#20: Fragmentation
Section 2: Antonin Dvořák – String Quartet Op.51, ii: Dumka
If descriptions of the Czech Quartet have conventionally stressed an interventionist quality, that is likely a result of the sense that their instincts for characterisation often seem to override’ literal execution of notated details. In the early phases of our work we followed this broadly accepted ‘moment-to-moment’ paradigm, and worked hard to imbue local gestures with character in a comparatively more ‘active’ way. But it quickly became apparent that the more we did so, the more fragmented the progress of the music became. It was as if this enthusiasm to characterise had led to ‘musical ideas’ being excessively overlaid, and with a certain selfconsciousness, and the feeling of imposition. This may have been because ‘they’ were too explicit, and confined mostly to individual imaginative enthusiasm. As a result, our gestures felt insufficiently entwined with context – both of what had come before, and what was going on in the same moment in the other voices.
As in Suk’s Meditation, in the Dumka of Op.51 their ability to work those local characters into effective continuities was far more recognisable in copying than it had been in listening. It was true that individual moments are rarely played ‘passively’, and their sharply profiled rhythmic sense was clearly important in that aim. Yet at no point does this concern for local nuance sacrifice the continuous logic of the music’s unfolding. This may be related to the fact that they rarely paused to admire their imaginative handiwork, as we saw in #12. In response, we began to search for a disposition towards local variation that was more distributed among the group. This is best described informally: as “playing in a way that makes others do exactly what you want them to do, but without them realising; while also remaining open to being influenced yourself”. As will become clear, adapting this familiar concept to such a different set of conventions was no simple task.
