Music of Our time; LaSalle Quartet, Program 4 of 5

A. Good evening. This is Ann Salmon with music of our time and once again with me is Henry Maya violinist with the mussel quartet. We are honoring the quartet throughout this month on WG you see. And tonight the program is particularly special because we're going to be listening to the string quartet by Michael Guillen which was commissioned by W.G. U.S. for the last quartet. Now each of the preview programs before I've said to Henry How did this happen to be written. But this one I know how it happened to be written when Michael Guillen came to Cincinnati. Few people here knew that he was a composer as well as a conductor. Walter knew it because of knowing the musical scene in Europe and I also know that he was a composer because of my connections with the European Broadcasting Union. So when we were looking for some way to honor the station to mark the station's 25th anniversary I asked Walter if he would be interested in

commissioning Drinkwater for the for the LaSalle quartet. And Walter was always very careful about who wrote music that the loss that was committed to play so he danced around it a little bit and he said well he said there may be two composers that I might be interested in. And I said well that's if they want to because I have two composers in mind. And he said Well which two do you have in mind and I said Well I would love to see commissioned by an American composer because you haven't had that. And I and I'm thinking about George crumb. And he said you know that's interesting he said that's one of the composers that I would be willing to consider I said but the composer I really would like to have you consider is Michael Galen. Well said Walter that's exactly who I want to write that piece. And so we went to Michael Guillen said Would you consider writing this quartet This was in May of 1903. And.

Michael was delighted but he said I compose very slowly I'm very busy. Walter said well you know we want to perform in 85 so we would need to have it before the year is out. And Michael said well I don't know if that's possible. Let me see what happens this summer and and I'll let you know in the fall. Fine. So Michael went off to Austria Salzburg I think. And he started writing the quartet and it just flowed. I mean the whole quartet was somehow in him waiting to be written and he wrote the entire quartet I think Henry that first summer. Just kind of sitting in one sitting if you will and exist how ordinary are years out. Yeah. And so it was easily ready. Now I let you take over because I think it has to be one of the damnedest pieces you will ever play. Well Michael. It's a very very serious musician and doesn't take anything. And

when he said he's going to write this think what that and it has to be ready. Then he dropped everything adds. He canceled his summer concerts and he said in his house which is spectacular. I have forgot the name Louis money or something. No it's not the MO on the mountain. Yes and it has a wonderful view of everything and to avoid this quartet now it's a very very interesting piece. And again if we can find we are confronted with things we had not done before. I'll say. Defer snow movement is MARSH OFF. No no no no no no it's not I'm a South American composer and we had played his piece

he wrote a piece for us. I think of it before this thing is over and the second movement is like back. The third movement has a percussion section put in we have to stamp certain Let's make a pattern. Now if you think I have trained myself in a new car not to move my arm my feet my feet and I was down and everybody the quad Tetra did and I have to lift it and to bang it under floor I had to have a topper with it. To force the movement it's the second movement in reverse and the last movement. Well I have to tell you about the first movement first I will tell about what happened at the very beginning of the quartet. Yes that's what I. Yeah I once said. The quote had starts was nobody on stage and we come out in a single.

Everybody alone. The realist and shallots come they sit down at a certain place and they play certain persons and sounds. And there is an interplay between the two violins. It's a quotation from a sim Linski opera and knew from the lyric symphony and I have to theme first and Walter interrupts me continuously. He stands on another side of the stage. I would have to walk and play till I'm in front of stage and he interrupts me and I was going to wait and in their loud the noisy way and so on. So finally in the middle of this movement I give up and that's the only waiting for because he snaps my melody place and I get mad and my interruption a

noisy run. That is a first movement. The second movement shows to be very much together. And the last movement I told you about the middle movements the last movement shows I sitting with the back to each other and making terrible noises faces even usually the quartet faces and you're sitting in the same place but me in office precinct OSA get action and we just don't want to play together. And whenever Michael spoke about this quartet he said well you have to want to play together and I think I demonstrated it in the quartet how it sounds when we played together at the end. I wanted to show what would become of a quartet when it doesn't have played together and he said in their enlarged sense what will happen to the world if we can't get together. I think it was very successful with said he

