{"id":4121,"date":"2010-02-26T13:40:06","date_gmt":"2010-02-26T21:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=4121"},"modified":"2013-02-07T20:14:03","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T04:14:03","slug":"rip-david-soyer-longtime-cellist-of-guarneri-quartet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/02\/26\/rip-david-soyer-longtime-cellist-of-guarneri-quartet\/","title":{"rendered":"RIP – David Soyer, longtime cellist of Guarneri Quartet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Color photo: \u00a9 Peter Schaaf\/www.peterschaaf.com<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

It was with great sadness that I learned of the passing of the great cellist David Soyer today, one day after his 87th birthday.\u00a0 He was the founding cellist of the legendary Guarneri Quartet, with which he played from 1964 to 2001.\u00a0 His former student Peter Wiley took over after Soyer’s retirement, the sole personnel change in the history of the ensemble.<\/p>\n

Mr. Soyer was a gruff and imposing presence.\u00a0 I had the great privilege of working with the members of the Guarneri Quartet as part of a graduate fellowship program at the University of Maryland.\u00a0 We would have a few days of coachings and lessons each month when the quartet came to DC, usually with one open rehearsal and a performance, either at the university or nearby.\u00a0 Coachings with Mr. Soyer were literally lessons in the “no-spin zone”.\u00a0 If what you played sucked, he’d tell you, and in no uncertain terms!\u00a0 Usually, if it was good, nothing was said.\u00a0 The cellist in our quartet, Beth, had Mr. Soyer wrapped around her little finger.\u00a0 She came across as all sweetness and light, but was steely tough, and it seemed that Mr. Soyer respected that.\u00a0 Plus she could charm the socks off of him.\u00a0 I remember very vividly coaching the Beethoven Op. 130 quartet with him and with the other members of the Guarneri Quartet, and think about what I learned in those precious hours whenever I return to the piece.<\/p>\n

If you listen to any of their dozens of recordings (most reissued in both a boxed set and individual digital downloads), you’ll often hear the low grunting of Mr. Soyer as he lays into the vigorous downbeats of the Smetana Quartet “From My Life”, or the solo from Wolf’s Italian Serenade<\/em>, or Beethoven’s Grosse Fuga<\/em>.<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

[link<\/a>] – New York Times notice
\n[link<\/a>] – New York Times obituary
\n[link<\/a>] – Alex Ross’ blog @ The New Yorker
\n[link<\/a>] – Anthony McGill’s blog (principal clarinet, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Color photo: \u00a9 Peter Schaaf\/www.peterschaaf.com It was with great sadness that I learned of the passing of the great cellist David Soyer today, one day after his 87th birthday.\u00a0 He was the founding cellist of the legendary Guarneri Quartet, with which he played from 1964 to 2001.\u00a0 His former student Peter Wiley took over after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[153,136,115,135,13],"tags":[2163,1127],"class_list":["post-4121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cello","category-chamber-music","category-music","category-soloists-recitals","category-video","tag-david-soyer","tag-guarneri-quartet"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-14t","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2776,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/06\/27\/on-guarneri\/","url_meta":{"origin":4121,"position":0},"title":"on guarneri","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Guarneri Quartet - Photo \u00c2\u00a9 Dorothea von Haeften I'm out of town this week, and so have missed my chance to hear the Guarneri Quartet for one last time.\u00c2\u00a0 I've heard some later performances, and sure, the group has succombed to the ravages of age to some extent.\u00c2\u00a0 But their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Portrait on stage_7891","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/press-1942-400x294.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1426,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/11\/13\/guarneri-violinist-has-cancer\/","url_meta":{"origin":4121,"position":1},"title":"guarneri violinist has cancer","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"[L-R] John Dalley, Michael Tree, Arnold Steinhardt, David Wiley Photo credit: Dorothea von Haeften David Stabler reported today that John Dalley, the second violinist of the Guarneri Quartet (which is in its last season as an ensemble this year), has been stricken with cancer. John really has been the drive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo credit: Dorothea von Haeften","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/press-4442-400x310.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1919,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/02\/14\/sony-re-releases-8-guarneri-quartet-gems\/","url_meta":{"origin":4121,"position":2},"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":775,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/02\/13\/alban-berg-quartet-begins-final-season\/","url_meta":{"origin":4121,"position":3},"title":"alban berg quartet begins final season","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Alban Berg String Quartet With the Guarneri Quartet playing its final concerts this Spring, the Alban Berg Quartet is beginning its final season's worth of concerts this season as well. A good article from the Times of London on the internal life of the string quartet. There's really nothing like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"alban_berg_finalv1.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/alban_berg_finalv1.thumbnail.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6495,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/05\/27\/mozart-grumiaux-perfection\/","url_meta":{"origin":4121,"position":4},"title":"mozart + grumiaux = perfection","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 As I was listening to a portion of the Kairos Ensemble rehearsing for tonight's upcoming benefit concert for Portland's Phame Academy, I was struck (again) by just how great Mozarts quintets for strings (two violins, two violas, and cello) are. They are doing his great D major, K. 593\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/mozart-01.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":383,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/07\/10\/officially-hot\/","url_meta":{"origin":4121,"position":5},"title":"officially HOT!","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"It's only 2:55 in the afternoon and we've reached the century mark - the latest forecast predicts 102\u00c2\u00baF by 5:00 p.m. Thank goodness for the two window air conditioners we bought a few years ago - I remember sweating through the hot weeks of July and August in our dank\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"hot1.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/07\/hot1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4121","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=4121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4121\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}