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JACK Quartet (image credit: Henrik Olund)

Who or what inspired you to take up the cello, and make it your career?

My mom was a big part of it; she began ear training and piano skills with me from a very young age, bought me my first (eighth-size) cello, and started me on Suzuki training when I was just shy of age four.  While I was obviously not thinking about a career at this point, because music has been part of my life as long as I can remember it made the decision fairly easy later in life.  The incredible breadth and diversity of the recordings of Yo-Yo Ma were frequently played in the house and a master class I had with him in high school was truly inspiring.  I think the experiences that really cemented it for me were my three summers at the Kinhaven music camp in Vermont, where I first realized just how gratifying chamber music could be, especially with friends.  The new music bug also bit me fairly early through the vehicle of Kronos Quartet recordings.  My dad bought many of these which I borrowed (stole) as a teenager, I think I never gave many of them back!

Who or what were the most important influences on your playing?

My cello teachers have been hugely important in helping me hone my craft, both in musical and technical terms.  Troy Stuart at the Peabody Preparatory gave me a great foundation when I was in high school and transitioning into advanced repertoire, and then Steven Doane at Eastman really helped me refine these skills and be able to isolate all the technical difficulties in a piece of music and be able to put them back together in a way that was expressive and with clear interpretation.  Also at Eastman I developed my new music chops through collaborations with countless composers and performers, too many to name here.  I will note that my experience playing with the Eastman Musica Nova Ensemble under the direction of Brad Lubman was crucial, and helped me learn to parse difficult scores with precision and clarity.  Our professional as well as personal interactions with the Arditti Quartet have also been invaluable; without them much of our repertoire (as well as corresponding performance practices and attitudes) would simply not exist.

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

The JACK Quartet specializes in contemporary music performance, and now we are constantly learning new (and often very difficult) repertoire.  This has forced me to learn music very quickly, which means careful study of scores and annotation of parts as well as practice sessions and rehearsals that are efficient as possible.  Striking a balance between this immense amount of work and maintaining a personal life can be very challenging, as the former tends to take priority over the latter.  However the work is well worth it, and I realize I might not be able to keep this pace up forever, so I figure it is time to strike while the iron is hot!

What are the special pleasures/challenges of ensemble playing?

I think the sublimation of the ego into something greater than oneself is simultaneously a special pleasure as well as a challenge of ensemble playing.  I find the joy of chamber music performance to have little to do with self-congratulation and more to do with gratitude to be part of amazing shared musical experiences.  That being said, it is often difficult to relinquish control, and much of chamber music interpretation has to do with compromise.  Sometimes everyone’s opinions align, but many times they conflict.  It’s important to try out everyone’s ideas and come to decisions about which direction to take that make everyone happy.  Many times I find that I have been stubborn about my viewpoint, only to realize that a different approach was equally valid (or in fact better.)  You have to choose your battles carefully.

Which performances/recordings are you most proud of?

Our Xenakis disc has had much to do with our career trajectory and these quartets remain some of my favorite music to play.  Tetras in particular can generate so much energy in the crowd when performed live that you can practically feel electricity in the air.  The music of Helmut Lachenmann also holds a special place in our repertoire and we hold our interactions with him near and dear to our hearts.  (Shameless plug: our recording of the Lachenmann quartets will be released on Mode Records in the coming year.)

Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in?

Le Poisson Rouge in New York City very much feels like a home base for us at this point.  We know the audiences will be excited and primed for the music we present there and the crowd reactions are always supportive and overwhelming.  As far as more traditional venues go, our performances at Wigmore Hall in London have been incredible experiences.  The hall has an amazing sound and warmth to it but is also small enough to feel very intimate.  I can not think of a more ideal place for chamber music.  (Shameless plug #2: I should probably add our disc that was just released on the Wigmore Live series to the previous list of performances/recordings we are most proud of.)

Favourite pieces to perform?