also put two poems to the quartet. They are by trial disputed a year and one is called Carry on and the other one this one but not the most happy creations. Real aside part of it during play and that this also knew that there is an and and if you are speaking outside the book of this quartet verse difficult it was very difficult for me and but still I was fascinated by the composition technique. By his not a lecture after school there were horses with you

when we had the most interesting bond we ever had. I think from all the composers we worked with there are plenty. This was a composer who really was and I would write as he had in this you know what he wanted to hear. He could tell you exactly what you do along and what you should change and it was wonderful to make suggestions. I have seldom enjoyed something more than that. I also have seldom enjoyed a composer speak about his own composition and clere happy that that was the last commission we had was the last piece we recorded. And. I think you will enjoy hearing it. Let's listen now to and hear souvenir a string quartet commissioned by W.G. U.S. for Michael Guillen.

For the last hour quartet who performs it now. That was of your souvenir the string quartet of Michael Dylan performed by the LaSalle quartet as we mentioned it was commissioned by W.G. U.S. for the station's 25th anniversary and Premier by the LaSalle quartet in a live broadcast that was brought was heard all over the United States. It was subsequently published by Peters I believe wasn't it Henry. ANDREW Yeah yeah yeah. You you two had with it all over Europe and it was recorded by the US our quartet for don't you gramophone. I had the great pleasure of touring for a week with the last our quartet where they were playing this in Europe but to two footnotes on this work. The first of them is in the first program in this series Henry was talking about the group in Cincinnati which had a Sunday night concert at which the contemporary music work was played

by the last architect prior to the public concert. Well it was at our house that the quartet gave this private performance before the premiere of Michael Guillen's string quartet. And the afternoon before Saturday afternoon water Levine called my husband and said By the way Harry we need to perform on a wooden floor. And I said what. That's not possible you know we have a an oriental rug and have one was 28 feet long in a way we can take it up and and Walter said well I'm sure you'll think of something and hung up. So Harry scratched his head and then eventually he went into the hardware store and bought you know three or four gigantic sheets of plywood put those on the rug and that was the platform on which you stamped your feet and shoveled your feet. The other thing I had to do with the composition of the work when we were talking about it was when I with Michael Michaels first thought was that he wanted he wanted text he wanted to sing. And Walter said this is not a good idea. He said it it really makes it much more difficult for us to perform it

because it means you know we do it a lot on tour and we would need to have a singer with us. I really suggest you don't do that. Well said Michael. We'll use tape. And I said No no Michael Wait a minute whenever you used tape you run into problems I mean just you go to a place and they don't have the technical expertise to do it. No tape. So with that he decided on the spoken text which which you all did in the recording. But I understand Henry did you that you did it on a separate track so that that if in the future it was decided not to use the text it could be done without. And I gather that there are some string quartets now younger quartets in Europe playing the work and I wonder I wonder if they're doing it with the text or without. I think the text is very strong. I don't know about that didn't we. You Michael changed the person who spoke at the last minute. For instance I had trouble he wanted that there was at the end of the sentence goes up and I always went down but what would your Kentucky accent.

Obviously I really that he was not way. The strange part is that he is the last one to complain about. We are born in the same city in Germany which has the most awful dialect. He's been interesting yes. Yeah I think his father was a wise director of the place an opera. You are right we have to. Just one more minute Henry. Talk a little bit about what your plans are. You are retiring as a full time professor at the College Conservatory of Music and not I know retiring from teaching or performing however. Well I have started already over the last two years to take advantage of the years several places in the world where we have toured and very unknown so and I have some residencies lie and then there were fascinating I will be in his or her time I will

be did you we had school in New York. I would be in Paris. The poor quartet be in probably and in a newly formed part most other cademy in Prague and I am sure I will find something more. I'm sure you know that as long as I will be able to do so in the dish possible. I hope so that I still can be of some help here in Cincinnati. We hope so too. Henry my has been my guest tonight and next week we'll have the final in this series of five music of our time programs devoted to performances by the last our quartet. Thank you for joining me. You're listening to classical WG. You see in Cincinnati.