(Playing Beethoven String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op.131)
(applause)
SMIRNOFF: Okay.
Beautifully played.
Such wonderful instrumentalists.
And I know they're going to have a wonderful career.
And how long have you guys been together now?
This is...
STUDENT: Now about four years?
SMIRNOFF: Great. Okay.
Now, before you came out...
I actually said something to the audience, which I think is very relevant to the challenge
for you people to play this piece.
And the question is: How do you, as a young quartet, play one of the last pieces of Beethoven?
He's not an old man, obviously, because he didn't live past his mid-50s.
He was around 50 years old.
So what is the real challenge?
What is it that he might have said about your performance?
And as a set of variations, he writes some of his most amorous music -- loving music,
really -- in the variations, as he gets older.
The slow movement of the 9th Symphony is a wonderful set of variations, and a great kind
of universal love statement.
As is this one.
So what's the...
How do you do that?
How do you sound older?
Is the question.
What do you need to do?
It's not so complicated, actually.
STUDENT: Make believe?
SMIRNOFF: What is it?
Make believe?
Okay.
Yeah.
What's gonna do it for you?
STUDENT: It's just trying to, as much as possible, understand the life experiences he went through?
And where he was coming from?
Which is, personally, for me, very difficult, because I have not been through half of what...
Or even...
SMIRNOFF: You guys are so complicated.
It's much simpler than that.
It's too fast.
You know?
Of course, there were conductors -- Toscanini was the most famous one -- who as they got
older got faster.
But the question is: This piece especially -- which of course starts with his greatest
fugue -- you know, is an attempt sometimes to make time stop.
And so there needs to be time for the audience to reflect.
On what you're doing.
And so the adagio, in 6/8, I thought, was especially fast, considering that it's supposed
to be an adagio.
You know?
And the andante moderato, too.
And the question -- this brings up another question, which is: The feeling of pulse.
The feeling of a heartbeat, always behind the music.
Even when you're playing lyrical music.
So the andante moderato, I felt...
Yan da-dee...
So the ability to hold back to some extent will depend on how much pulse you actually
can feel and share as a group.
Even though we're not gonna hear it necessarily when we're playing a beautiful legato.
But the legato needs -- it's as though you're putting a tent over tent poles.
You need a support mechanism that lets you know -- and you have to think of the notes
as durations within a pulse.
And this is really very important.
And this was -- you know, Robert Mann, who all of us grew up listening to -- many of
us who played in the Juilliard Quartet -- was so pulse-driven.
Have you played for him?
Because he still coaches a little bit.
Yeah.
He's still ticking.
And, you know, what we learned -- and he was a big foot tapper.
He used to have to put pillows under his feet during recording sessions.
But the idea that composers are pulse-driven in a big way.
Okay?
So what should we do?
You wanna play from the beginning a little bit?
Okay.
From the...
Where we started.
And...
The philosophy of the Juilliard Quartet was always...
Has anyone talked to you about the philosophy of the Juilliard Quartet, particularly?
Do you know anything about it?
Anybody ever say anything to you?
STUDENT: Does it have to do with old music and new music?
SMIRNOFF: Well, yeah, there's that philosophy.
But I must tell you that the philosophy is a very interesting one.
Because the Quartet is a kind of a societal symbol, in a way.
And quartets...
What's so wonderful about quartets, and what's so wonderful about chamber music is it reconciles
personal freedom and the common good.
The great political quandary of all time.
Which has troubled humanity and caused wars and ideological conflict forever.
We're able to kind of show how it can be done.
As chamber musicians.
So...
The Juilliard Quartet's idea was that the personal freedom is actually the most important
thing.
Meaning the individuality of the lines.
And it was the aim of the Juilliard Quartet to always have the voices heard separately.
In a manner.
So when I went out to look for an instrument, they said -- we don't care.
When I was buying an instrument.
Just get something that's your voice.
So when you're trading -- Dum-dee -- you should sound as different as possible.
Yeah?
And when you're playing Daradumdumdee...
Papapapa...
We want to hear each very individual character.
Okay?
Give it a try.
And now...
But I want you to...
You know, choose your pulse and subdivide it always as though you're playing with the
metronome.
This is what we all do.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Yeah.
