Press

10/8/13: For Immediate Release
Lesley Bannatyne 617-495-2791 [email protected]
Internationally Acclaimed Parker Quartet Named Blodgett Quartet-in-Residence at
Harvard University Music Department
The Harvard University Department of Music is delighted to announce that the Parker
Quartet will join the music department teaching faculty at Harvard University beginning in
the fall of 2014.
“Thanks to the Blodgett Artists-in-Residence Program, we have been fortunate to have had
a Quartet-in-Residence for four weeks a year since 1985,” said Music Department chair
Alexander Rehding. “However, the role of performance in the music department and the
University has changed significantly, and this is the right time to bring professional musicians
to campus as full-time residents. We are confident that the extended exposure to the string
quartet will be highly beneficial to our students, especially our many talented undergraduate
performers, allowing them to engage in the practice of chamber music on an unprecedented
scale. We welcome the Parker Quartet to Harvard with immense pleasure.”
The renowned Parker Quartet (Daniel Chong, Ying Xue, violin; Jessica Bodner, viola; KeeHyun Kim, cello) will, as part of the expanded Blodgett residency, present free concerts each
year for the general public and recitals as part of the Dean’s Noontime concert series. They
will teach, participate in class demonstrations, read and perform student compositions, and
coach Harvard undergraduate chamber ensembles in weekly master classes for Harvard
credit. The Parker Quartet’s full time presence in the program will allow for the expansion of
the chamber music and performance study opportunities for students in the Harvard
University Music Department.
“With our relocation back to Boston and the invitation to join the faculty of Harvard
University’s Department of Music, this is truly a special time for the quartet. The Blodgett
Artists-in-Residence Program has a wonderful history of hosting established quartets and
with its new expansion into a full-time position, we are honored to have the opportunity to
share our artistry with the Harvard community. We look forward to our appointment with
great excitement.”
Formed in 2002, the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet has rapidly distinguished itself
as one of the preeminent ensembles of its generation. The New York Times hailed the quartet
as “something extraordinary,” and the Boston Globe acclaims their “pinpoint precision and
spectacular sense of urgency.” The quartet began touring on the international circuit after
winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition as well as the Grand Prix and Mozart Prize
at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in France. Chamber Music
America awarded the quartet the prestigious biennial Cleveland Quartet Award for the 20092011 seasons.
Performance highlights from recent seasons include appearances at Carnegie Hall, 92nd
Street Y, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Library of Congress, Concertgebouw in
Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall in London, Musikverein in Vienna, Monte Carlo Spring Festival,
Seoul Arts Center, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festspiele
in Germany, and San Miguel de Allende Festival in Mexico. The quartet recently
collaborated with artists including Kim Kashkashian, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, AnneMarie McDermott, Shai Wosner, Jörg Widmann, and Claron McFaddon. In 2012 the Parker
Quartet was the recipient of a Chamber Music America commissioning grant, enabling the
ensemble to commission and premiere Capriccio, an hour-length work by American composer
Jeremy Gill. This upcoming season includes return engagements to Carnegie Hall, Library of
Congress, and Monte Carlo Spring Festival, performances of the Beethoven quartets on the
Slee Series in Buffalo, and collaborations with Kikuei Ikeda of the now retired Tokyo String
Quartet.
Successful early concert touring in Europe helped the quartet forge a relationship with ZigZag Territoires, which released their debut commercial recording of Bartók’s String Quartets
Nos. 2 and 5 in July 2007. The disc earned high praise from numerous critics, including
Gramophone: “The Parkers’ Bartók spins the illusion of spontaneous improvisation… they
have absorbed the language; they have the confidence to play freely with the music and the
instinct to bring it off.” The quartet’s second recording, of György Ligeti’s complete works
for string quartet was released on Naxos in December 2009 to critical acclaim. This
recording won the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance.
Currently based in Boston, the Parker Quartet holds teaching and performance residencies at
the University of South Carolina and the University of St. Thomas. From 2008 to 2013, the
quartet spent much of its time in St. Paul, MN, where they served as Quartet-in-Residence
with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (2008-2010), were the first-ever Artists-in-Residence
with Minnesota Public Radio (2009-2010), and visiting artists at the University of Minnesota
(2011-2012).
The Parker Quartet’s members hold graduate degrees in performance and chamber music
from the New England Conservatory of Music and were part of the New England
Conservatory’s prestigious Professional String Quartet Training Program from 20062008. Some of their most influential mentors include the Cleveland Quartet, Kim
Kashkashian, György Kurtág, and Rainer Schmidt.
The Parker Quartet will begin their residency at Harvard in the fall of 2014 through the
Blodgett Artist-in-Residence program, made possible through a gift from Mr. and Mrs. John
W. Blodgett, Jr. The program is now in its 29th year.
www.parkerquartet.com
PARKER QUARTET
May 3, 2013
The Parker Quartet Appoints Ying Xue as Second Violinist
It is with great pleasure that the PARKER QUARTET announces the appointment of Ying Xue as the quartet's
second violinist beginning May 1, 2013. An accomplished chamber musician and soloist, Ms. Xue has played and
collaborated with many of the world's great orchestras and artists. A fellow graduate of the New England Conservatory
of Music, Ms. Xue received graduate degrees in performance and chamber music under the tutelage of Donald
Weilerstein and Miriam Fried. She returns to the United States following continued studies at the Musikhochschule
Lübeck with Heime Müller. With her appointment to the Parker Quartet, Ms. Xue will join the ensemble's extensive
2013-14 touring season as well as their Quartet-in-Residence position at the University of South Carolina School of
Music. Ms. Xue replaces violinist Karen Kim, who retired from the quartet in February after ten years to pursue other
artistic endeavors. Of this appointment Ms. Xue states: "It has been my dream for a very long time to dedicate myself
to a string quartet. Now, not only do I have the privilege to join the Parker Quartet, but more importantly, join three
beautiful and inspiring musicians on a musical journey for many years. I could not be more thrilled."
Parker Quartet cellist, Kee-Hyun Kim, states: "Immediately upon reading the first few notes of a simple Bach Chorale
together with Ying, I felt the three of us heave a collective sigh of relief and delight. Without any words being spoken,
she was able to mold and integrate herself into our collective sound, blending herself seamlessly as well as asserting
her individual presence! Her sound, her artistry and her vision was so aligned with ours, and we all knew from that
first instant that she was the one. Daniel, Jessica and I are incredibly excited to embark on this new chapter of the
quartet with Ying, and we look forward to many years of inspired music-making."
YING XUE
An accomplished and versatile soloist and chamber musician Ying Xue has won accolades on the competition stage
around the world. She is the second prizewinner of the 2011 International Mozart Competition Salzburg, first
prizewinner of the 2007 Corpus Christi Competition, and has won medals at the Corpus Christi, Irving M. Klein
International and New England Conservatory Concerto competitions among others. As a soloist, she has appeared with
the Camerata Salzburg, Nanning Symphony Orchestra, Jinfan Symphony Orchestra, and NEC Symphony Orchestra. A
passionate chamber musician, Ms. Xue has collaborated with artists of international acclaim including Donald
Weilerstein, András Schiff, Pamela Frank, Kim Kashkashian, and Gidon Kremer among many others. She has been
engaged by the Kronberg Chamber Music, Caramoor, Ravinia and Yellow Barn Music festivals, as well as the Winter
Chamber Festival in Israel.
