Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #387611 in Books
• Published on: 1987-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 247 pages

From Publishers Weekly
These intelligent conversations will be greeted enthusiastically not only by string players and serious musicians but also by advanced listeners. A musicologist and conductor, Blum knows from experience what crucial questions to ask about the medium and its practice. The members of the Guarneri Quartet discuss their backgrounds, training, cooperative efforts, problems with specific repertoire, and reactions to composers and conductors, as well as such detailed matters as bowing, intonation, vibrato, pizzicato, dynamics and the use of the left hand. Enhanced by hundreds of music examples and a detailed analysis of Beethoven's Opus 131, this is arguably the best book on the subject and one of the most important books on music issued in recent years. Performing Arts Book Club selection.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In a series of lively discussions, intelligible to any music lover who ever played a stringed instrument, members of the Guarneri Quartet not only reveal the close ties that exist between players who have worked together for over 20 years but, on a more sophisticated level, provide an undogmatic blueprint for studying and rehearsing string quartets, complete with musical examples. The book's final pages explore, measure by measure, the Quartet's approach to practicing Beethoven's Opus 131. Repertoire is discussed superficially; choice of editions and performing styles of different eras are not discussed at all. Nevertheless, amateur to professional chamber musicians will find this book invaluable, especially since there are virtually no others on the subject. Recommended for music libraries. Performing Arts Book Club selection. Philippa Kiraly, Cleveland
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

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.

By string players, For string players
This is a highly technical exploration of the string quartet, compliments of the Guarneri String Quartet and their interviewer, the late David Blum (who died in 1998 and is not to be confused with the former editor of The Village Voice and The New York Press). If you are not a violinist, violist, or cellist, or aspiring to be, this book will be of only marginal interest -- unless you just really love this repertoire and want to know more about how these talented people make such glorious sounds guided by a few lines, letters and flyspecks on a printed page.

Blum, himself a violinist, conductor, and composer, did a series of interviews in the mid-1980s with the Guarneri Quartet members -- violinists Arnold Steinhardt and John Dalley, violist Michael Tree, and cellist David Soyer -- and presents them here in the form of extended, topical conversations. The first half of the book deals mainly with the issues of bowing, fingering, tuning, and other technical details that non-string players will likely find a bit boring. (The book includes dozens of musical examples, as well as a decent glossary that explains many of the technical terms.) But for the persistent reader and music lover, there are more personal insights from the musicians about their training and the other artists who influenced them. Blum also includes a section of comments on the string quartet repertoire that, as one who is primarily a listener, I wish had been more comprehensive.

The book concludes with an exhaustive analysis, from the performer's viewpoint, of Beethoven's Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op.131 (again, with several excerpts from the score). Again, the technical aspects of performing this work aren't going to be of much interest to the non-playing reader. (I attempted to listen to the Guarneri's recording of this quartet while following along in the book, but it's almost impossible to keep up without the full score.)

For those of us who are not string players, Steinhardt's INDIVISIBLE BY FOUR and Helen Ruttencutter's QUARTET are good starting places for information about the Guarneri Quartet and their influence on modern chamber musicians. Steinhardt's personal account is especially enjoyable (and probably easier to find). Blum's book will be of less interest to all but the most ardent of chamber-music listeners -- but for string players who aspire to play these works, Blum's book is a must.

Note: This review is based on the original hardcover edition, published by Knopf.

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