I mentioned Tetras earlier, and should specify that Lachenmann’s String Quartet No. 3 “Grido” is also exhilarating to perform.  Wolfgang Rihm’s String Quartet No. 3 “Im Innersten” is always an overwhelming emotional and cathartic experience to perform.  There must be something about third string quartets, because I must also mention Georg Friedrich Haas’s String Quartet No. 3 “in iij Noct.” here, which is performed in complete darkness.  We insist that the condition of darkness be so profound when we perform it that you can’t see your hand in front of your own face.  The piece has a quasi-improvisational structure to it that allows for a bit more spontaneous music making than many other pieces in our domain.  All these conditions add up to an experience that elicits a range of responses: from terrifying to ecstatic, hallucinatory to synaesthetic.  It’s a blast!  Rounding out the list is Horatiu Radulescu’s String Quartet No. 5 “Before the Universe was born” which pulls a range of harmonics and complex spectral sounds out of our instruments unlike any other music we’ve played.  It is an experience both spiritual and transcendent.

Who are your favourite musicians?

Many of my favorite musicians are already listed in my responses to the above questions and so imagine me re-listing all of the above here.  There are many cellists whose recordings have been highly influential to me, including Rostropovich, du Pre, Isserlis, and many others.  I’ll also take this opportunity to note that my tastes vary widely to include much more than classical and contemporary classical music.  I am often fascinated by autodidactic musicians who developed their own sophisticated musical languages.  Frank Zappa comes to mind, as well as electronic musicians Aphex Twin and Autechre.  Björk has a unique vocal instrument as well as an idiosyncratic approach to the craft of songwriting.  The Swedish metal band Meshuggah has developed a complex polyrhythmic style that is hard to duplicate successfully in any other musical form.  There are many others, again too numerous to mention.

What is your most memorable concert experience?

This may be cheating a bit as it is in the near future, but we are about to travel to Bali to perform with a full gamelan and traditional dancers on a huge outdoor stage at a festival attended by an estimated 8,000 people.  I believe it will be quite memorable!

What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?

You must figure out what is the most unique contribution you can make to the music world and follow that path.  It is not enough just to play well anymore, but you have to figure out what makes your interpretation or performance different and memorable in order to stand out from the crowd.  You also have to love and care about your work.  I think it is nearly impossible to make a personal stamp without putting your heart into it.

What are you working on at the moment?

Trying to stay sane until our break in July!

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

To be surrounded by people you love, to be doing work that is gratifying and rewarding, to always be learning and growing as a person, to smile and laugh and enjoy the simple pleasures of life, and to be at peace with yourself so that you can know true compassion for others.

Comprising violinists Christopher Otto and Ari Streisfeld, violist John Pickford Richards, and cellist Kevin McFarland, JACK is focused on the commissioning and performance of new works, leading them to work closely with composers Helmut Lachenmann, György Kurtág, Matthias Pintscher, Georg Friedrich Haas, James Dillon, Toshio Hosokawa, Wolfgang Rihm, Elliott Sharp, Beat Furrer, Caleb Burhans, and Aaron Cassidy. Upcoming and recent premieres include works by Jason Eckardt, Zeena Parkins, Payton MacDonald, Huck Hodge, James Clarke, Mauro Lanza, Simon Steen-Andersen, Walter Zimmermann, , and Toby Twining.

JACK has led workshops with young composers at Princeton University, Yale University, the American String Teachers Association of New Jersey, University of Iowa, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik (Germany), New York University, Columbia University, Carnegie Mellon University, Eastman School of Music, University at Buffalo, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University, University of Huddersfield (United Kingdom), University of Washington, University of Victoria (Canada), and Manhattan School of Music. In addition to working with composers and performers, JACK seeks to broaden and diversify the potential audience for new music through educational presentations designed for a variety of ages, backgrounds, and levels of musical experience.

