{"id":8281,"date":"2013-02-04T08:31:48","date_gmt":"2013-02-04T16:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=8281"},"modified":"2013-02-04T08:31:48","modified_gmt":"2013-02-04T16:31:48","slug":"playing-string-quartets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/02\/04\/playing-string-quartets\/","title":{"rendered":"playing string quartets"},"content":{"rendered":"

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. You are missing out of the best of the best of music, and of musical experiences. I’m not saying that you should perform several<\/p>\n

\"Arnica
Arnica Quartet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

concerts a year for paying audiences. Just get together with some friends and colleagues and read some quartets that you’ve practiced on your own over a glass of wine or two. An ‘informed reading’ can be every bit as satisfying as an extended rehearsal period, and can reap surprising dividends in your orchestral life.<\/p>\n

I cannot tell you how much playing the string quartets of Beethoven has informed my playing of his symphonic music. The same with Mozart, Brahms, Haydn, Shostakovich, and Bart\u00f3k. Not to mention the string quartets by those composers not so well known for their chamber music: Verdi, Sibelius, Janacek, and Tchaikovsky. When you play a composer’s string quartet, you are peering deeply into that person’s musical soul. As you study more and more of their quartet output, you begin to see how their musical language strengthens and deepens, and perhaps how their personal narrative begins to make itself visible in their musical oeuvre.<\/p>\n

In addition, there is that sense of connection that you seldom get (short of a long-term friendship or physical relationship) with your fellow quartet mates. You begin to understand them on a deep emotional level that comes from hours spent rehearsing on good days and bad – with rehearsals either matching the mood of the day, or defiantly opposing it. There is something so deeply satisfying about opening the score to an unparalleled masterpiece and diving right in for the sheer joy of it. Something that we seldom get to do in our orchestral lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. You are missing out of the best of the best of music, and of musical experiences. I’m not […]<\/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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[136,503,2],"tags":[2582,3260,2939],"class_list":["post-8281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chamber-music","category-string-quartet","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-arnica-quartet","tag-orchestral-musicians","tag-string-quartets"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-29z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13262,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2014\/03\/14\/arnica-quartet-plays-britten-tonight\/","url_meta":{"origin":8281,"position":0},"title":"arnica quartet plays britten tonight","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"http:\/\/youtu.be\/NWSfnVWMyQY If you're still looking for something to do, and happen to love both the string quartet and the music of Benjamin Britten, I've got the perfect concert for you! As part of March Music Moderne IV, we're playing the three string quartets of Britten in a belated homage to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "concert preview"","block_context":{"text":"concert preview","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/concert-preview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"britten program arnica","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/13153692264_84fd1def32_b-500x647.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14046,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2016\/03\/13\/arnica-quartet-in-salem-this-afternoon\/","url_meta":{"origin":8281,"position":1},"title":"arnica quartet in salem this afternoon (past)","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"It's time for our virtually annual performance at the Salem Camerata Musica series at the Salem Library this afternoon. It's a program entitled Beyond Beethoven, and it features three wonderful quartets that one doesn't get to hear very often. The concert is at 2:30, and is free. We hope to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Arnica Quartet","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/DSC_2372-500x332.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14195,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2016\/07\/25\/things-to-look-forward-to\/","url_meta":{"origin":8281,"position":2},"title":"things to look forward to","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm in the midst of my summer festival season, and as time goes by, I'm gradually starting to turn my attention to the upcoming concert season, looking for both the obvious and the hidden gems it contains. I wear quite a few hats during the year - quartet violist, new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "new music"","block_context":{"text":"new music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/new-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"giphy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/giphy.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13666,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2015\/02\/14\/arnica-quartet-plays-benefit-for-allclassical-portland\/","url_meta":{"origin":8281,"position":3},"title":"arnica quartet plays benefit for allclassical portland","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, Sunday, February 15, 2015 at 2pm, the Arnica String Quartet will play three wonderful American string quartets at the University of Portland Buckley Center Auditorium in a concert to benefit AllClassical Portland. Suggested donation is $10. Cash, checks, or credit\/debit cards accepted. Come and join the Arnica Quartet in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"arnica-qt","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/arnica-qt-500x333.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7102,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/12\/02\/arnica-quartet-rings-in-the-new-year-with-astoria-concert\/","url_meta":{"origin":8281,"position":4},"title":"arnica quartet rings in the new year with astoria concert","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The Arnica Quartet returns to Astoria's intimate venue the McTavish Room for an early January concert of string quartet favorites. The concert takes place on Sunday, January 8, 2012 at 2 p.m. The program will feature two of the most beloved string quartets of the 18th and 19th centuries: Mozart's\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\/2011\/12\/DA85612-Arnica-Quartet-copy-300x331.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7305,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/02\/13\/goddesses-remixed\/","url_meta":{"origin":8281,"position":5},"title":"goddesses, remixed","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I hate going to concerts. I love going to concerts. Perhaps I was required to read too much Kant and Hegel in my undergraduate senior thesis class. I've got a nice, ripe dualism in my psyche. It's a common dilemma to most performing musicians. We have a night off, and\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\/2012\/02\/mousai-300x243.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\/8281","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=8281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8281\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}