On Jan. 19 the Cypress String Quartet played to a less-than-eager audience. Their aired performance on 98.7 WFMT was full of beautiful music and people who, if they were as interested as it seemed, should not have come.
The Cypress String Quartet is a world-famous group of classical music performers. During the performance they played three full pieces made of anywhere from two to six movements each, and they did the pieces justice, especially Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Quartet in B-Flat Major, Op. 130.”
The only complaint that could be given was the piece by George Tsontakis was a tad bit dull. Because of the fact that there are no really distinctive differences between the two movements other than key and melodic phrasing. There just is not much in the way of material in that piece for a listener’s mind to grasp and try to envision.
The opening piece and the closing piece is where these fine musicians let their playing shine. The opening piece was “Two Sketches for String Quartet based on Indian Themes” by Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884-1920). It covered a Native American song of mourning and dance song. Both aspects were beautifully covered, and there was a lot to take to heart with this piece.
The closing piece, which was mentioned earlier, was Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Quartet in B-Flat Major, Op. 130.” It is a beautiful piece that even if not played to par is worth the respect of the audience.
The biggest problem with this performance, though, is the fact that a performance has two aspects. There is the performer aspect, which the quartet did beautifully, but there is also the audience aspect, or acceptance offered to them by the performers. The audience in part failed on this.
Now, people are able and capable of holding their own opinions when it comes to music. Going to a concert requires a certain amount of respect, unless the performers do something that makes them unworthy of respect.
There were people asleep during the concert. Some people in regards to short pieces said, “Thank God that was short” and threw around other comments. People were leaving halfway through the concert. If it was because they made prior arrangements that the concert happened to overlap, that’s different. However, the conduct of the audience was just plain rude.
Classical might not be everyone’s cup of tea. That is understandable with some of music nowadays being melodic atrocities. It is something different that offers a different kind of value to the hearts and souls of the audience and the performers alike.
It is a challenge to those who play music, if they want to play well. It is also a challenge to the audience to actually broaden their horizons enough to listen to the ancestors of the current music.