Born in Urumqi, China, Ms. Xue began her violin studies at age 4. Ms. Xue received graduate degrees in performance
and chamber music under the tutelage of Donald Weilerstein and Miriam Fried as the recipient of the Irene M. Stare
Presidential Scholarship at the New England Conservatory. In 2012 Ms. Xue moved to Germany to continue her
musical studies with Heime Müller at the Musikhochschule Lübeck.
THE PARKER QUARTET
Hailed by The New York Times as “something extraordinary” and by the Boston Globe for their “virtuosic, utterly
assured...assiduously cultivated blend of sound,” the GRAMMY Award-winning Parker Quartet has distinguished itself
Parker Quartet
May 3, 2013
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as one of the preeminent ensembles of its generation. The quartet began its professional touring career in 2002 and
garnered international acclaim in 2005, winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition as well as the Grand Prix and
Mozart Prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in France. In 2009, Chamber Music America
awarded the quartet the prestigious biennial Cleveland Quartet Award for the 2009-2011 seasons.
From 2008 until 2010, the Parker Quartet served as the first ever Quartet-in-Residence with the Saint Paul Chamber
Orchestra (SPCO). During the 2009-2010 season, the quartet was also the first-ever Artists-in-Residence with
Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) and American Public Media (APM).
For more on the Parker Quartet including season highlights and upcoming projects and recordings, click here.
PARKER QUARTET
Quartetville blog  October 12, 2012
Interview with the Parker Quartet
BY SAM BERGMAN
We caught up recently with three members of the Parker Quartet: violinist Daniel Chong, violist Jessica Bodner, and
cellist Kee-Hyun Kim. You can read more about the Parker Quartet here.
: What is the personal dynamic of working so closely together with three other people?
Dan: Playing in a string quartet is probably one of the most intimate forms of making music. You don‟t have somebody
to guide you, somebody who serves as the ultimate say. You have four people coming into a room as equals. That
environment promotes a lot of passion, a lot of discussion, a lot of compromising. But, ultimately, when you reach
something together as equals, it‟s incredibly rewarding.
: How important has mentorship been in your career, both in terms of the teachers who you‟ve had and the work you‟ve
done in passing your knowledge to other musicians and to students?
Jess: Mentorship has been incredibly important in all ways. Our whole schooling, we were so fortunate to work with
people who not only were great teachers but also were great performers. It was so amazing to see how they
communicated their thoughts. It‟s something to aspire to in our own teaching. We love to work with different people,
different levels of players—not only the technical side but also on the joy of working together.
: Let‟s go back to childhood. When did each of you start playing? Was it on the instrument you play now, or did you
switch at some point, and what made you gravitate to music?
Jess: I started on violin when I was two, after seeing Itzhak Perlman on Sesame Street. I played violin until I was 11 or
12. I remember very vividly that I loved practicing in the lower register of the violin. My teacher recognized this and
also something about my personality and she suggested that I try the viola. I practiced both for about a year, and then I
thought, “There‟s no reason for me to practice violin anymore, because I love the viola so much.”
Dan: My mother studied piano and composition and she got me to begin on violin. I think she chose it mainly because
my older brother played violin and she thought consolidating us to one instrument was easier.
Kee: I started when I was six, on the cello. I was always exposed to a lot of music. My mom was a piano and
composition teacher; my sister played piano. I was always attracted to the cello, maybe because I saw that they sat
down all the time. I played clarinet for band in middle school. I played trombone for a year, but cello is the one that
stuck.
: Did any of you go to summer music programs when you were kids? Where did you go and what impact did that have?
Dan: A big place for me during the summers was Encore School for Strings, which doesn‟t exist anymore,
unfortunately. More recently, Yellow Barn and Marlboro have been huge inspirations for me. I love those summer
music festivals because you‟re in it together with a small group of people who are so passionate about the same thing.
Being in an environment where all you have to do is concentrate on making music and having fun is wonderful.
Parker Quartet
Quartetville blog  October 12, 2012
page 2 of 2
Jess: For me, the first one was the Disney Youth Orchestra. I don‟t know if it‟s still going on. I did that when I was 11.
It was so fun. After that I went to Interlochen for a few summers and then Musicorda, which also doesn‟t exist any
more.
Kee: When I was 14, I went to Aspen. I don‟t think that was a good fit for a 14 year-old. The summers after that were
all geared towards chamber music. I went to the Perlman Music Program and to Kneisel Hall and Music Academy of
the West, which was where I met Dan for the first time.
: Talk a little about practicing, not rehearsing together, but the individual practice that you have to put in. Did you
always like practicing? What were your strategies for powering through on the days when nothing was going right?
Jess: When I was younger, I would go in and out of practicing and my parents would have to tell me to practice. But
when I got into middle school and high school, at a certain point I really felt, “This is my responsibility.”
Around that time, one of my teachers said, “You have to practice three hours a day. That is an absolute.” And so, I
would say, “Okay. Well, I have scales to practice, I have an etude, I have this piece and this piece… How am I going to
fill three hours?” And just the matter of scheduling how much time I was going to spend on each thing was very
helpful. If I‟d decided to practice scales for half an hour, I would get to 20 minutes, and then I‟d say, “I‟m supposed to
practice this for ten more minutes.” If you set that schedule for yourself, then you make yourself find more things to do.
You get better and figure out how to practice on our own.
Now, I think practicing is really special. It‟s your own alone time to craft and explore what you‟re doing outside of
rehearsals, to formulate your own ideas about things before you meet together.
Dan: I certainly have a love/hate relationship with practicing. It was more hate in the early days. But now, I enter a
practice session and think of it as an opportunity not only to learn the music that I need to learn but to hone my craft. I
get in this mindset of not feeling pressured to accomplish set things, but using the time to explore and build and be
constantly inspired to be a better player. It‟s not just about learning a particular piece.
Kee: I was thinking about this today, actually. How practicing is like running, really, whether you love it or hate it.
„Cause there‟s days when it can be either. The most important thing is consistency. You have to keep doing it and the
more you do it, the more you‟ll enjoy it. I never used to enjoy practicing. I always just practiced enough to get by. But,
I don‟t know, I love playing. If you don‟t think of it as practice and work, but as a way to—like Dan and Jess have just
said—have it be your own time, where you can just fool around with the instrument and play and produce whatever
sounds and be creative and just enjoy it. It‟s all about the joy of creation and getting better. Why wouldn‟t you want to
do that?
PARKER QUARTET
Boston Globe  June 18, 2012
Parker String Quartet delivers at Rockport
BY MATTHEW GUERRIER
ROCKPORT — The string quartet is not as old a technological advance as some — gunpowder, movable type, and
double-entry bookkeeping all predate it — but it is old enough to be taken for granted. That is probably why the sound
of the string quartet, paradoxically, does not sound as dated as the electronic sounds it is paired with in Leon Kirchner’s
String Quartet No. 3, the centerpiece of the Parker String Quartet’s concert on Friday at the Rockport Chamber Music
Festival.
In Kirchner’s defense, those electronic sounds are vintage 1966, epochs ago by computer science standards. And,
really, no matter: The quartet is a great piece, a generous dose of the sort of muscular, pragmatically emotive
modernism that Kirchner, who died in 2009, at 90, could do better than almost anyone.
