LARK Quarte+

We're back!

2011-11-06T16:49:00.002-05:00

How did an entire year go by without a new blog? With almost two years now with Basia, the quartet feels like a great pair of comfortable jeans. The group sound is better than ever and the thought process is imaginative and satisfying.

We have a highly active couple of weeks coming up with rehearsals, concerts and a CD to record. Our guest artists for these two weeks (the guys who are the + in Lark Quarte+) are Gary Graffman (world famous pianist), Todd Palmer (clarinet) and Blair McMillen (piano). We're rehearsing and recording our all Jennifer Higdon CD. Higdon won the Pulitzer Prize in 2010 and maintains a full schedule of commissions and her music is known for its technical skill and audience appeal. She is one of America's most frequently performed composers.

At Thursday's rehearsal, we're excited that Jennifer will be there giving us some final tips and pointers about her compositions. This CD, to be released on Bridge Records, will include string quartet: “An Exaltation of Larks”; quintet for strings, clarinet and piano “Light Refracted”; and the Piano Quintet "Scenes from a Poet's Dream". We're also going to make a little video, so look out for that soon - we'll post on website and on our new kickstarter project.

Concerts are also keeping us busy. Friday the 11th Lark and Gary will be at the Rockefeller University, Saturday the 12th Lark and Gary will be performing in Danbury CT; and on the 20th, Lark will be in Rhinebeck, NY. Please join us. - KL

NEWS UPDATE!!!!

2010-10-11T19:15:00.000-04:00

LARK welcomes Basia Danilow to the quartet.

In spite of our recent grueling preparation for our tour to California, Basia is performing like a quartet veteran! Kathryn, Carrie, and I are so pleased to have her on board. (Check out Basia's bio at www.larkquartet.com)

LARK has begun planning our goals for the coming season which include a recording of the Jennifer Higdon Piano Quintet with pianist, Gary Graffman. We will record this in November 2011 along with two other works by Jennifer Higdon for an all Higdon CD to be released by Bridge Records. This project will be largely funded through a Copland Recording Grant.

On a cuter note, Carrie and her husband Andrew Waggoner, had a beautiful baby boy in June! Yes, another LARK baby--that makes a total of six "baby LARK's". As always, we hope you are all having a great Fall season and that this news makes you smile. - DB

Memories of a Premier

2010-05-12T22:51:00.002-04:00

On April 22nd, LARK and guest pianist Jeremy Denk performed at Merkin Hall. We played a little Jennifer Higdon, some Mendelssohn, Schumann, and premiered the Paul Moravec Piano Quintet. It is amazing to me that the concert was already two weeks ago! Our rehearsals going into this concert were quite intense and difficult. The Moravec proved to be well worth the work, but was certainly very challenging in the areas of rhythmic sense, and tonal balance. There was one bar in particular that was especially challenging--I actually had to resort to my Juilliard Ear-Training "Starer" clapping and "tahhing" technique in order to practice the rhythm AND had bad dreams about this bar for at least a week before the rehearsals! In the end, this bar could have been better in the concert, but was performed with all the effort and good intention possible! Next time we will nail it! I felt the Four Pieces for String Quartet by Mendelssohn got a good performance. I would love to try re-ordering them; just does not seem quite fulfilling to finish with the slow fugue. The Schumann was wonderful to play because it is simply gorgeous music that I will never get tired of humming. I do have this weird dream of snatching the viola out of the hands of my dear colleague, Kathryn and ripping into the luscious "C" string of the viola for the solo from the last part of the second movement....in a ridiculous way, of course. And now as I type this, this concert that seemed so huge in my mind has found its place inside of myself as a memory-It is such a privilege to get the opportunity to be challenged in a way that makes one look inward. I learned so much about the musician I am and hope to become. I am a better musician for having worked so hard, together with these wonderful musicians in order to perform this concert.
- DB

Expectations of a Premiere

2010-04-19T13:03:00.000-04:00

I've been wondering lately about the history of premieres, specifically why it is after hundreds of years, that we still hold the expectation that they may be the ultimate representation of a work. Audience, critics, and composer alike - whose reputation, or at least the reputation of the work, in some way always balances on this first public presentation, all await this moment of truth. But the truth in preparing any premiere is that while one can hope that the execution is clear and personal, any matured, honed or developed sense of the work by definition cannot be expected in a first performance. As performers, we all strive for this depth of
interpretation and dramatic arc, but we know in our heart of hearts that if the piece demands it, its nature can only be known over many performances, in an ongoing relationship.

One of the things that we talk a lot about in the LARK is continuing to represent the "older" commissions of the group. One example are Aaron Jay Kernis' String Quartets No. 1 and No. 2, "Musica Celistis" and "Musica Instrumentalis", the latter of which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998. It has been a number of years since the LARK has programmed these works, and we believe that in commissioning a work, we have a responsibility beyond the premiere to continue to represent these works in performance, especially if they are works we love. Otherwise, there is a risk that all the public hears are first performances, and though they may be strong, even captivating given the best of interpreters, any piece that is worth it's salt has a lot more to offer the players, and in turn there is a lot more that the players can then offer the piece, and the audience.

So as we embark on our last two concerts of the 2009-10 season, April 22nd at Merkin in New York and May 2nd at Stanford, we will present two brand new works, a piano Quintet by Paul Moravec with Jeremy Denk and a song cylce by William Bolcom with Stephen Salters, and hope and plan that these will be the first of many lives for these works, and that we will continue to bring more to them in each opportunity we have to explore them in performance.

Who's in the Lark Quartet these days?

2010-03-24T11:03:00.004-04:00

We know some of you out there may be a bit confused about the Lark Quartet and who we are and what we're doing. Following are some of the questions we've been answering. . .

"Are you still a quartet?"
"What's this Chamber Artists?"
"Are there men in the quartet now?"
"Are all of you involved in each concert?"

So where do I start?

1. Members: Deborah Buck on 1st violin (Debbie and I joined the same year in 2003), Basia Danilow on 2nd violin, me (Kathryn Lockwood) on viola and Caroline Stinson on cello.

2. Of course we're still a quartet. We just love to collaborate and offer programs with artists that we work with on a regular basis.

3. The men in the photos: Yousif Sheronick on percussion, Stephen Salters on Baritone and Todd Palmer on Clarinet. They're fabulous musicians. And no - we don't all play/sing each concert. We have different programs for each collaborator.

4. Lark Chamber Artists: this was a name we tried out for a couple of years, but it was hard to shake the 25 year old name "The Lark Quartet" - hence our return to Lark Quartet. BUT thanks to our terrific board member Arthur Lubow, we now have a new logo:

So that's who's in the Lark Quartet these days.

-KL