movement, the viola takes centre stage. All those hours of practice gave him the confidence to play this heart-rending passage from memory, his bowing prolonging the intensity at slow tempo without sacrificing the sense of motion.
The fireworks of Beethoven’s seventh and final movement have a huge impact after this. Four instruments in unison from the jolt of the first note on a downward stroke into a rapid pounding rhythm played right at the frog of the bow will startle any audience. With no one else present, not even Douglas, there were only the four musicians to thrill to the vitality of the music, the culmination of all that had gone before. Spells of ferocious playing were separated by those gorgeous lyrical oases. Excited, energised, the quartet performed the finale relentlessly until its sudden, challenging stop.
No one spoke.
After a piece of such range and power, mere words seem crass.
Some seconds passed before Ivan tapped his stand several times with the bow, a gesture of satisfaction. Cat nodded her agreement. Anthony had slumped again, a puppet with slack strings.
At a loss as to how to behave with these people he’d joined intimately through the music but hardly at all as companions, Mel propped the viola in the angle of his lap and waited. He’d raised his level of playing beyond anything he’d achieved before. He was emotionally drained.
Finally, Cat spoke. ‘Don’t know about you dudes, but that was good enough for me.’ She turned to Anthony. ‘What do you say?’
‘I’m easy.’
‘We know that, honey, but what about the playing?’
‘I said – I’m easy.’
Cat turned to Ivan. ‘We can take that as affirmative – I think. What’s your opinion?’
‘Of what?’
‘Of the combo.’
‘I wish you wouldn’t use that expression.’
‘Here we go again,’ she said. ‘Forty minutes of bliss with Beethoven and it doesn’t take ten seconds to start another spat.’
‘It’s unseemly.’
‘Give me strength. What do you want us to be known as – the Ivan Bogdanov Players?’
‘Now you’re being offensive.’
‘It would be, stuck with a name like yours.’ She raised a hand. ‘All right, that was out of order. Sometimes you drive me to it. Back to my question: do we have a future together? I think we do, and Anthony is easy – which coming from him is as good as a twenty-one-gun salute. Are you up for it?’
Ivan sniffed. ‘Allowing that Mr. Farran was my suggestion in the first place, I give my consent, but with reservations.’
‘What’s your problem?’ Cat said.
Mel was increasingly uncomfortable. ‘Should I go outside while you discuss this?’
‘For the love of Mike, no,’ Cat said. ‘We’re talking about reviving the quartet and everyone deserves a say.’
‘Then we’d better bring in Douglas,’ Ivan said.
‘He can go bark at the moon. He’ll take his twenty percent whatever we decide. And if we’re down to a trio he’ll want twenty-five. What’s eating you, Ivan?’
‘I’m going to propose we agree to a trial period of, say, three months. If, for some reason, it doesn’t work as well as we hope, we can review it then.’
‘Why? When you and I started there was no trial period or the rest of us would have kicked you out for sure.’
‘You don’t mean that.’
‘I mean the first bit – no trial period. I like equality. If Mel is joining us, he won’t want second-class status.’
‘Perhaps we should ask him.’
And that was how Mel found himself in the hot seat. He cleared his throat and said, ‘If you’re serious about inviting me in, I’d like to know more about you.’
This silenced them for a beat or two.
Cat said, ‘Such as?’
‘What’s the name of your quartet?’
Even more hesitation.
Ivan said, ‘One matter we must discuss at an early stage is whether to adopt a new name.’
Mel gained in confidence. ‘What’s wrong with the old one?’
‘We had a quartet, a successful one, but it no longer
The fireworks of Beethoven’s seventh and final movement have a huge impact after this. Four instruments in unison from the jolt of the first note on a downward stroke into a rapid pounding rhythm played right at the frog of the bow will startle any audience. With no one else present, not even Douglas, there were only the four musicians to thrill to the vitality of the music, the culmination of all that had gone before. Spells of ferocious playing were separated by those gorgeous lyrical oases. Excited, energised, the quartet performed the finale relentlessly until its sudden, challenging stop.
No one spoke.
After a piece of such range and power, mere words seem crass.
Some seconds passed before Ivan tapped his stand several times with the bow, a gesture of satisfaction. Cat nodded her agreement. Anthony had slumped again, a puppet with slack strings.
At a loss as to how to behave with these people he’d joined intimately through the music but hardly at all as companions, Mel propped the viola in the angle of his lap and waited. He’d raised his level of playing beyond anything he’d achieved before. He was emotionally drained.
Finally, Cat spoke. ‘Don’t know about you dudes, but that was good enough for me.’ She turned to Anthony. ‘What do you say?’
‘I’m easy.’
‘We know that, honey, but what about the playing?’
‘I said – I’m easy.’
Cat turned to Ivan. ‘We can take that as affirmative – I think. What’s your opinion?’
‘Of what?’
‘Of the combo.’
‘I wish you wouldn’t use that expression.’
‘Here we go again,’ she said. ‘Forty minutes of bliss with Beethoven and it doesn’t take ten seconds to start another spat.’
‘It’s unseemly.’
‘Give me strength. What do you want us to be known as – the Ivan Bogdanov Players?’
‘Now you’re being offensive.’
‘It would be, stuck with a name like yours.’ She raised a hand. ‘All right, that was out of order. Sometimes you drive me to it. Back to my question: do we have a future together? I think we do, and Anthony is easy – which coming from him is as good as a twenty-one-gun salute. Are you up for it?’
Ivan sniffed. ‘Allowing that Mr. Farran was my suggestion in the first place, I give my consent, but with reservations.’
‘What’s your problem?’ Cat said.
Mel was increasingly uncomfortable. ‘Should I go outside while you discuss this?’
‘For the love of Mike, no,’ Cat said. ‘We’re talking about reviving the quartet and everyone deserves a say.’
‘Then we’d better bring in Douglas,’ Ivan said.
‘He can go bark at the moon. He’ll take his twenty percent whatever we decide. And if we’re down to a trio he’ll want twenty-five. What’s eating you, Ivan?’
‘I’m going to propose we agree to a trial period of, say, three months. If, for some reason, it doesn’t work as well as we hope, we can review it then.’
‘Why? When you and I started there was no trial period or the rest of us would have kicked you out for sure.’
‘You don’t mean that.’
‘I mean the first bit – no trial period. I like equality. If Mel is joining us, he won’t want second-class status.’
‘Perhaps we should ask him.’
And that was how Mel found himself in the hot seat. He cleared his throat and said, ‘If you’re serious about inviting me in, I’d like to know more about you.’
This silenced them for a beat or two.
Cat said, ‘Such as?’
‘What’s the name of your quartet?’
Even more hesitation.
Ivan said, ‘One matter we must discuss at an early stage is whether to adopt a new name.’
Mel gained in confidence. ‘What’s wrong with the old one?’
‘We had a quartet, a successful one, but it no longer
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