There are places in the quartet where Kirchner plays with congruent special effects on tape and on string: a Sputnik-like
beep morphing into glassy harmonics from violinist Daniel Chong and violist Jessica Bodner, avian electronic burbles
sparking a fizz of passagework from Chong and fellow violinist Karen Kim, cellist Kee-Hyun Kim laying down a
thumping, drum-like pizzicato met by similarly hollow resonance from the speakers. But mostly, the electronics exist to
goad the quartet into streetwise expressionism, lean and tough, eerie then explosive, something between a noir
detective and a space-age Dante. The Parker’s performance was intense, virtuosic, utterly assured.
Indeed, the group thrives on combinations of intricacy and power. Their touchstones are precision and an assiduously
cultivated blend of sound — focused and wiry at its core and, whatever the style, so well-matched that it can be
difficult to tell where one instrument leaves off and another begins. It can also produce a kind of hermetic quality, as in
the opener, Mozart’s F major Quartet, K. 590: all taut, short-bowed control and tightly coiled phrases, pinning the
music’s eccentric pauses and sudden accents with aggressive propriety.
If the Mozart felt like it was in macro-lens close-up, the Parker’s playing in Robert Schumann’s A major Quartet, Op.
41, No. 3, was more wide-angle, more full-blooded, with more depth of field in the byplay between instruments, and
more range of color, jumping headlong into every one of Schumann’s quick-changing moods. Both refined and rustic,
flipping the discourse from inward to outward on a dime, the Parker made the technology of the string quartet so userfriendly as to be invisible.
PARKER QUARTET
The Boston Musical Intelligencer  June 17, 2012
Parker Quartet Gives Rockport Something Big
BY LYLE DAVIDSON
Parking was hard to find. The hall was filled. Something big was about to happen at Rockport’s Shalin Liu
Performance Center last Friday night. Area concert goers gathered to hear some of the best quartet playing imaginable,
playing that The New York Times referred to as ―something extraordinary.‖ The Grammy Award-winning Parker
Quartet was in town performing Mozart’s last string quartet, K. 590 in F Major, Leon Kirchner’s 1967 Pulitzer Prizewinning Quartet No. 3 for String Quartet and Electronic Tape, and the quartet Robert Schumann wrote in four days, his
Op 41, No. 3 in A Major. In the interest of full disclosure, I should say that, as an NEC faculty member, I have known
these players since their student days not so many years ago.
For those unfamiliar with the Shalin Liu Performance Center, the wall behind the stage is made of glass, providing a
sweeping view of the ocean. Beautiful as the backdrop was on this cool, clear evening, all attention was soon focused
exclusively on Kee-Hyun Kim, cello, Jessica Bodner, viola, Karen Kim, second violin, and Daniel Chong, first violin.
The Parker Quartet has been participating in the Rockport Chamber Music Festival since 2005, so it was like greeting
old friends.
Quartet playing is supposed to be hard: these four players made it seem easy. They made the audience smile and nod in
response to their obvious delight in the music and in performing. Constantly in touch with each other, they moved and
breathed as one beautifully musical organism. Imbued with their strong rhythmic sense, the music of every piece
flowed and ebbed with grace. There were four individual players on stage, each one a strong personality, but as in all
great chamber groups, they created the effect of being one.
The hushed mood of the first two long notes of the opening measure of Mozart’s last quartet was startlingly interrupted
by the accented third note and then thrown down with a vigorous descending scale. By the end of the first phrase, it was
clear that we were going to hear some truly extraordinary playing. Mozart’s K. 590, written in June of 1790, was one of
three string quartets he finished for King Frederick William II. The King played cello, and it is clear from the part that
he was a good player. So is Kee-Hyun Kim; he brought great presence to every aspect of the part, even in the long
pedal notes. The evident fun of the viola part suggests that Mozart, himself, may have played it. Jessica Bodner carried
the part with wit and musicality that the composer surely would have appreciated.
First violinist Daniel Chong introduced Kirchner’s third quartet with a brief story that placed the odd pairing of
electronic sounds with string sounds in historical context. The opening dialogues between tape and string quartet set up
various relationships, sometimes mutually supportive, sometimes protesting what had just been heard. The tutti
scrambles were delightful. There were stunning moments in which the quartet blended its sounds with the tape so
smoothly that it was difficult to identify which sound source one was hearing. The ending was stunning: The recorded
tape texture introduced the last moments, and then the slow ascending chords of the quartet emerged and wiped the
recording away.
The opening phrases of Schumann’s Quartet Op. 41 No. 3 convincingly conveyed the search for the right key; the
offbeats of the higher strings that accompany the beautiful cello line (which gets passed to violin I) were easy and solid
without being pedantic. (One sometimes hears the effect of counting during this passage.) The opening phrases of the
agitato second movement that features third-beat beginnings were like sighs. The cello’s explosive power that brought
Parker Quartet
The Boston Musical Intelligencer  June 17, 2012
page 2 of 2
in the ―almost fugue‖ built to enormous power as each instrument entered in succession from bottom to top. Then, as
one, the ensemble turned sweet as the first violin and viola traded phrases of delight that the second violin and cello
could not resist. In long and soft octave pedal points, the first violin and cello framed the second violin and viola, who
wandered in murmuring sixths until the cello finally persuaded everyone to pick up the ascending fourths that ever so
delicately brought the movement to a close.
The slow movement is a jewel. While the other parts play with another ascending fourth motive, the dum – pa dum – pa
dum of the dotted eighths and sixteenths that are so much a part of Schumann’s vocabulary were articulated with such
subtlety by Karen Kim’s quiet energy that the music was moved forward without effort. Throughout the movement and
indeed, the entire evening, Daniel Chong, always sure and ―right on,‖ led the group with rich nuances and through
many breathtaking ritards with total security.
The opening of the final movement is a refrain that one often comes to dread, because the insistent rhythm of dotted
eighths and sixteenth (again) is so overplayed. The Parker Quartet turns this into a burst of energy that brings the
listener willingly back to the beginning from any one of the diverse paths the piece has taken — the best performance I
have ever heard of this movement, of this piece.
The Parker Quartet has two CDs out, one containing Bartok’s String Quartets Nos. 2 and 5, and the Grammy Awardwinning recording of Ligeti’s First and Second Quartets. The Quartet plans to release a recording of Haydn quartets
within the year.
PARKER QUARTET
The New York Times  May 6, 2012
Romantics Heated Up and Served
BY STEVE SMITH
Jörg Widmann at Zankel Hall
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it, the philosopher George Santayana wrote in a piquant
turn of phrase often misappropriated or mangled. Confronted with a program of works by the young German composer
Jörg Widmann, like the one presented at Zankel Hall on Thursday evening as part of Carnegie Hall’s Making Music
series, you could elaborate on the concept: Those who can remember the past are welcome to make merry with it.
Mr. Widmann, who is 38 and could easily pass for younger, is one of Europe’s most celebrated clarinetists and
composers, with a remarkable canon of significant works to support that reputation. Prefacing an onstage conversation
with Mr. Widmann during the concert, Jeremy Geffen, Carnegie Hall’s director of artistic planning, reeled off a partial
list of Mr. Widmann’s major pieces: among them, two operas, with a third in progress, and numerous orchestral works,
including one, “Teufel Amor,” recently introduced and toured by the Vienna Philharmonic.
