Shostakovitch from Jupiter
I’m LATE! But there is a reason…
The night before last I attend a
concert at Krannert by the Jupiter string quartet. I have known the members of
the quartet since the beginning of their time as Quartet in residence at the
University of Illinois and I have attended many of their solo concerts and masterclasses
but I have never been able to make it to one of their quartet recitals. The
level of excellence that they achieve in their performance as a group is, in
the true sense of the word, awesome.
The concert opened with one of my
favorite string quartets of all time (no not the quartet for the end of time
but that would have been a great pun), Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8.
This elaborate work starts out with a deceptively slow and peaceful opening
that lulls the listener into a false sense of security. I had heard this piece
before many times and so I knew what was coming. I sat in anticipation, for
once sitting up straight (sorry person who was sitting behind me), with my
hands clasped in my lap. When the time came it was glorious.
The tone switches from calm and
unusual to complete and utter disgust at the world and all that is holy in one
note (seriously you should take a listen if you have time, it is great). The first violin plays a fast melody in 7th
position on the G-String (a very dark tone) while the other three players
aggressively attack their instruments with their bows in a rhythm that
undertones the whole movement. In classical music a lot is left up to the
performers to interpret and decide how specifically they are going to play it.
One of these decisions is speed.
I have always been obsessed with
preforming music fast. The adrenaline
rush that comes from excessive speed inspires me to play with more character
and feeling. My good violinist friend and I both play fiddle music regularly
and there is a particular song called Wizards Walk that has a series of
arpeggios that are intended to be played as fast as possible. We competed for
around 6 years by playing Wizards Walk as fast as we could and seeing who could
outpace the other. The difference between us and the Jupiter quartet is about
25 years of experience playing their instruments and so when the Jupiter
quartet got to the fast section in the Shostakovich they played it faster than
we could possibly play a simple fiddle tune.
The number of dedicated hours of
practice needed to achieve the level of excellence needed to play their
individual parts combined with the number of hours practicing as a quartet astounds
me. There wasn’t a moment when they were off from each other, not a single note
missed, and not a single audience member who did not thoroughly enjoy the
performance. During the intermission I overheard a lady sitting behind me say,
“Oh I thought I was gonna fall asleep if the first piece kept going as it
started. Kind of a rousing wakeup call it has there in the middle!” And rousing
it was. It kept the audience fully engaged in the performance and it keeps me
wanting to play Wizards Walk even faster than before.
I've always found it really cool that music could have that effect on our brains. The rush and the calm and everything in between takes the listener on a kind of emotional roller coaster that we can't get anywhere else. I don’t know if you feel this too, but the feeling of playing is a little different than listening. Having played the flute, I find myself fingering the notes along with the music whenever I hear flute sounds playing. I appreciate other music, too, but I connect with the music on another level when it’s an instrument I’m familiar with. Comprehending the hours it takes to be able to perform on that level also lends another perspective to the music.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good essay, even as one who stopped playing instruments a while back. The only things I think need closer consideration would be the last two paragraphs. You switch from describing a performance that you visited and then very quickly switch into a section about Wizards Walk. You could try to strengthen the connection a bit more to make the inclusion of Wizards more meaningful.
ReplyDeleteI like this essay a lot. The word choice and personality in the essay makes it quite fun to read. The use of italicization and words in parentheses also give the essay a more lively tone.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few small things that could be changed. There are a couple long awkward sentences (mainly the second one of the first paragraph) that are confusing to read. You could also try more variation in sentence structure in the third and fourth paragraphs.
This was a really fun essay to read. I am not very musically inclined and have never really understood classical music and why people like to listen to it. Your writing effectively conveyed so much of your thoughts about the music that I felt like, for the first time, I could understand why people listen to classical music and care about it so much. I felt like I got to know you better by reading this by understanding better something that is clearly so important to you.
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