12:01","slug":"are-quartets-meant-to-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/06\/21\/are-quartets-meant-to-stand\/","title":{"rendered":"Are string quartets meant to stand?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"emerson
\n<\/a>[Photo courtesy Chamber Music Northwest<\/em>]
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

I’ve been ruminating about my experience of watching the Emerson Quartet perform at Carnegie Hall a week ago today. I was telling a friend about the concert, and happened to note to her that the quartet now performs standing up (with the exception of cellist David Finckel, who sits on an elevated platform). She was quite dumbfounded that they had continued with the experiment. I had heard that they were performing this way, but did not know why or for how long they would do so. Lately, I’ve noticed that some younger quartets (those still in music school or just out) have taken up this manner of performing.<\/p>\n

My question is this: are quartets meant to perform standing up? Is it still chamber music?<\/p>\n

In the large-scale environment of Carnegie Hall, it seemed like a pretty smart thing to do. The stage and auditorium are very large (and there was no shell to help sound project out into the hall rather than going all the way back to the rear of the stage) and standing might help to engender a more soloistic style of playing and more freedom of motion. However, the foursome were remarkably static in their performance style, with a minimum of motion as they played (with the exception of violist Larry Dutton, who did some major emoting in his beautifully heartfelt solos in the Shostakovich 15th Quartet).<\/p>\n

For most smaller venues, however, I think it would be overkill. I see quartet playing as an intimate venture. At its best it should feel like a bridge match held in someone’s living room, but with several hundred onlookers. As an audience member, attending a quartet concert should almost feel voyeuristic – like you’re seeing something that was clearly meant to be private. Having the ensemble seated helps to reinforce this feeling – standing seems to me to expand the experience too much, but that may very well be the Emersons’ intent. In any event, bravo to them for at least trying something different.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: read another opinion here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Photo courtesy Chamber Music Northwest] I’ve been ruminating about my experience of watching the Emerson Quartet perform at Carnegie Hall a week ago today. I was telling a friend about the concert, and happened to note to her that the quartet now performs standing up (with the exception of cellist David Finckel, who sits on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[3660],"class_list":["post-371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-viola"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-5Z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1919,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/02\/14\/sony-re-releases-8-guarneri-quartet-gems\/","url_meta":{"origin":371,"position":0},"title":"sony re-releases 8 guarneri quartet gems","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Sony Classical has released eight classic Guarneri Quartet albums (as mp3 downloads on both iTunes and Amazon.com) to honor the quartet's farewell season, which concludes in June 2009.\u00c2\u00a0 Some of these have not been available (except on used LP) for years, and are a welcome addition to any chamber music\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8281,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/02\/04\/playing-string-quartets\/","url_meta":{"origin":371,"position":1},"title":"playing string quartets","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I know that this will come off as a bit extreme, but I have to say, if you are a string player and you do not regularly indulge yourself in playing string quartets: you are a fool. 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First, the new: Schubert String Quartets Rosamunde Death and the Maiden\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "recordings"","block_context":{"text":"recordings","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/recordings-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/4125f-gOurL._SS500_.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4255,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/03\/23\/this-weeks-ipod-mix\/","url_meta":{"origin":371,"position":3},"title":"this week’s ipod mix","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 23, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are a the recordings that I'm planning on listening to this week (finally - time to do some listening!): Ian Bostridge - Songs of Faure, Debussy & Poulenc with Belcea Quartet, Julius Drake and Leon Bosch Richard Danielpour: String Quartets Nos. 2, 3 & 4 American String Quartet Bartok:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "recordings"","block_context":{"text":"recordings","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/recordings-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/ir?t=dailyobservat-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0002XDOFI","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13232,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2014\/02\/19\/on-schubert\/","url_meta":{"origin":371,"position":4},"title":"on schubert","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I love the music of Franz Schubert. From his quaint early efforts at the string quartet to his ultimate, supreme mastery of the quartet form at the end of his too-short life, Schubert never fails to tug at my heartstrings. Like all of the great composers, to my ears, Schubert's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7300,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/02\/09\/theres-a-new-quartet-in-town\/","url_meta":{"origin":371,"position":5},"title":"there’s a new quartet in town","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"There is indeed a new string quartet in town, one that is aiming to perform great classical music in a non-traditional space. That quartet is Mousai Remix, and it's made up of four players from the Oregon Symphony (Shin-young Kwon and Emily Cole, violins; Jennifer Arnold, viola; and Marilyn de\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/mousai-599x485.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/mousai-599x485.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/mousai-599x485.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}