The Cycle of Life

Violinist Simin Ganatra of the Pacifica String Quartet recalls the first time the ensemble considered performing Elliott Carter's demanding quartets, modern works that span 45 years in the life of the composer. "We were sitting around at a rehearsal five years ago talking about pieces of music that we really liked and Carter's First Quartet came up," says Ganatra, during a phone interview from an Iowa City hotel room. "We started thinking about whether there was any single human emotion that was not represented in this piece, and we couldn't come up with any. It's just so vast!"

In November, and with the 93-year-old composer in attendance, the Pacifica enthralled an audience at the Miller Theatre in New York City with a performance of all five Carter quartets (the first in a series of similar concerts that brings the Pacifica to UCLA in March). "These works loomed as imposing monuments to the most cerebral strand of 20th-century music . . . [and were] considered too intimidating for mainstream audiences," the New York Times opined after the Miller Theatre concert.

"That these dynamic players, who got together on the West Coast in 1994, played more than two hours of the most difficult music ever conceived with such technical assurance and keen musicianship was impressive enough. But they did more, bringing out the music's volatile emotions, delicacy, and even, in places, plucky humor."

The rave review capped a big year for the ensemble. A few months ago, the Pacifica received the Cleveland Quartet Award, a legacy prize recognizing talented young quartets and named for the famed Cleveland Quartet (which disbanded in 1995). The award consists of a 2003–04 concert series that mirrors the Cleveland Quartet's final tour. More recently, the Pacifica—which already holds a residency at the University of Chicago and also teaches at Northwestern University—has been named the resident quartet of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society II from 2003–05. And in November, the Pacifica started an ambitious three-month project recording all of Mendelssohn's quartets for a series of CDs destined for release in the fall of 2003.

Meanwhile, the Carter cycle is still a big part of their lives. "Carter's music really is about the human experience, and even more than that, he expresses musically how we arrive at those emotions and those ideas," says Ganatra, adding that learning the first Carter quartet three years ago changed the way the Pacifica approaches music of all kinds. "We knew there was so much emotional content in the music but because of the complexities our initial reaction was to focus on the details. Now whenever we come across anything that is this complex we immediately go right for the musical aspect behind it.

"It's been a great experience."

—Greg Cahill

Photo above: Pacifica String Quartet members Masumi Rostad, Simin Ganatra, Brandon Varnos, and Sibbi Bernhadsson by Robin Holland.

4+4=1

Thanks to the generosity of philanthropist Mark Furth, a biochemical researcher and amateur string player, members of the Miró Quartet now own a matched set of contemporary instruments crafted by award-winning French luthier Frank Ravatin. The instruments (two violins, a viola, and a cello) were all cut from the same wood, offering what the Miró describes as "a unique, integrated string quartet sound."

Furth first heard the Miró two years ago at a chamber music workshop in California and was duly impressed. The new instruments took a bow on November 17 at the Fletcher Opera Theatre in Raleigh, North Carolina, with Furth and Ravatin (who had not yet heard the instruments together) in the audience. "I was blown away by the Miró—by their playing and their personalities, the kind of people they were, and [the musicians at the workshop] came to a consensus that Miró has the potential to become one of the great quartets of the next generation," Furth notes. "I felt that their [previous] instruments didn't match their level of playing. After meeting and getting to know them, we all decided together that obtaining new instruments for the group was the next step."

Miró Quartet violinist Sandy Yamamoto adds: "It is quite rare to have a matched set of instruments. Generally in a quartet rehearsal you spend a lot of time trying to make very different instruments and players sound 'matched' or more alike. This matched Ravatin set means that suddenly we are all more in the same place, and can spend more time making things contrast or complement, and focus on hearing our individual voices within the group."

Shock of the New

It's not unusual to see students staging a campus protest, but it’s not every day that you see one posting a sign that reads: Equal Rights for Violas. The recent decision by the Butler University administration not to renew the contract of renowned violist-in-residence Csaba Erdélyi has spurred Butler students to line the hallways of Lilly Hall with posters in support of the educator. Also, notable string performers and colleagues have sent numerous letters asking the administration to reconsider its decision not to rehire the artist, who will be replaced at the end of the semester by an adjunct instructor.

According to Jordan College of Fine Arts dean Peter Alexander, the decision not to rehire Erdélyi was based on poor evaluations, the need to curb costs, and a desire to reassign assets within the music department. Erdélyi has served on the Butler string faculty since 1998, renewing his contract on a year-to-year basis with the expectation that he would become a tenured professor. "[Erdélyi] never was on the tenure track," says Alexander. "We at Butler believe that we have been very fair in making these decisions and that they were based on a variety of . . . considerations that were unavoidable. I do not believe for a minute that we will hurt the quality of the viola instruction here by the action that we have taken."

During Erdélyi's stay at Butler, the viola program has doubled to include 12 viola majors and two secondary players.

Meanwhile, members of the school’s string faculty as well as JCFA music department head Daniel P. Bolin have voiced their support of Erdélyi. "Professor Erdélyi is a truly gifted teacher, both in his applied studio work and in the classroom," Bolin wrote in a letter to Butler administrators. "He exhibits the characteristics one would ask for in a master teacher.