When an international string quartet breaks down
mainSeven months I went backstage in the interval of Wigmore Hall concert to say hello to the Artemis Quartet.
I have never known a colder green room. It was mid-February and the heating was full on, but the atmosphere was frigid.
The four players were ranged two on either side of the room. There was no conversation. They were looking at their phones, or t the walls. You did not need to be Sigmund Freud to recognise that this was a group in an advanced stage of human disarray.
On stage that night, the playing was outstanding: energetic, engaged, challenging. Backstage, it was a frost.
So today’s news that the quartet is breaking up comes as no surprise. It must be a relief to the players.
Fifty-fifty splits are rare in string quartets. Usually it’s one member who leaves, or all four who decide to call it quits. With the Artemis, clearly, it has been a breach down the middle that they were unable to address, let alone repair.
Let’s hope they remember the happy times.
That’s quite a claim.
I’m rather surprised that after your many years in business, you didn’ t know that the interval is not the time to go backstage! Artists have other matters on their minds than having to cope with journalists!
+100 SD is not a blog notable for modesty, but this post is a piece of hubristic impertinence.
Really, you should have gone to say hello afterwards
Rather tactless given that Anthea K is one of SD’s most distinguished contributors
Never go to speak to musicians in the interval! Especially in a wigmore… it’s a real intrusion… and then to write like this about it is tawdry… No doubt all the players have been struggling with this decision and none of them have taken it lightly. They are/were an amazing Quartet and incredible musicians who have been through a lot to have made it this far… its quite disrespectful that you would think an article like this would be well received… I just hope that all of them will go on to great things in their post Quartet careers.
Just listening to their Schubert G major….Simply stunning. Our loss….
Hello all,
Anthea here. All is well – we just got out of a 4 hour rehearsal – working on Bartok and the magnificent Brahms 51/2. We are excited for the season ahead, and we all wish each other great happiness and success on the road ahead. The Artemis will continue with two new members, and you can be sure that I will come to the concerts as their #1 fan, as I have been for over 20 years. Go Artemis!!!! I hope to see you there!
+1
So very happy to have heard the Artemis in Cincinnati. Wishing all four the best as they realign next season. And to Anthea Kreston’s comment, +1 and then some!
Very generous and gracious
I hope you will continue your essays, either here or elsewhere.
I sometimes find it difficult to tell the difference between this blog and Donald Trump’s Twitter feed.
Am I alone in this?
No, I’m with you, I couldn’t help noticing that the Donald has shown an unusual concern for string quartets in recent weeks.
100+
I couldn’t help but wonder about this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus
A contemporary take – and one which has occupied my thoughts when replacing moving parts – is The Bicycle of Theseus. I tell myself that as long as the frame remains the same, then it is the original object.
Or…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAh8HryVaeY
Fabulous, thanks.
Also known as “Triggers new broom”.
Actually, we have no problem with the New York Philharmonic being the same entity as when Bernstein conducted it, despite the players having all changed….
They see each other for hours at a time outside the concert hall.
What could they possibly have to catch up with each other during intermission?
That’s one way to think. Personally, at the break I like, and sometimes need, quiet time.
Personally, I hate company of any description when I’m in the midst of a performance.
Being left to quietly think about how to perform the next piece during the interval, I would have thought, it the best way to spend the interval. I know when I am just about to perform in public, the last thing I want is to chat to people, I need a few quiet moments.
Normal Lebrecht, you are a are a disgrace to your profession. Shame on you!
Am I the only person to wonder why SD has had me reading fey effusions from Anthea Kreston month after month, when she could have been reporting rather more serious business?
Nobody “had you reading” anything!
From my friendships with musicians I would know to never think of going to the green room in the interval.
This post is yet another manifestation of the author’s penchant for self-aggrandisement. The only new information it reveals is that he is so self-important and rash that he thinks nothing of barging into a green room halfway through a performance.
As the comments above mine show, this hatchet job is fooling nobody.
Interesting interpretation of the situation walk in to green room during concert interval, icy cold reception, no one speaks, conclusion: theis must be directed at each other.
indeed ! more likely to have been directed at the intruder!