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A guide to the online musical selection
by Barry Lieberman
2006
We have performed only one other quartet of Beethoven, Opus 95 in 2003. Obviously his music lends itself well to our adaptations but it is fiendishly difficult to play, and Opus 18, no. 4 is no exception even though it was composed early in Beethoven's life. It straddles the border between the Classical and Romantic periods and shows his pull away from tradition.
There probably isn't another composer who so perfectly transfers from original quartet instrumentation to our larger ensemble as Dmitri Shostakovich. I am sure that as the Project continues for years to come we will eventually do all of his quartets. Number 8 is famous as a string orchestra piece but our versions of numbers 2 and 12 illustrate how the added depth of the double bass and the expanded string sections (5 firsts, 4 seconds, 3 violas, 2 celli, and 1 double bass) change the work from a quartet into a string symphony.
In the Sarasate, as in the Carmen arrangement, Stephanie Chase once again demonstrates her skill as an arranger of solo violin works as well as her prowess as a player. This music really shows the true virtuosity of our players as ensemble players as well as soloists. Each principal player (even the double bass) gets extensive solo opportunities in this most operatic of instrumental works. Each of the three pieces, Caprice Basque, Romanza Andalusa, and the famous Ziguenerweisen, has a Spanish flavor and major pyrotechnics.
2005
Ani Kavafian led this piece in her first season with the Project. I wanted to do this Mendelssohn, and it's a favorite of Ani's as well. I was torn as to which part of this work I should feature here. The second movement includes really interesting interplay between "tutti" (the full orchestra) and "solo" (one person alone). The last movement features some intense cadenzas by Ani.
Stephanie Chase is the arranger of this work based on Bizet's Carmen, Sarasate's virtuosic violin piece A Carmen Fantasy. Being an amazing virtuoso herself, Stephanie has produced an arrangement that is perfect for a group like ours. Again, it was difficult choosing the passages to include on this site.
2004
I thought the Schubert was one of the more fun pieces we have done and I chose the last movement because of the virtuosity in the first violins. Most of the passages are hard enough for one player—the playing here attests to the individual as well as collective talents of the Project.
The opening of the Brahms quartet's last movement was written in the perfect key for adding the bass. It makes an awesome sound following the end of the third movement. On our disc I shortened the time between those two movements to simulate attacca (no time between movements).
The Sarabande has always been one of my favorite movements for string orchestra. It is from Britten's Simple Symphony and is the only movement I like from a piece which I also think is rather badly named. In our performance it is the middle part of a trilogy and is followed directly by the Barber Adagio for Strings. The Britten ends on a very soft B- flat and the Barber begins on the very same note. Britten writes really good bass parts (this piece was not arranged; it is Britten's original.) Actually I did change one thing but you would have to be a bass player to know... and maybe not even then.
2003
The Mendelssohn viola quintets have worked well for us and are fun for our great violists to play. Adding the bass and thickening the strings makes this bigger-than-life sound, even on a recording. This movement in particular has some of the greatest bass lines in music. Every bass player I know dreams of playing this kind of chamber music.
The Prokofiev quartet was like the Ravel in terms of my figuring out how to add the bass. Having played Prokofiev's quintet many times, as well as most of his orchestral works, I knew he liked having the top part and the bottom play in unison, most often the violin and the basses. This gave me a chance to turn one of the cello solos into a bass solo, making it a duet with the solo violin, which just happened to be the leader of that piece-- my wife, Maria. It also gave me an opportunity to double the first and second violins while the celli are doing some difficult and fast technical work. This really thickened the sound in a way that would be impossible in the original quartet version, and which is also difficult to detect unless you know the piece well.
2002
Our first year was a critical success in Seattle. We performed nine works that week, including the one I had the least confidence in working, the Ravel quartet. It was in fact a big hit with the musicians and audience alike. I attribute that success greatly to Jorja Fleezanis's leadership and solo playing. The Ravel is one of those pieces Jorja and I learned first together in high school (Interlochen). I wanted to do this quartet especially for the second movement, which has giant pizzicatos (the strings plucked), and for the last movement, which is so powerful.