7080.american ensemble 1/28/08 3:44 PM Page 14 AmericanEnsemble The Orion String Quartet Ch-ch-ch- The program was What happens when a husband release presents Peter Schickele interviewing Libby the same. So, for The Family and wife, both musicians, want Larsen, Gian Carlo Menotti and Joan Tower. changes the most part, was Business to play together, but can’t find “We do feel a sense of history,” says Verdehr. the personnel. But the repertoire? Simple—they “Wouldn’t it have been wonderful to have a recording the quartet was grow their own. That in brief of Beethoven’s works by the groups that first played different. In 1989, is the history of the Verdehr them? We take it as our job to do these works in the the Orion String Quartet made its New Trio, the violin-clarinet-piano composer’s sense, and capture the character of the piece.” York debut at the 92nd Street Y, playing ensemble that for over three decades has allowed Walter Not only has the Verdehrs’ repertory been picked up Haydn, Mendelssohn and Bartók. On Verdehr and Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr to combine marriage by chamber collectives like Chamber Music Society of October 25, to celebrate its 20th season, with music-making. Lincoln Center, but its example has established the the quartet returned to the Y with the When Walter (violin) and Elsa (clarinet) first formed clarinet-violin-piano trio as an ensemble configuration. exact same program—but a radically the trio with pianist Gary Kirkpatrick in the early ’70s, Groups like the University of Montana’s Sapphire Trio changed attitude. they were confronted by a dauntingly small supply of and the Prima Trio from Oberlin—grand prize winner “Our feeling as a group is very different music to play—one great piece by Bartók (Contrasts) of the 2007 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition— after twenty seasons,” said violinist Todd and a handful of 18th- and 19th-century works of have sprung up in emulation of the Verdehr Trio. Phillips a few weeks before the concert. dubious authenticity. In its early years, the Verdehr “When we started the trio, we thought ‘Wouldn’t it (Phillips and his brother Daniel share the Trio filled in the gaps with transcriptions of works be great to start a repertoire—to make a literature like Orion’s violin duties.) “Part of it is the ranging from Mozart four-hand piano sonatas to the string quartet or piano trio?’” says Verdehr. “It has familiarity of playing with the same people Tchaikovsky ballet scores. But there was no question turned out to be our life’s work.” all this time. But when you come back to that the fare was meager, hardly substantial enough to www.verdehr.com these pieces, there’s always a deeper level sustain a thriving ensemble. of what we’re able to communicate.” The natural solution was to start commissioning. As the years have gone by, the purely Early on, Jere Hutcheson, a colleague of the Verdehrs’ technical aspects of playing have inevitably at Michigan State University, wrote two pieces for the become less of a hurdle, allowing the trio. Soon, the trio got support for its commissions from quartet—whose non-Phillips members better, so we immediately play it again. ounce of your concentration and every the university, and eventually the Library of Congress. are violist Steven Tenenbom and cellist This is where taking things for granted ounce of your musical depth. You never Its first works from “outside” were by Karl Husa and Timothy Eddy—to focus more deeply on helps—we don’t have to talk about every feel like you’ve quite gotten it—it always Leslie Bassett; in the years since, the trio has commis- interpretation. “One is always concerned single thing. You can talk about things feels like the carrot in front of the horse.” sioned pieces from some of the most celebrated com- with making sure that everything is pre- until you’re blue in the face, but if you Beethoven didn’t figure in the 92nd posers of recent decades, ranging from David Diamond sentable and respectable,” says Phillips. can’t produce them, you haven’t gotten Street Y program, but his influence was to Bright Sheng, from Gunther Schuller to Augusta “But the advantage now is that we can take anywhere.” nonetheless felt. In her rave New York Read Thomas, from Ned Rorem to Jennifer Higdon. certain things for granted—and dig deeper Phillips cites an immersion in Beethoven Times review of the concert, Vivien Aside from its prestige, the list of commissions is into what we’re exploring at the time.” as a key element in the group’s develop- Schweitzer cited the “Beethovenian notable for its eclecticism. “I’ve felt from the beginning In rehearsal, the Orions probe into the ment. (The quartet has played numerous pathos” of the Orion’s reading of the that we should make sure there’s a wide variety of styles music partly through discussion, and Beethoven cycles and is in the midst