I remember--this was 1963. Yeah. And we had decided to form
a string quartet, and we went into this little room.
It was called the music room, at that point at Marlboro.
And we played the beginning of the D Minor --
>>Right. [OVERTALK] Mozart. And I thought it was -- I had
died and gone to heaven. And John thought it was the most
terrible playing he had ever heard.
And then we decided then, that, why don't we do it?
And we all had different things to do, we had
different commitments. And so we waited 'til 1964.
>>Did you guys know David before Marlboro? >> Oh, very well. Yes.
Because he had been a participant, years earlier.
Don't forget, we were offered a position in a university, before we had played
a single note in public. >> That's right. Sight unseen.
>> Sight unseen. Or unheard. >> And that was because of Jascha
Brodsky, who was our mentor and our teacher here at Curtis.
Because the chairman of the music department
at a small college in upstate New York, in Binghamton, New York, had said,
"I'm looking for a string quartet." And Jascha said,
"I have this young group that's just formed.
You haven't heard a note from them, because they haven't played a note yet.
But, they're going to be good." So, sight and sound unseen, he hired us.
>> Yeah. >> Let me say that I wish I'd have known that, I would have
thanked Mr. Brodsky profusely when I was a student here. It was 1966
when I met you and you were teaching in Binghamton. I was from Utica, and
a friend of my Mom's thought that she should bring
my brother and I down to see if we could study with -- go in with David.
>> I would have been a lot nicer to you if I had known that you were going to
join the Guarneri Quartet. Later on. >> You know, Dave Soyer called me
in 1999, I'll never forget it. It was April.
And I must have had a cell phone, because I was leaving Manhattan. And
my phone rang. And when he started to say what he said,
I immediately said to myself, "No, I don't want to hear
what I think might be coming." Because the first words out of his
mouth were, "Peter, I'm tired of shlepping." And
I never would have expected, really, to hear what I heard.
But he continued to say, "I'm leaving the quartet, and
the boys want to play with you." At which point, as my knees started
shaking, I said no. Imagine me saying no? That's a long
story, that's hard to explain to anybody. But the
simple explanation is, when you're a fan, when you
grow up with a musical group, a group that's in your ear
daily, listening to recordings, et cetera,
and taking lessons, coaching with all these guys,
studying with Dave, it was a very hard concept.
Transitioning into the quartet, I'll never forget the first rehearsal
at Arnold's place. And we sat down, I don't remember what we played.
I do remember -- and I may have made the comment,
"I don't know who this is stranger for,
me, or for you guys." And finally,
I think it was probably stranger for you all than it was
for me. I'd be curious what you-- >> Nah, it wasn't strange. I thought
it was a shot in the arm. 'Cause here, a guy comes in
the quartet, who really -- not familiar with
quartets. Knows the trio literature, you know, backwards
and forwards. But he comes into the quartet new,
you know, with all these new ideas. And he's saying,
"Well, let's try doing it this way," or, "Maybe this is a
little bit better." I thought it was great. It's like
going to school agan. >> But I loved your style. Because
at the beginning, you'd preface your remarks by saying,
"You know, you just played this-- you guys played so wonderfully.
I just love the way you played in this particular place.
And I'm in awe to be in the quartet, you know, in the Guarneri Quartet.
But. Two bars before letter A, it's out
of tune. I think we should do that again." [LAUGHTER]
So. On the other hand, you were very deferential. But right
from the beginning, Peter, you were right up front.
And I think, basically, that's been our style. You know.
With Dave. And I always had the sense that we were like
a family. Four brothers. And, you know, in a family,
you try and be polite, but you say it the way it is.
And we've always been very up front about things,
even blunt at times. And that way, there's not only
a certain amount of honesty, but you get things done
a little quicker. So. I think you continued that tradition,
but in your own special way.
>> Well, we had to get things done quicker. Because when we got hired in Binghamton,
that first year, we had to do 15 concerts, remember?
>> Forty-five different works, we played that year.
>> Fifteen concerts in one year. So, you learn repertoire.
>> I remember, we were rehearsing backstage,
to learn a particular Shubert quartet. And within minutes,
we were onstage, trying our-- our damnedest--
>> You shouldn't rehearse Schubert backstage.
>> -- to sound like a group. >> Yeah. We left after four years,
and I remember the engineer who'd recorded all
of our concerts handed me several boxes full
of tapes. And he said, "These are all your
performances." And I put them up in my closet,
and they stayed there for years, and I was terrified
of listening to how we sound. And so I never did.
>> No. I wouldn't, either. And -- wanted to hear them.
>> Listen to the Grieg Quartet. >> To the Grieg Quartet?
>> Yeah. Because I heard that performed in Binghamton,
and it was one of my favorite recordings that you guys had made. And I
was so excited to be hearing the piece performed
live that night. And it was -- I could swear there were
fireworks going off onstage. It was so exciting. So.
>> And I thought that it was really quite marvelous, the way we handled
the transitional season. That could have been very
difficult. It could have been very uncomfortable because we were the Guarneri Quintet,
for a season, basically. Half the concerts were with Dave,
and half the concerts were with you, Peter.
and we were playing the same repertoire. >> Right.
>> So, we had to be--I mean, you were very deferential
to try and fit in. But you were you, and you played the way
you did, and different from Dave. And so I thought, it was a good
season, nonetheless. >> It was certainly a learning experience
for us. Because without your even knowing it,
we began playing differently. With one choice of players,
I think it makes a huge difference, in the production of sound,
and even in the bowings and fingerings that we took.
We often made changes to suit your wishes.
>> I don't know anything about that. All I know is that when I looked
over at Peter, he smiled at me. [LAUGHTER]
>> John. [LAUGHTER] >> Well, the fact that you guys were
so willing, you know, meant the world to me, of course.
Because you had already been a quartet
for 35, 37 years, something like that. And now, you're
gonna re-rehearse the Beethoven Quartets, and the Ravel Quartet,
and the Debussy. >> Yeah, but you made life nervous
for us, Peter. Because our style in the quartet
was never to compliment one another. You were supposed
to play wonderfully. We only talked about, "Michael,
why'd you do that bowing?" Or John would say, "Arnold,
that's out of tune. Can you fix that?" Never, "You played gorgeously
there." And Peter, suddenly you were saying, "Oh,
I love you guys. The way you play." And we didn't know how to handle that.
>> Yeah. It was very odd. [LAUGHTER] >> Well, that's--that's what you get for
being the Guarneri Quartet that I loved when I was nine years old, so.
Arnold SteinhardtPerformance Faculty
Dr. Mia ChungInstructor of Interpretive Analysis
