#3: Rehearsing without concrete decisions

Section 1: Josef Suk – Meditation on an Old Czech Hymn ‘St Wenceslas’ Op.35a

It was relatively straightforward for us to undermine the de facto association of synchronisation with ‘togetherness’, especially after extensive listening to the Czech Quartet. But it was a very different proposition to achieve this effectively as a group, and in a way that approximated the distinctive manner of the early recorded style. We needed to develop some techniques that would help us to develop this very unusual sensitivity.

One approach was borrowed directly from our normal rehearsal process. Playing at a slow speed, and without any sense of extrinsic tempo, each player adopts an almost pictorial disposition, ‘showing’ and ‘receiving’ imaginative intention in a way that always remains grounded in the feel of particular harmonies. Proceeding slowly allows one to experience a great density of information and sensation, such that a more ‘open’ sense of expressive possibility takes the place of specific decision-making. We thought of the distinction as between ‘witnessing the landscape go by’ and ‘being able to stop in it’. It is crucial that this process avoids verbal description: all of the ‘showing’ happens in the sound itself, starting with modulation of intensity in the bow. Throughout, this proved to be a useful tool for scouting musical sense and grammar, but without imposing limits through explicit language.