Also cited was “Zirkustänze” (“Circus Dances”), performed by the pianist Andras Schiff during a Zankel Hall recital
on Wednesday evening. Mr. Widmann’s Making Music concert was linked to Mr. Schiff’s Carnegie Perspectives
series, and midway through this program Mr. Schiff played Mr. Widmann’s “Intermezzi.”
Conveyed with Mr. Schiff’s customary authority and grace, “Intermezzi” showed Mr. Widmann’s affection for past
composers, German Romantics especially. Cast in the ruminative manner of Brahms’s late piano cycles (Opp. 116
through 119), the work exaggerated Brahmsian characteristics. Contemplation became morbid near-stasis; leapt
intervals expanded into gaping chasms; ambiguity morphed into inscrutability.
Similar if less literal backward glances appeared throughout the program. “Fieberphantasie” (“Fever Fantasy”)
exploded Schumann’s anxious lyricism into a buzzing, rattling sequence for clarinet and bass clarinet, string quartet
and piano. Mr. Widmann’s prowess as a performer was amply demonstrated in a live-wire account with the Parker
Quartet and the pianist Shai Wosner.
“Fünf Bruchstücke” (“Five Fragments”), played by Mr. Widmann and Mr. Wosner, lived up to their title not only with
aphoristic economy but also with a shattered syntax that imaginatively incorporated unconventional noises: clicking
keypads, airy hisses, piano notes made to buzz by laying CD cases on the strings.
Fleeting intimations of Bach, Beethoven and more bubbled to the surface during “Versuch Über die Fuge” (“Attempt at
the Fugue”), the final installment in a linked cycle of five string quartets, as the Parker members tried, through force or
stealth, to form a fugue.
Sly wit was always evident. Even when the string players whipped their bows in the air, an effect borrowed from Mr.
Widmann’s earlier “Jagdquartett” (“Hunting Quartet”), they did so in canon. Throughout the work the brilliant soprano
Claron McFadden piously intoned phrases from Ecclesiastes, as if admonishing the quartet for its vain attempts: no
small joke, given the group’s precise, lively exertions.
PARKER QUARTET
Pioneer Press  April 16, 2012
Dance review: Beethoven, ballet blend beautifully in Sewell
production
BY ROB HUBBARD
You don't usually get much ballet at a James Sewell Ballet performance. The Minneapolis-based company tends more
toward the modern dance mode, with the pointes and plies of the ballet tradition seeming like ancestors a few
generations removed.
But choreographer Sewell's classical roots are showing in "Opus 131," an involving and imaginative contemporary
ballet that features the Grammy-winning Parker Quartet performing one of Beethoven's last and most innovative string
quartets at each performance during the company's spring fortnight at the Cowles Center.
A string quartet is a complex organism, with subtle fluctuations in mood and tempo communicated between the four
musicians through their eyes and bodies. That means that the dancers won't find things precisely in the same place
every night, so must use their ears as deftly as they do their limbs and torsos. And that's part of what made the
afternoon performance Sunday, April 15, so exciting. With the quartet performing in front of the stage (practically in
the laps of front-row patrons), it's a performance with rewards as rich in music as in movement.
Sewell's choreography finds fugues everywhere within Beethoven's Opus 131 quartet, with the first four dancers
onstage rising at the entrance of their corresponding instrument, gestures and spins executed in tandem with the
snippets of theme being passed from one musician to another. What begins with minuet-like pairings grows more
modern by the movement, tutus
Would that the second number, "A Sound Embrace," had such a finished feel. Built upon a tango foundation, this
collaboration between Sewell, Sabine Ines and the company is way too choppy and fragmented to develop any kind of
momentum, only intermittently making an argument for the appeal of that steamy style. In fact, much sexier sections
can be found in "Opus 131" than in this tribute to a dance born in a Buenos Aires brothel. There's some imagination
afoot, but the ideas don't coalesce into anything cogent or satisfying. Then again, the Beethoven's a tough act to follow.
tossed over the women's heads, a jungle gym fashioned from flesh, the Presto a playful game of musical chairs.
PARKER QUARTET
Star Tribune  April 16, 2012
Beethoven propels Sewell's dancers
BY CAROLINE PALMER
REVIEW: The evening includes a world premiere inspired by tango.
As is often the case, music is very much on choreographer James Sewell's mind. Beethoven's "Opus 131" is a piece he's
studied over the years since first setting movement to it in 1995 -- and he remains captivated by its complexity. The
work leads off James Sewell Ballet's spring season at the Cowles Center, with a sparkling live performance by the
Grammy award-winning Parker Quartet (presented in partnership with the Schubert Club). The dance readily responds
to the composition's shifting moods.
With "Opus 131" Sewell explores several recurring movement ideas. Partnering is not bound by gender, the dancers'
movements imitate the rounds in the music, and circles serve as gathering points throughout the work. There are
elements of Sewell's trademark playfulness -- such as a nifty ballet equivalent of musical chairs where someone is
always left out. But at times the gamesmanship is too much, as if the dancers are naughty kids mugging behind the
backs of musicians Daniel Chong (violin), Karen Kim (violin), Jessica Bodner (viola) and Kee-Hyun Kim (cello)
seated below the stage.
Sewell's choreography connects when dancers Nicky Coelho, Leah Gallas, Cory Goei, Chris Hannon, Nic Lincoln,
Sally Rousse and Eve Schulte locate counterpoints within the music. Illusions of floating successfully contrast with a
composition that might demand more sharpness. Rousse and Lincoln extend their arms and flex their backs as if to
stretch out the movement with the notes, realizing the dramatic possibilities within the music's intricacies.
The evening includes the world premiere of "A Sound Embrace," choreographed by Sewell, Sabine Ibes and the
dancers. It's an interesting experiment in deconstructing the tango that works best when we see how the parts can
combine into something new that still retains the fiery essence of its source -- the elegant stance, the seductive spirit,
the elaborate rules of engagement. Sewell and Ibes are particularly smooth partners, gliding across the floor as one.
Yet the work feels as if it's still coming together; the scenes don't have a seamless flow yet. A corny theme riffing off
the evolution of tango feels forced especially since there is really much more to be said about the piece's ultimate
question -- "Does it really take two to tango?" For Sewell and crew the answer is a resounding no -- and hopefully they
will keep trying to prove it.
PARKER QUARTET
Pioneer Press  February 9, 2012
Review: Yes, the Parker Quartet really is that good
BY ROB HUBBARD
What's so special about the Parker Quartet?
How is it that a string quartet fresh out of the conservatory could become such a sensation so quickly, snaring the
Cleveland Quartet Award - which is something like the Nobel Prize for string quartets - and last year's Grammy for
"Best Chamber Music Performance"? Are these kids really that good?
Well, based upon the group's performance Wednesday night at Minneapolis' Ted Mann Concert Hall, the answer is yes.
It's a group with four distinct personalities that makes some marvelous musical conversation, each contributing their
own set of ideas and emotions.
And Wednesday's program had plenty of emotional terrain to explore. Felix Mendelssohn's sixth and final string quartet
is a dark night of the soul that may have been the last work he completed. Mourning the loss of his sister and months
from his own death, he created a work in which ghosts roam. As performed by the Parker Quartet, frantic anxiety gave
way to despair, then resignation and, finally, a whispered farewell.