Already, I think too fast.
Make sure you -- Yadadimdamdim.
And let there be a space between them.
So the audience is in shock.
You know why.
There has been no rest in this piece.
There's been no break in this piece up until this moment.
The whole thing has been legato.
The whole thing!
Right?
Until right here.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Okay.
Yeah.
And of course, this is a very dark moment.
F-sharp minor.
I would not try to sing it too much outward.
Be a little more...
The question is: When are we singing like a bird and when are we reflecting ourselves?
So that it can be kind of heard as a reflection?
So if we want it to last -- and there should be a sense of uncertainty about what's about
to happen.
So I wouldn't be too motivated forward here either.
Okay?
The balance for me, obviously, is -- there's too much.
From the top.
Yeah.
Okay?
Do it one more time.
Um...
Yeah.
Because you have -- these are eighth notes sometimes.
Sometimes.
Right?
Show me the difference between eighth notes and the quarters, a little bit.
The quarters are even a little bit long, maybe.
Okay.
One more time.
Same.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Even with those chords -- control the duration of the chord.
In other words, just because you have -- and of course, it's a wedge and not a staccato.
Right?
Bah!
Bee!
Yeah.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Let it sit there for a moment.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Yeah.
And make sure there's no accelerando in this part.
Yeah?
Before the forte, make sure it's really these two guys.
That they have their full say.
Okay.
I think...
Your cadenza can be more flamboyant.
To me, it sounds a little soft.
All of a sudden it's as though somebody let you out.
You know?
And all of a sudden the sun is shining and you're thinking -- oh, this is really great.
And there are insects and butterflies, and whatever it is.
And you're just so happy to be breathing the open air, a little bit like Fidelio, coming
up from the depths.
Okay?
So why don't you give us -- Abigail?
Your adagio.
Yeah.
Do it again.
Without too much -- not so much of a crescendo.
Right?
As though all of a sudden it just happens.
Sometimes we want things to just happen to us.
We're not making them happen.
You know?
Luck is a part of life.
Good fortune?
Absolutely.
Okay.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Okay, good.
Yeah.
And now that we -- of course, we're not gonna stay in E-major.
It's a transition.
It's gonna be the 5, and someone is gonna come in with the D, the semi-chord.
But all of a sudden, the sound should warm up in the left hand.
Warm up.
Okay?
All of a sudden.
In other words, he makes it happen.
He says -- hey, guys!
There's a whole world out there.
Okay.
Just do from...
Again, one more time, Abigail.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Warm!
Warm!
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Okay.
So you have a bunch of phrases where he doesn't mark anything, and then Tiiiiidaaa...
Gives you a swell.
And what does he mark it?
Molto cantabile.
I think it can be less phrased, believe it or not.
As if you're a clock.
A little bit.
Yeah?
Yeah.
Okay?
And you have a very long pedal, of course.
Right?
Okay.
Right on it.
Yeah.
I'm looking for three even -- bum bum bum...
You're the tempo here, basically.
For me, it's moving a little bit forward still.
Yeah.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Okay, good.
Now, there are two parts of this theme, obviously.
Right?
Yadidadum and Yaa-yaa...
I would give up some of the contact, some of the focus, just move the bow, and lighten
it up.
It should have a different sound, a little bit, at that point.
And then it can float forward a little bit.
But I like that.
Yeah.
But don't do too much.
It brings up the question: Maybe you've seen me do this, but -- there are many swells in
this piece, correct?
Can I demonstrate a swell without the instrument, for a second?
Okay.
Here we go.
I'm gonna demonstrate a swell.
That was a swell.
Okay?
So the swell...
Is a little bit of a symbol for breathe in, breathe out.
And the fact is that there's a turning around of the breath at the top.
Deee... yadada.
The sound has to turn around.
And you have to decide exactly where that happens.
So this is for Mahler, this is for Schubert, this is a big deal.
Because in the Viennese music, the swell itself becomes a big gesture.
Okay?
So I want you to show me -- turn the sound around and show me exactly where the top is
all the time.
This is very important.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Good!
Keep going!
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Yeah.
In other words...
Teedadadim...
Feather-like, after that.
As opposed to the swelling.
