Quartet Playing, Art of

by David Blum

Book Overview

How do four instrumentalists with strong individual tastes and temperaments manage to forge a distinctive approach to the music they play? This extraordinary book ushers readers into the workshop of one of the world's most accomplished string quartets. In rich and probing conversations with their longtime friend and musicologist and conductor David Blum, the members of the Guarneri String Quartet, both individually as a group, tell what it is like...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394539850
• ISBN13: 9780394539850
• Release Date: June 1986
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 247 Pages
• Weight: 1.38 lbs.

Customer Reviews

music inside scoop

Fascinating look into the specifics of how a string quartet actually works. Lots of inside information.

thank you very much for prompt & smart sending

The book which I received was like a new book. I was satisfied with the shopping. Thank you very much.

An amazing quartet with lots to say!

My first encounter with the Guarneri String Quartet was in reading Arnold Steinhardt's book, *Indivisible by Four*. There, I gained an understanding and fascination for the relationships within the quartet and the overall amazing professional and musical workings of a well-established chamber group. This fascination led my to seek out *The Art of Quartet Playing*. In this book, David Blum and the Guarneri quartet explore various technical aspects of quartet playing and string playing in general. Many of the ideas for rehearsal and performance techniques presented by the quartet (on topics including the decisions as to which players should give cues and when) provide useful advice for quartets of all levels. While mere descriptions of quartet techniques could tend to get old fast, the quartet members' witty and satirical comments, often coming out of nowhere, keep the reading entertaining as well as informative. This book ends with a journey through the score of Beethoven's Opus 131 quartet, guided by the explanations of the people who know it best, the musicians who play it. I recommend this book to anyone who loves string quartets, playing them or listening to them. While it may not take hold of the imagination as fully as *Indivisible by Four*, there is much to be learned and enjoyed in these conversations between David Blum and the Guarneri String Quartet.