The members of the quartet met while attending the Eastman School of Music, and they have since studied with the Arditti Quartet, Kronos Quartet, Muir String Quartet, and members of the Ensemble Intercontemporain.

www.jackquartet.com

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Ford Madox Brown ‘Pretty Baa Lambs’ (Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery)

This autumn’s blockbuster exhibition, Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde at Tate Britain, is a sumptuous display of much-loved paintings by the core of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) – Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt – together with works by their disciples, as well as sculpture, textiles, furniture and glass. Five years in the making, this is the chance to see around 180 works brought together, and is the largest survey of the group since 1984. Read my full review here

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Pianist, broadcaster and teacher David Owen Norris presented an engaging, informative and entertaining masterclass at the BBC Radio Theatre as part of the autumn season The Piano on the BBC. The event was filmed for the Radio Three website and BBC YouTube Channel and featured five young pianists, all recent graduates/post-graduates from music college or university.

The masterclass was called ‘Sooner or Later’ because it sought to explore, through individual performances of whole pieces by each pianist and then detailed work on aspects of the score, how pianists can play more expressively and ‘poetically’ by arriving at a note or phrase sooner or later, in effect using what musicians call tempo rubato.

Tempo rubato (literally “stolen time” in Italian) is perhaps most closely associated with the music of Fryderyk Chopin, his friend and fellow composer Franz Liszt, and other composers of the Romantic period. But it is possible to achieve rubato effectively in Bach and other baroque music: indeed, all music, to a greater or lesser extent, should contain rubato in order for it to sound natural. While we should never lose a sense of pulse, music that is strictly metrical, with no sense of space or shape within phrases or sections, can be dull and monotonous, both to listen to and to play. Playing with rubato gives the music expressive freedom, allowing it space, room to breathe – just as the human voice has shifts in dynamic, tempo and cadence.

As David Owen Norris pointed out, other instruments are able to achieve greater expressiveness through sound alone, but because the piano is a percussive machine, the pianist must employ different techniques to achieve expressiveness. When listening to music, the audience want to be “surprised” or “satisfied”, and when we are playing, we should be aware of musical “surprises” within the score (unusual harmonies, suspensions, unexpected cadences etc) as well as instances of “satisfaction” (resolutions, full cadences, returning to the home key etc.). We can highlight these through dynamic shifts, and also by the use of rubato – arriving at a note or end of a phrase sooner or later to achieve either surprise or satisfaction.

Rubato is not always written into the score (though Liszt has “written in” rubato in many measures of the Sonetto 104 del Petrarca, largely through the use of syncopation) and is often at the discretion of performer or conductor. It is perhaps most obvious when one hears a singer perform, and as a pianist, we can learn much from reimagining – and singing out loud – the melodic line as a sung line.

David Owen Norris (DON) used the example of Mendelssohn’s Song Without Words in B minor, Opus 67, no. 5 to demonstrate how the composer uses directions such as “sf” (sforzando) to highlight points of interest in the music. A less refined pianist might be tempted to simply lay extra emphasis or force on these notes, but as DON pointed out, a more expressive effect can be achieved by simply delaying the arrival at the note. It is the placing of the note and the fractional silence before it that can achieve the most poetic effects.

I also liked his definition of the hairpin crescendo marking being an indication to “set the music free” and “let it take flight”. Often, our natural inclination when we see such a marking is to increase the tempo slightly, just as we might slacken the tempo with a diminuendo. We can also highlight other aspects such as dissonance or unusual harmonic shifts by varying the tempo slightly, or allowing a certain spaciousness when playing repeated notes (example from masterclass – the ‘Andante’ from Mendelssohn’s Rondo Capriccioso Op. 14).

Rubato is not easy to teach, and inexperienced students may find it hard to shape phrases or allow “space” between notes convincingly. The key to good rubato is for it to sound natural and uncontrived. In my experience, too many pianists, professional and amateur, when playing Chopin, feel the need to pull the tempo around far too much, making the music sound schmaltzy and saccharine. It is the subtlety of rubato that makes it so convincing. This is why it is a important to encourage students to sing a phrase, listen to the natural shaping the voice gives to the melodic line and then recreate that at the piano. My recent experience as an accompanist has also taught me more about rubato, and the subtle fluctuations in tempo that another performer will bring to the music: a skilled accompanist will have the requisite empathy to “read” or predict where the other instrumentalist might place notes or phrases. The best rubato comes from within, and it should always be intuitive and unforced. I agree with David Owen Norris that this ability to play rubato convincingly and intuitively comes from both a detailed study of the score to gain a fuller understanding of the composer’s intentions and a sense of one’s own “personal sound” at the piano.