We want to hear contrast.
If we don't hear contrast in the gesture, we're gonna go to sleep.
Or they may go to sleep.
Okay?
In other words, even in a beautiful kind of tranquilo piece like this, you've got to be
raising tension in some way.
I encourage you to do the swells with a little bit of bow speed.
YeeeEEEeeeh.
The bow speed is equivalent to the speed of the breath, obviously.
And we need to breathe, literally, to make it happen.
So let's do it...
Where do you have it, Dorothy?
Keep pulling it back a little bit.
In the first four bars.
Or five bars.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Okay.
Okay, good.
Let's do from the second...
Yadidada...
Where is that?
I want you to grow the phrases, but make no accelerando.
Yeah?
It's wonderful to be semi-retired.
I'm not quite there yet.
But to really...
Savor every moment.
And that's very, very important.
You want this theme not to have gone by them.
Should feel like it lasts forever.
A long time.
Same with, obviously, the fugue.
That's the real attempt to make time stop.
Okay?
Let's do...
From...
What is it?
17.
Yeah.
But you also have the swell.
Correct?
We need the three of you as a group -- it has to have a really good group shape to it.
At the moment, it's not unified.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Yeah, but he specifically says -- YaaaDiiiyam!
It's very, very common in the Classical style to have a longer crescendo than a decrescendo.
Or a longer swell up and a quick swell down.
See if you can do it.
I always say -- when you're young, this part of the swell looks really good, and then when
you get older, this part, coming down, looks really good.
Okay.
Yeeyahhdi.
But in other words, there should be more tension than there is.
So the second version of that.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: That's it!
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Okay.
And now I want to say one more thing to you.
When you have a crescendo, in general, okay, on the page it may look like this.
But it really should sound more like...
This.
A crescendo should gather.
It's not something...
In this case, it represents some passion.
And passion is not something which we want to control, particularly.
Okay?
When it's appropriate.
DeeDAWWdee!
DahdeeeEEEdah!
So figure out how you're gonna do that.
The end of the crescendo is the most important moment, even if it's to a subito.
Same place.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Good!
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Good!
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Good!
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Okay, good.
Now, all of these -- Beethoven, of course, part of his language is the idea of the subito
piano.
And this is supposed to create a certain kind of tension.
And the meaning of the subito piano is something you have to consider.
Because it's -- he was someone who was famous for not being able to control himself in public
situations.
And doing the inappropriate thing.
Okay?
And so the subito piano, in terms of his own life, in a way, represents the...
Bridle that they might put on him, in order to keep him from doing these inappropriate
things.
So you want to pretend that -- follow it to its last possible moment.
Yadadiiii...
And then come back.
Because as I heard you play the piece, you were looking forward, and you were looking
forward to the piano, but there was a kind of...
You know, commit yourself and then take whatever time you need to take, in order to make the
piano.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay?
That's his personality.
So we do from...
Where is it?
33.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Okay.
Be careful, though, not to let the tempo go too much.
You've got to be a little bit like a jazzer.
Kind of give and take.
So don't only go forward.
You have to take from the rich and give to the poor at some point.
So Yidadidadida.
So balance it out a little bit.
Not only forward.
Yeah.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Yeah, and this is a funny one.
TadiiIIII.
didaaaAAAA.
And Mahler will pick up on this, and so will Schubert.
That the top of the swell may be in the middle of a note.
It's important.
One more time.
Show us the top, and do it with bow speed
a little bit.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Not too fast!
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Okay, okay, yeah.
So here's the thing: My favorite conductor, Reiner, was really wonderful about being very
clear -- and you can hear it in the recordings -- about when we are rubato and when we are
strict.
And you have to keep going back and forth, between them.
Dadadimdadadum.
Dadadii... dadadum.
We have to reassert the tempo.
Not so fast.
When you get back to the piano.
In D major.
It kind of started to roll when you played it through.
And you have to keep returning to -- as though for yourselves or he or the composer marked
a tempo primo at that point.
Are you guys finding this interesting?
Is it okay?
Okay.
All right.
Just checking that you're there.
Okay.
Okay.
So let's do from...
Where are we gonna go from?
49.
49.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: DidadaDIdadaDI -- not too fast!