Also laden with emotion was the Third String Quartet of American composer Leon Kirchner. Written in 1966, this
Pulitzer-winning piece employs a tape of electronic blips, bloops and beeps that often sound like the soundtrack to a
vintage video game such as "Pac-Man" or "Space Invaders." Entrusted with representing humanity in a debate with a
machine, the Parker Quartet emphasized sorrow and brought urgency to a work that could have sounded archaic and
quaint.
If it sounds like the group was intent upon dwelling in darkness, know that its members concluded the evening with one
of the sunniest works in the string quartet repertoire, Antonin Dvorak's "American" Quartet. Written in 1893 while the
composer was vacationing in Spillville, Iowa, it opened up evocative musical vistas that would inspire Aaron Copland
and others.
More than anything on the program, this demonstrated how individualistic yet well-blended the Parker Quartet can be,
with first violinist Daniel Chong singing lead lines like a lyric soprano, cellist Kee-Hyun Kim exuding strength and
depth, and the middle voices assertive and exciting in the hands of second violinist Karen Kim and violist Jessica
Bodner.
PARKER QUARTET
Denver Post  October 9, 2011
Parker Quartet show vigor, energy in Fort Collins concert
BY SABINE KORTALS
FORT COLLINS — Newly minted Grammy Award winners, the Parker Quartet kicked off a trio of Colorado
performances on Saturday at the University Center for the Arts in Fort Collins.
Its members - Daniel Chong and Karen Kim, violinists; Jessica Bodner, violist; and cellist Kee-Hyun Kim — all in
their late-20s — performed three demanding works with the vigor and artistic veracity of more seasoned ensembles.
In Claude Debussy?'s novel String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10, the foursome delivered technical exactitude without
compromising the French composer's bent toward colors, sensations and a looser form than that of his influential
Germanic predecessors.
Throughout the four-movement quartet, Chong's sure and lucid cues led the ensemble in an animated, remarkably
cohesive interpretation of Debussy's sometimes delicate, sometimes grandiose tonal textures and effects.
The quartet then deftly executed Leos Janacek?'s singular sound world - comprising short musical ideas that pack an
emotional punch - in his String Quartet No. 29 ("Intimate Letters"). Here, Bodner set the ever-quickening pace of the
Czech composer's passionate portrait of unrequited love.
Arguably saving the best for last, the extraordinarily gifted group elegantly navigated the magnificent heights and
depths of Johannes Brahms?' String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 51. Recalling both Beethoven and Bach, the work is
replete with intricate musical ideas and technical tricks ... but the quartet tackled them all with fervor and aplomb.
In the Andante movement, especially, Chong shone in his introduction of the warm, soulful melody that overlay a
tightly calibrated accompaniment by Bodner and Kim. Likewise, in the third movement that features a double canon,
the cellist and second violinist held together beautifully in their variation on the minuetto theme, while Chong and
Bodner played a different theme.
The brilliant, bursting Finale further demonstrated the palpable connection and close communication among the quartet
members.
Their polished presence and fresh approach make them a formidable force already, and pave the way for even richer
musical interpretations as they continue to mature as individuals and artists.
The Parker Quartet performs the same program on the Takács Series at Grusin Music Hall in Boulder on Monday. Call
303-492-8008 for information or visit www.cupresents.org
For Immediate Release
Contact: Kelly Belich 651.292.3239
SPCO and Parker Quartet announce new concert series
Three programs to be presented at SPCO Center and MacPhail Center for
Music’s Antonello Hall during 2011-12 season
Saint Paul, MN, September 26, 2011 – The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Parker
Quartet announce today the launch of a new concert series. The series, entitled “All Hearts
Listen,” will feature the Parker Quartet in three distinct programs. Each program will be
performed once at the SPCO Center and once at MacPhail Center for Music’s Antonello Hall for
a total of six concerts during the 2011-12 performance season. The series name, “All Hearts
Listen,” is based on a poem by Joseph Eichendorff set to music by Robert Schumann in his
Liederkreis song cycle.
About the collaboration, Karen Kim of the Parker Quartet commented, “We're incredibly excited
to be starting a concert series in the Twin Cities in collaboration with the SPCO. Over the past
three years, the Twin Cities have really become home to us, and we're thrilled to be able to
share our passion for chamber music and the string quartet repertoire with our own community.
The SPCO is the very organization that brought us to the Twin Cities, and we hope to reach out
to the community and enrich the cultural scene through this unique collaboration.”
“We are thrilled to be able be part of ensuring that the Parker Quartet performs regularly here in
the Twin Cities and excited that they will be building new audiences for classical music,“ said
Sarah Lutman, President and Managing Director of the SPCO.
Hailed by The New York Times as “something extraordinary,” the Grammy Award-winning
Parker Quartet (Daniel Chong and Karen Kim, violins, Jessica Bodner, viola, and Kee-Hyun
Kim, cello) has rapidly distinguished itself as one of the preeminent ensembles of its generation.
The ensemble maintains a prestigious national and international touring schedule, and is based
in the Twin Cities where it participates in the local classical music scene in myriad ways.
—more—
During the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons, Parker Quartet was the first-ever Quartet-inResidence at the SPCO, a role which involved individual instrument performances with the
orchestra, chamber music presentations, and a robust educational program with public schools
through the SPCO’s CONNECT program. Parker Quartet is also well known in the Twin Cities
for being the first-ever Artist-in-Residence with Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) and American
Public Media (APM) during the 2009-10 season.
Tickets to the series at SPCO Center and Antonello Hall are available for $30 per 3-concert
package. Series packages are now on sale through the SPCO website at
www.thespco.org/parkerquartet, as well as through the SPCO ticket office at 651.291.1144.
Tickets to individual concerts will be available beginning on October 1.
Concert Information:
Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011, 7:30 p.m. – MacPhail Center for Music
Sunday, Nov. 6, 2011, 2:00 p.m. – SPCO Center
Impressions
String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10
Quartet No. 3 for String Quartet and Electronic Tape
String Quartet in F Major, Op. 135
Claude Debussy
Leon Kirchner
Ludwig van Beethoven
Thursday, March 22, 2012, 7:30 p.m. – MacPhail Center for Music
Sunday, April 1, 2012, 2:00 p.m. - SPCO Center
Illuminations
String Quartet in F Major, K. 590
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ainsi la Nuit
Henri Dutilleux
String Quartet in A Major, Op. 41, No. 3
Robert Schumann
Saturday, May 12, 2012, 7:30 p.m. – MacPhail Center for Music
Sunday, May 20, 2012, 2:00 p.m. – SPCO Center
Intimate Letters
String Quartet in G Major, K. 156
String Quartet No. 2 "Intimate Letters"
String Quartet in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Leos Janáček
Ludwig van Beethoven
The series name “All Hearts Listen” is based on the following poem, which was set to music by
Robert Schumann in his Liederkreis song cycle.
:
Wehmut (Melancholy)
By Joseph Eichendorff
2
Translation by Emily Ezust
Sometimes I can sing
as if I were happy,
but secretly tears well up
and free my heart.
The nightingales,
when spring breezes play, let
their songs of yearning resound
from the depths of their dungeons.
Then all hearts listen
and everyone rejoices;
yet no one truly feels the anguish
of the song's deep sorrow.
