Finding Comfort in the Quartet

by Debbie Buck 

"performances have provided a creative 
distraction from a rather worrying time in my life."

It has been an especially pleasurable beginning to the Lark Quartet’s fall season of rehearsals and concerts. This time around, what strikes me as a very different experience, is that this past six weeks of rehearsals and performances have provided me with a creative distraction from a rather worrying time in my life. (I have had close family challenged by health issues.) Whether it has been our slow and careful tuning for intonation, or ideas shared about color, character, and blend, the string quartet rehearsal process continues to allure me. It may be a tad funny to admit that there is nothing I find more challenging than string quartet work. In such a constructive and gratifying way, the ensemble challenges have whisked my mind off to a very creative and focused place for many hours of the day.

The Lark Quartet with fan Clint Macgowan 
at the Heritage Concert.

At our first concert of the season at the Heritage Village Concert Society series in Connecticut, we performed for the first time Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 20/2. I cannot recollect another performance where I felt in such a true way, the sensation of being both an engaged participant as well as audience member. I believe that my realization of what the quartet experience was actually doing for me, made me much more aware of being in the now. This is something I hope I will remember for years to come. Being present in the moment despite our life issues is a valuable goal!

Maybe the bottom line here is that I feel lucky and grateful for my experience in this quartet. I know over the years it will continue to serve as a beautiful way to spend my life, especially with such fabulous women: Kathryn, Carrie, and Basia.

Deborah Buck - Violinist of the Lark String Quartet

Re-entry After a Summer Afternoon

Taken by Basia in Vermont

by Basia Danilow

“Summer afternoon – summer afternoon; to me these have always been the two most beautiful words in
the English language.”

- Henry James 

“Re-entry” is my word of choice to describe delving into fall and the concert season ahead. Although summer is full of wonderful music, it does take us out of our routine, often to some beautiful places where we can enjoy a more relaxed atmosphere. We are able to spend unhurried time with family and friends and somehow, there seem to be more hours in the day. Certainly, more daylight hours!

Though the Lark Quartet spends a huge amount of time together, during the summer we also spend time apart, performing, directing and teaching at our various festivals. This allows a great opportunity to connect with other colleagues and have different musical experiences. These opportunities help to generate new ideas, refresh, and re-energize. It also has the wonderful side-effect of renewing my already great respect and appreciation for my Lark Quartet colleagues.

A relaxed, refreshed, re-energized and renewed "re-entry". These are all good things as we ease ourselves, and our families, back into familiar routines, plunging into rehearsal and preparation for a busy, exciting concert season ahead!

Basia Danilow - Violinist of the Lark String Quartet

Upcoming Concert
7:30pm Sunday
September 21st, 2014
Heritage Village Concert Series
Southbury, CT
View the full Lark Quartet Concert Calendar

My Summer Love Affair with Brahms

by Kathryn Lockwood

There are moments when I'm playing Brahms that I feel my toes curling with a delicious sensation of pleasure. Does that sound too racy for a blog? Perhaps it is, but isn't that the response music elicits in you? There are scientific studies proving the affects of music for helping reduce pain and anxiety, lower blood pressure and stress levels, and studies to prove that music can heighten and arouse emotions. 

For me, really good music elicits excited and pleasurable responses and keeps us coming back for more. This is why when the voices of doom say that classical music is dying, I think they are wrong. When audiences are exposed to great music and have the chance to become familiar with it, they're hooked. 

Johannes Brahms

The German composer Johannes Brahms who lived from 1833-87, the composer who was such a perfectionist that he would destroy some of his writings and left others unpublished, the man who never married, and the man that I suspect I wouldn't particularly like if I'd ever had a chance to meet him, is my current summer beau.

When I'm playing his music, I feel a huge amount of admiration and awe. The way the he crafts his music is truly amazing and takes us on an emotional journey of happiness, passion, grandeur, sadness and despair. 

This past May, I was lucky enough to perform the Brahms Viola Quintet in G Major with my Lark colleagues and Toby Appel, and it reawakened my love for the great romantic composer. 

Take this example of a personal "toe curling" moment:

Excerpt from Brahms' Viola Quintet in G Major.

At the piano espressivo, a gorgeous rising line of anticipation begins and we feel fully gratified at the release and the subsequent forte - this is where the toes curl!!!  Ahhhhhh...

Then there are the other precious moments that one can practice and play over and over again, never growing tired of trying new ideas in an effort to fully honor the writing. Take the opening of the second movement.  Big yum.

Excerpt from Brahms' Viola Quintet in G Major.

My next delicious Brahms experience is his B-flat major sextet that I play for a festival in Australia. Life is good.  

Kathryn Lockwood - Violist of the Lark String Quartet