String Quartet Seating

[pastoralguy]

The Brodsky Quartet.Paul Cassidy, viola, from Derry; married to Jacqueline Thomas, cello, who played standing up sometimes.

I’m listening to the Brodsky Quartet just now. Many years ago, I heard them play the Mozart g minor Quintet with the Principal Viola of the BBCSSO and he told me that they were absolutely brutal with each other in rehearsal. No niceties with each other at all, just said what was needed to be said! He was quite shocked but they said it just saves time! (They were quite pleasant with him, though!)

[vinteuil]

The Brodsky Quartet.Paul Cassidy, viola, from Derry; married to Jacqueline Thomas, cello, who played standing up sometimes.

... the cellist played standing up? - cool!

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[Serial_Apologist]

... a pretty heroic cellist?

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The Dutchman Ernest Reijseger would be my example of a cellist hero:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq_1GVRbyhI

[Maclintick]

I heard the Takács Quartet during this year’s Edinburgh Festival and their viola player sat opposite the first violin and indeed his predecessor had done.

Same in the Pavel Haas Quartet -- a layout mirrored on a larger scale by the BPO

[CallMePaul]

... there is surely a difference if a quartet is playing for an audience or purely for themselves.

If Frank Lloyd Wright envisaged a quartet playing for their own enjoyment with no audience I think his approach makes a lot of sense

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Not a string quartet, but I have seen an illustration of a Dowland consort manuscript showing the players' parts arranged in this format. The music was written for domestic enjoyment, not for public performance.

As far as string quartets are concerned, do any sit in the order 1st violin, cello, viola, 2nd violin as many conductors ask for with orchestral strings?

[oliver sudden]

There have been a few quartets where the second violin played left-handed, which very much encourages having antiphonal violins.

I didn’t realise until very recently indeed that Rudolf Kolisch played left-handed! Now I suppose we have to go picking through the Second Viennese School repertoire for hints that the first violin line is supposed to come from the right.

[smittims]

Not unrelated to this is the practice of exchanging roles for the for the two violins. Some find it beneficial, others regard it as anathema. I was interested to see this appear in the delightful feature film A Late Quartet.

[mikealdren]

I’m listening to the Brodsky Quartet just now. Many years ago, I heard them play the Mozart g minor Quintet with the Principal Viola of the BBCSSO and he told me that they were absolutely brutal with each other in rehearsal. No niceties with each other at all, just said what was needed to be said! He was quite shocked but they said it just saves time! (They were quite pleasant with him, though!)

The Brodsky's started playing together while still at school although only Ian and Jackie remain from the original group. They have know each other for almost all of their lives so it's not surprising that they don't bother with niceties. I've not seen Jackie play standing up but it wouldn't surprise me if she did for an occasional effect. For the others, standing gives a freedom of playing that is lost when sitting.
As to layout, quartets usually sit as the best compromise to project the sound (as with an orchestra) or, occasionally, for antiphonal effects. The challenge for both is that violins or violas opposite the 1st violin are playing the wrong way round. I don't know about many quartets but my (amateur) group used to practice in more of a square to allow better interaction between the group and then change to perform.

[richardfinegold]

https://ibb.co/Y4CWTr3Here is the FLW piece

[Flay]

The Brodsky's started playing together while still at school although only Ian and Jackie remain from the original group. They have know each other for almost all of their lives so it's not surprising that they don't bother with niceties. I've not seen Jackie play standing up but it wouldn't surprise me if she did for an occasional effect.

Hello all, I haven't posted for some time, but still "lurk" on occasions.

I encountered the Brodskys in Leeds last February when they performed all 15 Shostakovich quartets over a 2-day marathon. (https://d2c6kjafra7luc.cloudfront.ne...ky-quartet.pdf). Jackie did indeed remain seated (and who can blame her!), but the others stood, allowing them freedom to move towards or away from each other for emphasis. It also increased the drama - such as for the opening chords of the 2nd when bows arched through the air in waves of anguish (I have a theory that every Shosty quartet contains a series of searing screams).

It was pleasing that they hung around after sessions to chat. Paul Cassidy is very approachable. I've not long finished his two autobiographies, Get Beethoven and Got Beethoven. The first describes a tough childhood growing up in Derry at the heart of the Troubles. Both worth reading.

[Pulcinella]

Hello all, I haven't posted for some time, but still "lurk" on occasions.

I encountered the Brodskys in Leeds last February when they performed all 15 Shostakovich quartets over a 2-day marathon. (https://d2c6kjafra7luc.cloudfront.ne...ky-quartet.pdf). Jackie did indeed remain seated (and who can blame her!), but the others stood, allowing them freedom to move towards or away from each other for emphasis. It also increased the drama - such as for the opening chords of the 2nd when bows arched through the air in waves of anguish (I have a theory that every Shosty quartet contains a series of searing screams).

It was pleasing that they hung around after sessions to chat. Paul Cassidy is very approachable. I've not long finished his two autobiographies, Get Beethoven and Got Beethoven. The first describes a tough childhood growing up in Derry at the heart of the Troubles. Both worth reading.

They played all 15 over a weekend I attended in Bromsgrove in October 1992!
I don't recall any of them standing, but it's a long time ago now.
There were also talks by Eric Roseberry, John Joubert (should have got him to sign my copy of 'Torches' ), David Rudkin, and David Fanning, and a screening of the film Testimony (which I now can't recall; might have had to leave early that night).

PS: The Carducci String Quartet played all 15 on Sunday 9 August 2015 in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse: a feat of great endurance for both players and audience.
As an audience member maybe I should have stood; the seating was very hard on the back and several people were stretched out during the intervals to recover!

[Flay]

They took it in turns to tell us something about each quartet, which made the event far more personable (unlike a Paul Lewis Shubert recital in Buxton last July where he barely acknowledged the audience, leaving me cold).

After the final work, the 15th, there were a couple of minutes of solemn silence where they stood with heads bowed. I had tears running down my face. Not however from sadness, but from a desperate attempt to suppress an enormous sneeze which threatened to ruin that sacred moment. Especially as I was in the middle of the front row!

[french frank]

After the final work, the 15th, there were a couple of minutes of solemn silence where they stood with heads bowed. I had tears running down my face. Not however from sadness, but from a desperate attempt to suppress an enormous sneeze which threatened to ruin that sacred moment. Especially as I was in the middle of the front row!

Good to see you, Flay.

[richardfinegold]

Good to see you, Flay.

[Flay]

Thanks ff and Richard. It's good to be here!