ABOUT PARKER QUARTET
Hailed by The New York Times as “something extraordinary,” the Grammy Award-winning
Parker Quartet has rapidly distinguished itself as one of the preeminent ensembles of its
generation. The quartet began its professional touring career in 2002 and garnered international
acclaim in 2005, winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition as well as the Grand Prix and
Mozart Prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in France. In 2009,
Chamber Music America awarded the quartet the prestigious biennial Cleveland Quartet Award
for the 2009-2011 seasons.
Performance highlights of the quartet's 2011-12 season include a European tour, with
appearances at Wigmore Hall in London, Stadthalle Marburg, Kultur im Oberäu, and Concerts
Classiques d'Épinal; appearances with pianist Shai Wosner at Amherst College and Carnegie
Hall; and visits to many of the leading colleges and universities of the United States, including
the Eastman School of Music, San Francisco State University, and UCLA. This season, the
quartet is partnering with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra to launch All Hearts Listen, a
concert series in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. This series will feature the quartet in six
performances throughout the Twin Cities.
Successful early concert touring in Europe helped the quartet forge a relationship with Zig-Zag
Territoires, which released their debut commercial recording of Bartók’s String Quartets Nos. 2
and 5 in July 2007. The disc received high praise by numerous critics, including Gramophone:
“The Parkers’ Bartók spins the illusion of spontaneous improvisation… they have absorbed the
language; they have the confidence to play freely with the music and the instinct to bring it off.”
3
The quartet’s second recording, of György Ligeti’s String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2 and Andante &
Allegretto, was released on Naxos in December 2009 to critical acclaim. The Ligeti recording
won the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance. The quartet's next disc will
be a selection of Haydn string quartets, produced by Grammy Award-winner Judith Sherman.
The Parker Quartet has been profiled in Time Out NY, The Boston Globe, Chamber Music
Magazine, and on Musical America.com for their pioneering performances for audiences in nontraditional venues. In addition to concerts in bars and clubs nationwide, the ensemble was the
first String Quartet-in-Residence at Barbès Bar and Performance Space in Brooklyn, New York,
in 2007. The residency embraced a series of collaborative concerts with artists of various
genres including jazz, folk, and world music. This season, the quartet also collaborated with
slam poets through the organization With Our Words. Their collaboration included pianist Seth
Knopp and baritone William Sharp in a program that interwove poetry and music to illuminate
both mediums.
The Parker Quartet served as Quartet-in-Residence with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
from 2008 through 2010 and were the first-ever Artists-in-Residence with Minnesota Public
Radio for the 2009-2010 season. This year, they will be in residence at the University of
Minnesota, working throughout the year with chamber music students. They will also be
teaching instrumental lessons at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN.
The Parker Quartet’s members hold graduate degrees in performance and chamber music from
the New England Conservatory of Music and were part of the New England Conservatory’s
prestigious Professional String Quartet Training Program. Their mentors include the Cleveland
Quartet, Kim Kashkashian, György Kurtág, and Rainer Schmidt.
ABOUT THE SAINT PAUL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, now in its 53rd season, is the nation’s only full-time
professional chamber orchestra and is widely regarded as one of the finest chamber orchestras
in the world. In collaboration with five artistic partners – Roberto Abbado, Edo de Waart, Dawn
Upshaw, Christian Zacharias and Thomas Zehetmair – the 34 virtuoso musicians present more
than 130 concerts and educational programs each year, and are regularly heard on public
radio’s Performance Today which reaches 1.3 million listeners each week on 256 stations, and
SymphonyCast reaching 335,000 listeners each week on 126 stations nationwide. The SPCO
has released 67 recordings, commissioned 127 new works, and performed the world premiere
of 49 additional compositions. The SPCO has earned the distinction of 15 ASCAP awards for
adventurous programming. Renowned for its artistic excellence and remarkable versatility of
musical styles, the SPCO tours nationally and internationally, including performances in premier
venues in Europe, Asia and South America. Launched in 1995, the SPCO’s award-winning
4
CONNECT education program reaches nearly 6,000 students and teachers annually in 16
Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools. For more information, visit www.thespco.org.
###
5
PARKER QUARTET
ariama  August 3, 2011
The Parker Quartet's Top 5 Works
BY DANIEL ENO
"Hailed by The New York Times as “something extraordinary,” the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet has
rapidly distinguished itself as one of the preeminent ensembles of its generation." - www.parkerquartet.com
The quartet gave us a list of their Top 5 favorite works, as well as a few restaurant recommendations from the Twin
Cities, where the members currently reside.
The Parker Quartet's Top 5 Works
Dvorak: Cypresses - Hagen Quartet
Dvorak: String Quartets Op. 96 (DG)
Fauré: Requiem - Boston Symphony
Fauré: Requiem (RCA Red Seal)
Ligeti: Piano Etudes - Aimard
Parker Quartet
ariama  August 3, 2011
page 2 of 2
Ligeti: Works for Piano (Sony)
Brahms: Symphony No. 4
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 (Soli Deo Gloria)
Leon Kirchner: String Quartets Nos. 1-4
Leon Kirchner: String Quartets Nos. 1-4 (Albany)
Visit The Parker Quartet's Website (http://www.parkerquartet.com)
"Immediately following our graduation from the New England Conservatory we were offered a post as one of the first
quartets in the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Quartet-in-Residence program. We’ve been living in the Twin Cities ever
since (3 years!) and wanted to share some of our favorite picks for great food in the area." - The Parker Quartet
Lucia's @ 1432 W 31st Street
112 Eatery @ 112 North 3rd Street
Punch Pizza @ See Locations Here
Birchwood Cafe @ 3311 East 25th Street
Heartland Restaurant @ 289 East Fifth Street
PARKER QUARTET
Korea Times  June 22, 2011
Ditto evolves with new talent and repertoire
BY KWAAK JE-YUP
Some of the best-looking classical musicians are in town to perform at the third Ditto Festival to be held at various
venues around Seoul, starting today.
But the real treat at this year’s festival for music aficionados is the new talent and repertoire.
The festival marks its third year of a nauseating mix of in-your-face commercialism and classical music, arbitrarily
promoted as offering a strictly Romantic French repertoire, with little in evidence.
The ensemble that shares the festival’s name and has the central role is actually the only group completely dedicated to
19th-century French composers such as Ravel, Debussy, and Faure.
Popularly known for playing to a sold-out audience full of Korean female fans in their 20s with little knowledge of
classical music, Ensemble Ditto brings together four young, promising — and good-looking — male artists, Stephan Pi
Jackiw, Richard Yongjae O’Neill, Ji-yong, and Michael Nicolas.
They are to perform next weekend to close out a week and half of chamber music.
Discount the illogical theme and heavy marketing focused on young pretty faces; let the gut resistance recede and look
closely; the programs actually are not only varied but occasionally daring — worth a careful listen.
Former Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (VPO) harpist Xavier de Maistre and the Grammy-winning Parker Quartet are
the salient first-timers to the festival.
“I would like the audience to discover a wide range of colors with the harp,” said Maistre, at a press conference held in
the Hoam Art Hall in central Seoul, Wednesday. “I want to make the people feel that the whole orchestra is on stage
when I play.”
Maistre is a pioneer in the harp world, playing the instrument solo on stage, interpreting re-arranged pieces often
written for an orchestra. He is the most famous for joining the VPO, consistently regarded by critiques as the world’s
best, at the age of 25.
Tonight he is scheduled to play Debussy, Smetana, and works by a group of Spanish composers.