of Mendelssohn Quartet No. 2 in A minor. involved,” says Walter Verdehr. “There are so many partly through the kind of nonverbal recording the quartets for Koch Inter- “As we keep looking at these pieces, we fashions in music. Something’s that popular today communication that develops when national Classics.) “Beethoven more than find different kinds of insights—that may not have been popular twenty or thirty years ago. musicians have been working together anybody is uncompromisingly devoted might change next week,” says Phillips. So we’ve commissioned different styles of interesting for nearly two decades. “We joke that our to making the most profound musical “It’s a continuing process, and the concert music, from the avant-garde to the opposite.” great sophisticated rehearsal technique is statements,” he says. “The challenge of is sort of a snapshot. We still feel like Three decades after its first commission, the trio— to play something twice,” Phillips says. trying to realize that, trying to get it in we’re on a journey.” which now includes Silvia Roederer on piano—sits The Verdehr Trio: Elsa Ludwig-Verdehr, “The first time around we have a lot of your playing, influences your style. There’s www.orionquartet.com atop a repertoire of some 200 works, predominantly of Walter Verdehr, and Silvia Roederer ideas about things that could have been no room for show. It demands every its own making. The ensemble has been documenting this achievement in a series of CDs on Crystal Records titled that now numbers 17 releases. It has also embarked on a related DVD project that mixes videos of performances with composer interviews; a recent 14 february 2008 15 7080.american ensemble 1/28/08 3:45 PM Page 16 AmericanEnsemble Partners Perhaps the collaboration was inevitable. Robert Dick has Cellist Laura Sewell has joined the St. Paul-based Artaria String worked throughout his career to Quartet. Sewell, founding cellist of the Lark Quartet, appears regu- expand the possibilities of flute larly with the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota and chairs playing; his invention of the Chamber Music America’s board of directors. “Glissando Headjoint” brings the “whammy bar” effects of an electric guitar to the flute. Ursel Schlicht Musical America has named Chanticleer ensemble of the year. melds a formidable pianistic technique with a ded- The San Francisco-based male classical vocal ensemble is now in its ication to experimentation and pitch bending, thirtieth season. using a range of glass instruments placed inside the piano’s lower strings to create new, unexpected har- Leonard Matczynski is the new artistic/executive director of Apple monics. The two have been working together for Hill Center for Chamber Music in New Hampshire. A violist with the past four years, creating music that is complex, a thirty-year career in the performing arts, he was most recently the sometimes sensuous, sometimes astringent and administrative director of Emmanuel Music in Boston. always intriguing. “We have a virtually telepathic musical partnership,” says Dick. (Their partnership The Chamber Music Society of Detroit announced that the winner has its personal aspect, as well: The two musicians of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award is the Robert Dick and live together in Brooklyn and have an infant child.) but the actual creation of the duo’s music is a little Ursel Schlicht ATOS Trio. Formed in 2003, the trio—Thomas Hoppe, piano; “We complement each other very well,” says more complicated than those attributions might Annette von Hehn, violin; and Stefan Heinemeyer, cello—is based in Schlicht. “We like to use textures and elements imply. “The newer material was conceptualized for Berlin. that are not like the straight-ahead classical or jazz the sonic possibilities of this particular configuration,” vocabulary. We both like to strive for new things.” says Schlicht. “There are things that I could not Bard College Conservatory, in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, has As in any successful teaming, the process has have written for any other project.” opened a preparatory division, which includes both individual been enlightening for both partners. “We’ve taught The duo’s music mixes composed and improvised instruction and chamber music coaching, for ages 5–18. each other a lot about clarity of structure,” says elements. But Dick points out that even the composed Dick. I think Ursel has taught me more about the music often bears scant resemblance to traditional The international arts service organization CEC ArtsLink has harmonic implications of various modes, and I’ve notation: The score for his piece “Tendrils” is a appointed Fritzie Brown as its executive director, succeeding Michael SEGUES taught her more about making a vivid coloristic and “structural road map” for performance, with notations Brainard.