Now...
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Tempo!
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Right.
And believe it or not, tidadida -- depends very much on pulse.
Otherwise it can't be together.
So it'll be easy for...
Didadadiiidada... didadada...
So enforce your strict pulse, subito, there.
Okay?
Let's see.
Where from?
57.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Okay, but again -- go all the way.
All the way.
DidadaDIDADA.
You have to pretend that you're really gonna play forte on the downbeat.
D major chord.
Okay?
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Too loud.
Yeah.
So...
So this is all...
There's a sense of being suspended, a little bit, here.
It's a very peculiar kind of a march.
You know?
Very peculiar.
The happy soldier or something.
But it's a very strange concept.
Should float -- everything should float.
Yeah?
And eventually, of course -- when you get to tadidadida -- I think the sforzandi can
be quite violent.
They're a little too pretty.
The sforzando has a different meaning in Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.
In Beethoven, they become the sforzando which we're kind of used to.
Which is something inappropriate, that pokes out.
Suddenly.
Okay?
All right.
Right from the march.
Yeah.
But...
Less in the string.
Dayiya...
Do it with bow speed.
Bow speed.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Okay.
That's right.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Easy, easy!
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Easy!
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You're such fine musicians.
You sound great.
But, you know, again...
The ability to watch something exciting happening, and not get too excited.
Comes with age.
You know?
Have some patience here.
You know?
And just enjoy it.
Let the notes create the excitement.
You don't have to advocate for them.
Okay?
And then we start to build.
And then plan your crescendo again so that the crescendo is this at the end.
Yeah?
So it gathers.
Okay.
One more time.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Good!
Good.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Easy, easy.
And...
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Okay.
But it's piano.
Not pianissimo.
No, this...
Here is where...
And lusinghiero means what, exactly?
What is it?
Flattering, or...
Coaxing.
Or seducing.
Could be.
Okay?
Yidadii...
So you can sing a full piano here.
Quite vocal.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Okay, but make sure there's enough pulse here.
Wadadii...
Because even in piano, and even in legato, the dotted figure has some pride in it.
Okay?
Could be Polish pride.
That's it.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Yeah, and when he begins to give you separate notes, separate... dadadiiyadii...
Then you can be a little bit Italian.
You know, one of the things that makes late Beethoven late Beethoven is that, as opposed
to the first two periods, early and middle, which are basically writing very much in an
Italian style, with a lot of apoggiaturas...
It's kind of gone.
It begins to be genuinely German cultural music.
Which Wagner will then totally adapt.
Becomes part of the German Romantic scene.
It's a different...
You know, German-speaking scene.
So...
One more time.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Good!
Yadii!
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Eeeeeyum!
Dayum!
Ah!
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: A nice full sound.
Nice, full...
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Good!
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: YatiiiiiYA!
Not too fast.
The idea was correct.
Keep going.
But it was a little exaggerated.
And the sforzando is not just an accent.
Bum!
Ugh!
Ugh!
Yeah.
That's it.
Nice one.
Mmmm!
Right.
So there's a breath accent after the...
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Yeah, yeah.
There should be something a little mirthful about this, because it is a game.
You know?
This section starts out as something very, very gorgeous and amorous in a certain way.
And then it becomes a game.
It becomes just...
I just want to...
I know we have to stop, because we have a limited time.
But...
I would love to hear...
Let's see.
From...
Just three bars before the adagio.
Three bars before the -- it's a funny place to start.
Yeah.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: Yeah.
In order for this to work, this has to be really a very steady -- very strongly felt
tempo, even though we're imitating kind of courtly music.
Okay?
Yeah.
Okay.
Do it one more time.
Just three bars before.
(playing)
SMIRNOFF: I don't see this as being as pretty as you wanna play it, actually.
I think it's...
A little bit...
It's more of a dance than a melody, after all.
Yeah?
Dadiyayiyiyum.
So it can be a little more flat-out.
You don't have to caress this one quite as much.
We have to stop.
We could go on for a long time.
You know, one of the...
This end -- the Mozart, of course, which is gonna follow -- are the two truly greats.
But you guys sound amazing, and I'm very proud of you all.
So keep up the wonderful work.
Give them a hand!
(applause)
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