Meanwhile, cellist Kim Kee-hyun of the string quartet promised the performers’ own “special point of view” over a
varied repertoire that ranges from Haydn to Shostakovich.
“Chamber music groups tend to be pigeonholed into a certain period,” said Kim, arguing that their recent focus and
fame for Hungarian music interpretations have little to do with the group’s tone. “We want to play everything.”
While the harpist has broken new grounds as a soloist, the Parker Quartet members said they preferred playing as an
ensemble.
“I value the connection we make with each other and to the audience,” said Karen Kim, one of the group’s violinists.
“That’s why we decided to dedicate ourselves to the medium.”
Parker Quartet
Korea Times  June 22, 2011
page 2 of 2
At the festival, the Parker Quartet plays on Saturday with the festival staple Ensemble Ditto and then on Sunday on
their own.
O’Neill, returning violist with the Ensemble Ditto and the festival’s musical director this year, said he was “fortunate
and humbled to have colleagues” of such caliber join him.
“It is the easiest opportunity to get to know the artists in this intimate setting,” said O’Neill.
Dubbed “the most challenging and daring program tried at the Ditto Festival” by the violist is the Michael Nicolas cello
recital with Chinese pianist and child prodigy Helen Huang on Monday.
While the selection of Debussy, Piazzolla, and Rachmaninoff may not rightfully reflect the claims of audacity, the
20th-century great Elliott Carter Cello Sonata should provide something to think about for the audience.
Other notable offerings during the one-and-a-half week festival include former participants who make their return as
soloists. L.A. Philharmonic Orchestra violinist Johnny Lee plays Dvorak, Poulence, Franc, and Sarasate on Tuesday,
and local piano sensation Lim Dong-hyek plays Chopin, Sarasate, Prokofiev, Brahms, and Ravel on Sunday.
PARKER QUARTET
Korea Herald  June 22, 2011
2011 Ditto Festival to showcase French works
Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet to join ensemble Ditto in Seoul
BY KIM YOON-MI
Now in its fifth season, the 2011 Ditto Festival’s theme will be French classical music including Debussy, Ravel and
Faure. The audience will be able to enjoy a special duo recital by ensemble Ditto and another ensemble Parker Quartet,
the festival’s artistic director said on Wednesday.
All-male chamber ensemble Ditto, led by violist Richard Yongjae O’Neill, has been holding the annual summer event
since 2007 to bring classical chamber music to the public.
The week-and-a-half week festival, starting with harpist Xavier de Maistre’s first solo recital in Korea on Thursday
evening at the Hoam Art Hall, will run through July 3, bringing in young classical artists from overseas.
O’Neil, the artistic director, said the summer festival will continue to be fun and friendly, under the French theme.
“It was the motto with the beginning, offering fun and friendly classical music and specifically chamber music, which
was not a popular genre at all. Ditto’s mission has been to present new faces and reach out to the public,” Yongjae
O’Neil told reporters in Seoul.
“Every season with Ditto Festival, we’ve had a focal point. My first trip overseas was France and Debussy, Ravel and
Faure have left wonderful pieces of chamber music.There was this common thread both for recitals and concerts
highlighting French composers,” he said.
One of the major highlights will be the duo recital by Ditto and ensemble Parker Quartet on June 25 at the Seoul Arts
Center’s Concert Hall at 2 p.m.
Parker Quartet is a rapidly-rising ensemble, winning the Grammy Award Best Chamber Music Performance in
February for Ligeti’s String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2.
Parker Quartet, consisting of violinist Daniel Chong, violinist Karen Kim, violist Jessica Bodner and cellist Kim Keehyun, will begin the duo recital with Debussy String Quartet in G minor Op. 10. The program will intensify with
Brahms String Sextet in G major which violinist Johnny Lee and violist Yongjae O’Neil, cellist Michael Nicolas will
join. The two ensembles will last stage Mendelssohn String Octet in E flat.
Another highlight will be the duo recital of Pianist Lim Dong-hyek and violinist Shin Hyun-su, the only two Koreans to
have won the prestigious Long-Thibaud International Competition.
Lim and Shin’s concert is scheduled on July 3 at 2 p.m. at the SAC, and the two artists said their duo will be
“flamboyant.” The program includes Sarasate’s “Faust Fantasy,” a Brahms scherzo and a Ravel violin sonata.
On July 2, Pianist Kim Tae-hyung, violinist Hahn-bin, ensemble TIMF with conductor Adriel Kim will stage their
Ravel compilation at the SAC, under the title “This is RAVEL!”
PARKER QUARTET
The Boston Globe  April 6, 2011
New England Conservatory spotlights two alumni quartets
BY JEREMY EICHLER
New England Conservatory these days takes deserved pride in its string faculty, with performers of international
prominence like violist Kim Kashkashian teaching alongside, for instance, three former members of the Cleveland
String Quartet.
One of the former Clevelanders, cellist Paul Katz, took the stage of Jordan Hall Monday night to describe NEC’s
Professional String Quartet Training Program to a large crowd that had gathered for this month’s installment of the free
First Monday concert series. Over the last decade, Katz explained, NEC has opened its doors to one early-career
ensemble every two years. The group is given a residency at the school, coaching and mentorship, and most
importantly, the time and space to rehearse.
That the quartet program — and the string faculty more generally — have succeeded at attracting excellent young
ensembles and helping them develop was clearly demonstrated by Monday’s performance by two alumni groups: the
Parker Quartet and the Jupiter Quartet. Both foursomes are now out there climbing the ranks of young American string
quartets, and making significant strides.
The Parker snapped up a Grammy this year for its Naxos recording of Ligeti’s String Quartets, and the group is now
turning its attention to Haydn. Monday’s concert featured the Quartet Op. 74, No. 1. In evidence from the opening bars
were the Parker’s warm and smoothly blended tone and its meticulous attention to details in balance and phrasing. The
playing was lively and sleekly contoured, though it was not until the fourth movement that this performance caught fire
and fully cast aside the veil of decorousness that can sometimes obscure the remarkable qualities — invention and wit,
charm and fantasy — of Haydn’s quartet writing.
The Jupiter, whose most recent recording on the Marquis label surveys works by Mendelssohn and Beethoven, then
took the stage with Beethoven’s magisterial late Quartet Op. 131, a work whose complexities and profundities make it
daunting for ensembles of any age. Yet in a display of thoughtful and sensitive musicianship, the Jupiter delivered a
performance that captured many of the work’s searching qualities and found a tender pathos in its lyricism. It was a
reading that grew progressively stronger, overcoming moments of initial tentativeness to embrace the extremes of the
later movements.
Of course it’s not a two-quartet party until someone breaks out the Mendelssohn Octet. And somebody did after
intermission. Mendelssohn’s dazzler can be even more fun to play than it is to listen to — a kind of dessert for the hardworking quartet musician — and you could feel both the exuberance and the adrenaline fueling this performance. The
Parker’s Daniel Chong laid into the demanding first violin part with pointed precision and at times explosive energy.
PARKER QUARTET
Kansas City Star  January 23, 2011
Parker Quartet closes Music Alliance’s first season in lushly
romantic fashion
BY ROBERT FOLSOM
The Parker Quartet wrapped up the inaugural season of the Music Alliance — a partnership between the University of
Missouri-Kansas City’s Conservatory of Music and Dance and the Friends of Chamber Music — Saturday night at
White Recital Hall with a concert of romantic expressions and modern tensions.
