Product Description

This DVd offers coaches and players techniques that will help them play better - and music lovers will understand the language of chamber music better. Gillian Rogell hosts the video as she and the Jupiter Quartet coach student and amateur groups, with commentary by Paul Katz, founding cellist of the Cleveland Quartet. Bonus features include a performance of the 1st movement of the Brahms Sextet in G major with the Jupiter Quartet, Paul Katz, and Barry Shiffman, viola, and an extensive conversation about chamber music with Paul Katz.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #90695 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-10-02
• Format: NTSC
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 93 minutes

Review
Anyone interested in chamber music could benefit from this very attractive DVD. --Menahem Pressler, Beaux Arts Trio

Review
Imagine seeing amateur groups make enormous technical improvements without one single word about bowing, fingering, or other technical issues from the coaches! Gillian Rogell (Va, Brookline, MA) believes that technical improvement will follow if each player loses individual self-consciousness and becomes one with the group through four basic ideas: learning to create a group sound, learning to connect with each other visually (without fear of losing their place in the music), talking about the character of the music, and finally learning to feel the music as one entity. We watch a young string quartet internalize the melody of Beethoven's Op 18 #4 so that the other voices can respond without rigid counting. Amazingly, learning this technique actually improves the rhythm of the group as a whole. Next, a high school quartet works through the Adagio opening of Shostakovich String Quartet #8. Coaching by members of the Jupiter Quartet helps them to reach the deeper meaning of the music. An especially illuminating comparison to Tai Chi enables players to hand off seamless entrances to each other with no technical discussions of bowing. Equally fascinating is the way the Jupiter explores the emotional meaning of something as simple as an eighth note rest, and the immediate effect that this has on the playing of the students. In the adult trio (which includes Chair Roberta Goldman), the group explores the difficulty of settling on a comfortable tempo and learning to feel the long rests by breathing together as a group in the Adagio of Beethoven'sTrio #1. Woven throughout, a performance of the Brahms Sextet, Op 36, by the Jupiter Quartet with guests Barry Shiffman and Paul Katz, helps the viewer realize how visual communication, coordinated body language, and even the unified breathing that make a superb professional performance can be mastered by amateurs so that groups of any level can learn to dissolve the boundaries of self into the whole of the music. This video is great to watch at many levels: as a professional seeking to learn coaching techniques; as a group learning good ensemble techniques; or simply as a listener gaining greater appreciation of what is going on during a performance. --ACMP Newsletter

Review
It conveys the deepest concepts, issues, and solutions in the clearest and most supportive ways, and to every level of player,making this a truly ground-breaking effort. --Marcus Thompson, Boston Chamber Music Society, violist

Customer Reviews

charming and inspiring
What a charming breath of fresh air! I knew nothing about the inner dynamics of chamber music ensembles before I watched this DVD, and now I want to join one! Gillian Rogell is a wonderful teacher -- poised, supportive, chock full of knowledge, and always full of good humor. Her capacity to be moved by the music is infectious. A superb glimpse into the world of chamber music, whether you're a newbie or a vet.