“The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes – ah, that is where the art resides!”

– Arthur Schnabel, pianist (1882-1951)

Music examples from the masterclass (links open in Spotify):

Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte, Op.67 – No. 5. Moderato in B minor “The Shepherd’s complaint”

Mendelssohn: Rondo capriccioso, Op.14

Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte, Op.53 – No. 4. Adagio in F “Sadness of Soul”

Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor Op. 27 No. 2 “Moonlight”: Adagio sostenuto

Chopin – Fantasie Impromptu in C-sharp minor, Op. 66

Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte, Op.19 – No. 4 in A (Moderato)

Francis Poulenc – Novelette

Billy Mayerl – Printers Devil

An earlier blog post on entasis and taking time in music

Emmanuel Vass, one of the participants in the masterclass will feature in a forthcoming ‘Meet the Artist’ interview. The film of the masterclass will be released on the BBC Radio Three website and YouTube channel on 17th September.

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BBC Media Centre press release:

This Autumn, Saturday 15 September until Tuesday 6 November, the BBC will be dedicating a suite of programmes to the music, history and beauty of one of the world’s most iconic instruments, the piano.

Piano Season on the BBC is a major six-week season celebrating a single instrument. The season will explore the piano’s wide-ranging influence from the 1700s to the present day, as well as delve into the lives of the people behind the piano and the music created for it.

Highlights of the season include an in-depth insight into The Leeds International Piano Competition, a Jazz Battle live from Trinity Laban College Greenwich, a downloadable A-Z of the piano, Peter Donohoe’s 50 Greats, an online masterclass for budding pianists and well-loved personalities from around the UK, such as Woman’s Hour’s Jane Garvey, Radio 1’s Dev and Olympic medal winner Samantha Murray, taking up the challenge of learning the piano for the first time, with eight of them taking part in the season finale, Gala Concert in Cardiff on the 29 October 2012.

The season begins with extensive coverage of the Leeds International Piano Competition with live broadcasts of the final on BBC Radio 3 and a six-part series about the finalists on BBC Four. The season will culminate on 6 November with a special episode of Imagine on BBC One focusing on Lang Lang as he turns 30.

Roger Wright, Controller of BBC Radio 3, comments: “The piano is a single instrument that has the ability to convey a range of emotions and the power of a whole orchestra. Over six weeks we will be exploring this remarkable instrument: its history, mechanics and influence, as well as delving into the lives of the people behind the instrument and the music created for it. Piano Season on the BBC embodies everything that makes Radio 3 unique, offering listeners a distinctive range and depth of classical music, jazz and discussion.”

Richard Klein, Controller BBC Four, comments: “As the gold card channel for arts and culture, BBC Four is delighted to give our viewers an insight in to the Leeds Piano Competition through a series of six documentaries focussing on the finalists of this world class competition. The BBC is committed to partnering with arts and music organisations and BBC Four is delighted to be continuing the relationship with the Leeds Piano Competition to bring such a high calibre of classical music, performances and artistry to viewers as part of Piano Season on the BBC.”

The Leeds International Piano Competition on BBC Four will be presented by Suzy Klein, herself a pianist, and will showcase the six finalists and their concerto performances in full. The series will also take viewers behind the scenes to discover why ‘The Leeds’ is admired worldwide, take a closer look at the mechanical marvel that is the piano, speak directly to the woman behind the competition, Dame Fanny Waterman, who has inspired a generation of young musicians and delve into what makes a world-leading concert pianist. With arguably one of the piano world’s biggest stars taking an ambassadorial role with the competition, we’ll also hear from Lang Lang on why ‘The Leeds’ still matters as it approaches its 50th birthday.

