‘Ready?’
‘Of course.’
‘We won’t treat this as a rehearsal, because it isn’t. We’ll play the whole quartet as we would if you were our regularviolist. No one is expecting a miracle. You’ll be adjusting to our tempo and voicing just as we will respond to yours. When infelicities occur – ’
‘Don’t you love that?’ Cat broke in. ‘ “When infelicities occur.” He means when someone plays a bum note.’
‘We’ll make allowance,’ Ivan said. ‘After all, we’re human.’
‘Some of us,’ Cat murmured. She was doing her best to take the stress out of the situation, even if Ivan didn’t care for it.
As for Anthony, he remained expressionless, as if he’d heard all this before.
‘Shall we tune the instruments?’ Ivan said. ‘And by the way, because of the length of the piece and the room temperature it’s to be expected that they’ll go out of tune before the end. No matter.’
‘We’ll wing it, bossy boots,’ Cat said. ‘We always do.’
Ivan lifted the violin to his chin and played a note that acted on Mel’s nerves like a thousand volts.
Get a grip, he told himself. You prepared for this all week.
He raised his viola, waited for a lead from the cello, tried the note several times, gave a small twist to the fine tuner, was satisfied, nodded, took a deep breath and waited.
Anthony had come to life and looked a different man tuning his violin. Cat drew her bow several times more across the cello strings and winked. They tried a few chords in the C sharp minor key.
Then it got serious.
The opening movement of Opus 131 is majestic, yet with a sense of foreboding. Beethoven’s first mark says ‘Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo’ and presents an immediate test for the first violin. Ivan sounded the first dramatic bars expressing the anguish that mirrored Mel’s state of mind. And as Anthony took up the fugal theme on a single up-bow it was apparent how seamlessly the two blended. This was playing of rare quality. The second violin might be a social misfit, but he was a fine musician.
Poised for his entrance in bar nine, Mel knew it had to be spot on. The score called for him to join the playing ofthe others at precisely the same bow speed. There was no hiding.
His timing was right. He conquered his nerves, launched into the piece and played the crescendo in bar eleven in the knowledge that he needed to top the two violins with the complete fugue subject, a theme that is heard in various guises throughout. A lift of Ivan’s right eyebrow signalled satisfaction. Under way and making music as requested.
Now was the moment for the fourth voice, Cat’s cello, and she supplied a strong, sonorous note in no danger of being drowned by the others. With all four instruments in play, the harmonics came under scrutiny and to Mel’s ear blended well. Even while straining to concentrate he felt lifted by the company he was in. They were spectacularly good. Ivan was a skilful leader, setting the tempo, making way when necessary, yet filling in the harmony with precisely the right strength when required.
Towards the middle of the first movement the violins speak to each other with the last six notes of the fugue motif and then viola and cello take up the dialogue in one of the loveliest passages in the entire quartet repertoire. An immense test, and Mel was equal to it, removing everything from his mind except the purity of the sound. His eyes didn’t meet Cat’s, yet he felt an emotional affinity with her that only musicians could appreciate.
It was a seminal moment. Performing with such gifted artists was uplifting, however mismatched they were as personalities. I want to be part of this, he thought. I want it more than I ever suspected.
So as movement succeeded movement, he felt buoyed up by the quality of the playing, growing in belief, inspired to new heights. In the jarring transition from the breakneck speed of the scherzo to the poignant adagio of the sixth
‘Of course.’
‘We won’t treat this as a rehearsal, because it isn’t. We’ll play the whole quartet as we would if you were our regularviolist. No one is expecting a miracle. You’ll be adjusting to our tempo and voicing just as we will respond to yours. When infelicities occur – ’
‘Don’t you love that?’ Cat broke in. ‘ “When infelicities occur.” He means when someone plays a bum note.’
‘We’ll make allowance,’ Ivan said. ‘After all, we’re human.’
‘Some of us,’ Cat murmured. She was doing her best to take the stress out of the situation, even if Ivan didn’t care for it.
As for Anthony, he remained expressionless, as if he’d heard all this before.
‘Shall we tune the instruments?’ Ivan said. ‘And by the way, because of the length of the piece and the room temperature it’s to be expected that they’ll go out of tune before the end. No matter.’
‘We’ll wing it, bossy boots,’ Cat said. ‘We always do.’
Ivan lifted the violin to his chin and played a note that acted on Mel’s nerves like a thousand volts.
Get a grip, he told himself. You prepared for this all week.
He raised his viola, waited for a lead from the cello, tried the note several times, gave a small twist to the fine tuner, was satisfied, nodded, took a deep breath and waited.
Anthony had come to life and looked a different man tuning his violin. Cat drew her bow several times more across the cello strings and winked. They tried a few chords in the C sharp minor key.
Then it got serious.
The opening movement of Opus 131 is majestic, yet with a sense of foreboding. Beethoven’s first mark says ‘Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo’ and presents an immediate test for the first violin. Ivan sounded the first dramatic bars expressing the anguish that mirrored Mel’s state of mind. And as Anthony took up the fugal theme on a single up-bow it was apparent how seamlessly the two blended. This was playing of rare quality. The second violin might be a social misfit, but he was a fine musician.
Poised for his entrance in bar nine, Mel knew it had to be spot on. The score called for him to join the playing ofthe others at precisely the same bow speed. There was no hiding.
His timing was right. He conquered his nerves, launched into the piece and played the crescendo in bar eleven in the knowledge that he needed to top the two violins with the complete fugue subject, a theme that is heard in various guises throughout. A lift of Ivan’s right eyebrow signalled satisfaction. Under way and making music as requested.
Now was the moment for the fourth voice, Cat’s cello, and she supplied a strong, sonorous note in no danger of being drowned by the others. With all four instruments in play, the harmonics came under scrutiny and to Mel’s ear blended well. Even while straining to concentrate he felt lifted by the company he was in. They were spectacularly good. Ivan was a skilful leader, setting the tempo, making way when necessary, yet filling in the harmony with precisely the right strength when required.
Towards the middle of the first movement the violins speak to each other with the last six notes of the fugue motif and then viola and cello take up the dialogue in one of the loveliest passages in the entire quartet repertoire. An immense test, and Mel was equal to it, removing everything from his mind except the purity of the sound. His eyes didn’t meet Cat’s, yet he felt an emotional affinity with her that only musicians could appreciate.
It was a seminal moment. Performing with such gifted artists was uplifting, however mismatched they were as personalities. I want to be part of this, he thought. I want it more than I ever suspected.
So as movement succeeded movement, he felt buoyed up by the quality of the playing, growing in belief, inspired to new heights. In the jarring transition from the breakneck speed of the scherzo to the poignant adagio of the sixth
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