Radio 3 listeners can follow the competition live with both Concerto Finals nights and the Sunday Afternoon Gala Concert broadcast live from Leeds. Piano Season on Radio 3 continues with artists such as Lang Lang, the Labeque Sisters and Malcom Martineau sharing their musical inspirations, as well as hearing from experts such as David Owen Norris and Peter Donohoe. Programmes will feature some of the greatest piano music ever written by composers who themselves loved and played the piano; including Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Liszt, Beethoven, Debussy and Chopin alongside late night jazz programming exploring some of the greatest names in jazz pianism.

Monday nights will be ‘Piano Night’ when Radio 3’s Live in Concert will offer listeners a series of unique piano recitals, from different corners of the nation, given by an array of international artists. Past Leeds finalist Sunwook Kim will play Beethoven and Schubert and Russian Evgenia Rubinova presents a programme of music from her native country; Ukrainian Alexei Grynyuk plays Chopin and Liszt; Pascal and Ami Rogé play French music for two pianos; while Radio 3 New Generation Artist Igor Levit performs Rzewksi’s celebrated and fiendishly difficult Variations on “The People United Will Never Be Defeated”; Ashley Wass and Huw Watkins team up to perform Robin Holloway’s pianistic tour-de-force “The Gilded Goldbergs”.

In Radio 3’s morning programmes, listeners will have the chance to hear the 50 Great Pianists – a short daily focus on one of the 50 greatest names from the world of pianism as selected by Peter Donohoe, while regular programmes such as Composer Of The Week will explore the lives of composers who wrote for the instrument, from Clementi to Rachmaninov.

Special guests and piano lovers including as Kathryn Stott, Valentina Lisitsa, James May, Alan Rusbridger and Benjamin Frith will be joining the regular Radio 3 presenters through the season to talk about their passion and experiences with the iconic instrument. There will also be online masterclasses, exploration of the historical and social history of the piano and an entertaining A-Z of the piano in Radio 3’s late afternoon programme In Tune.

Trinity College London and the ABRSM [Associated Board of The Royal Schools of Music] will be helping budding pianists hone their skills in ‘110%’ on Friday nights. We’ll be treated to great performances of Piano Syllabus pieces and hear from the experts on what make them so special and how to get 110% in their exams.

Later on in the Autumn, BBC One’s Imagine will return with a special documentary presented by Alan Yentob on Lang Lang, arguably one of the greatest pianists of his generation, as he turns 30. Lang Lang’s dazzling technique and musicality have inspired a generation of young pianists and delighted audiences throughout the world.

Imagine follows him on an impressive schedule of concerts in Shanghai, New York, London and Berlin and reveals a personal story that began with great hardship and a family dream that nearly ended in tragedy. In this auspicious ‘Year of the Dragon’ Lang Lang celebrates his 30th birthday at a concert in Berlin with Herbie Hancock, opens his own piano school in China, plays for the Queen at the Diamond Jubilee, performs sell-out concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, and becomes the first classical musician to headline at a British pop music festival.

BBC Four will also celebrate Lang Lang being appointed as the Global Ambassador of the Leeds International Piano Competition with two one-off documentaries on Friday 2 November. Lang Lang At The Roundhouse will give viewers an opportunity to see this stunning performance at London’s legendary Roundhouse, recorded at the iTunes festival in July 2011. Lang Lang performs a remarkable Liszt recital as the only classical music artist in a true rock-star surrounding, next to international pop stars like Coldplay, Adele and Linkin Park. And Lang Lang: The Art Of Being A Virtuoso follows Lang Lang through China, the US and Europe and offers a glimpse into life on tour with the superstar.

 

Tomorrow, I will be attending a live recording of a masterclass hosted by David Owen Norris, to be filmed for Radio Three website as part of the piano season on the BBC. The masterclass will explore how pianists set about discovering and conveying the poetic musical message of much loved piano pieces. In a neat coincidence, one of the participants is pianist Emmanuel Vass, who will be featured in my ‘Meet the Artist’ series.