The Romantic era was represented by Antonin Dvorak’s “Cypresses for String Quartet, B. 152,” which opened the
concert, and Felix Mendelssohn’s “Quartet No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 44, No. 2,” which closed the concert.
“Cypresses” is a series of 12 short pieces. The program listed three — I. “I know that on my love” (Moderato); II.
“Death reigns” (Allegro ma non troppo); and IX. “Thou only dear one” (Moderato). But a fourth piece was announced
from the stage: XI. “Nature lies peaceful.”
From the beginning, the Parker Quartet (Daniel Chong, violin; Karen Kim, violin; Jessica Bodner, viola; and Kee-Hyun
Kim, cello) produced a lush chordal sonority. The decision to include “Nature lies peaceful” was a good one; it was
more contrapuntal than the three previous pieces and made a fine conclusion to Dvoøák’s Romantic gestures.
Violinist Kim introduced György Kurtág’s modern “Hommage à Mihály András: Twelve Microludes for String
Quartet, Op. 13,” by having the quartet play the first notes of the first three pieces. The third note was a loud pizzicato
with a grand sweep of bows. The effect was comical, but the execution of the chromatic Kurtág showed that this is a
serious quartet that can navigate the exigencies of atonal gestures with comfortable expertise.
Before intermission, the Parker Quartet performed Paul Hindemith’s five-movement “String Quartet No. 4, Op. 22.”
The first two movements and the last two movements were played without pause, leaving the third movement to stand
alone with a pulse from the cello beneath Hungarian hints of Bartók melodicism.
The quartet played Hindemith’s complex textural score with a conviction that excited the air. How else to clearly
communicate to the 70 or so people in the audience the composer’s neoclassical melodies, counterpoint and rhythms?
When the quartet closed with Mendelssohn’s “Quartet No. 4, “its most striking feature was the aural equivalent of the
sum being greater than its parts: Four-part chords produced a large sound as string overtones reinforced string
overtones.
Otherwise, the Mendelssohn was too light following the Hindemith. The final movement, Presto agitato, had a lulling
effect, in spite of its rhythmic motion.
A better programming choice would have been to end with the Hindemith, with its dramatic, declarative conclusion.
PARKER QUARTET
Buffalo News  December 8, 2010
Parker Quartet justifies Grammy nomination
BY HERMAN TROTTER
The Parker Quartet arrived in Buffalo for its Tuesday evening concert on the Buffalo Chamber Music Society series
proudly toting a brand new Grammy nomination for its Naxos recording of Ligeti’s complete string quartets. And
happily, his Quartet No. 1 (“Metamorphoses Nocturnes”) had been planned months ago for performance during this
visit to Kleinhans’ Mary Seaton Room.
It was the centerpiece of three works from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, each of which was transitional for its
composer and/or for the quartet art form.
His 1954 Quartet No. 1 came at the time when Ligeti (1923-2006) was breaking free from conservatism and finding his
own, more progressive voice. Somewhat reminiscent of Bartok, the quartet is in one continuous movement but
establishes a unique form with short, strident ideas passing in quick and varied succession. They do not, however, leave
a feeling of disorganization or randomness in their wake. The Parker musicians gave such a compelling performance
that it is easy to understand their Grammy nomination.
The concert had opened with Haydn’s 1772 Quartet in C, Op. 20, No. 2. The six Opus 20 quartets were landmarks in
the development and formalizing of the quartet form. No. 2, for example, demonstrated how Haydn established equal
value for the four instruments, opening with the cello intoning a melody actually above its companions, while the viola
and each violin later had its turn in the spotlight.
In the rather heavy, dark Adagio, covering a wide dynamic range, the cello is again entrusted with the main theme,
while the Menuetto is quite chromatic, and the Finale is a joyously bubbling fugue, again with striking dynamic leaps a
prominent feature. The ensembles negotiated all this with fine transparency and clarity of articulation.
Last up was Beethoven’s 1826 Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op. 131, from the group of five late quartets that established
new, elevated levels of vision and profundity that still stand apart 184 years later. In seven movements played without
pause, Beethoven’s creativity seems propelled by a restlessness, as though he just couldn’t wait to get his next startling
idea onto the score and out into the air.
The artists were technically right on top of everything and were especially expressive in the turbulent second
movement, the exciting thrust and energy of the fifth and seventh movements, and provided the gently lilting Andante
variations with superb pacing and phrasing. The opening fugue was a bit too deliberate, and the artists were also prone
to occasional overstatement of accented attacks. Some ensembles never get a grip on the towering Op. 131, but the
young Parker Quartet seems well on its way to finding an individual and enduring conception of this masterwork.
PARKER QUARTET
Times Union  November 22, 2010
Parker Quartet does Haydn justice
BY JOSEPH DALTON
A world of style, color and sentiment came from the Parker Quartet during its Saturday concert presented by the
Friends of Chamber Music at the Emma Willard School.
That's really not so unusual an occurrence. It seems like dynamic fresh-faced quartets are a dime a dozen these days
and the Parker, which easily fits that category, already made a fine local debut at Union College back in 2006. What
made Saturday's program surprising and special is that the breadth of expression was wrought from music by just one
composer, and that it was Haydn at that.
Though he completed 67 quartets and 104 symphonies, it's easy to think of Haydn's music, with its neat classical
strains, as all the same. That's partly due to how it's doled out in single servings, usually as concert openers, warm-ups
really, before musicians move onto meatier material of the romantic and modern eras.
By delivering a succession of three Haydn quartets and keeping it all rather fresh, the Parker showed both
thoughtfulness and imagination. Add in the fact that they played everything from memory and this concert was a
stunning accomplishment. It's a good thing they're recording the program later this week in Boston.
The opener was the best, the Quartet in C Major, Op. 20, No. 2. In the first movement, the violins had a glassy
smoothness and the cello added a warmth depth. The many unison passages of the Adagio sounded as if one big
instrument was playing. And then came the Menuetto. Played in a sotto voce hush and at quite a clip, it brought to mind
an old tape deck set on fast forward. The notes were all there but fast and shadowy.
Next up was the Quartet in G Major, Op. 74 No. 3 "The Rider." First violinist Daniel Chong had a few pitch problems
early on, but so much was happening all the time one hardly had space to ponder the small errors. A cool detail came in
the spinning texture all the players put on the first note of the bouncing main them in that same opening Allegro. It was
like a baseball pitcher throwing a fast curve ball with a fancy wind up. The finale galloped right along and explained
the piece's subtitle.
There were no moments in the final Quartet in F Major, Op. 77 No. 2 to match what came before intermission. But the
same warm loving embrace of the music was still there. As an encore, the lively scherzo from Op. 77, No. 1 brought
the evening to a close.
Parker Quartet
La Crosse Tribune • April 11, 2010
Parker Quartet dazzles Viterbo crowd
BY TERRY RINDFLEISCH
La Crosse native and violinist Karen Kim frequently mentioned her quartet’s striking chemistry during the ensemble’s
residency in La Crosse schools the past few days.
On Sunday, the Parker Quartet displayed that chemistry and showed why it is one of the world’s best young string
quartets, dazzling a Bright Star Season audience at Viterbo University.
The St.-Paul based quartet, made up of graduates of New England Conservatory of Music in Boston in their 20s,
sparkles like a diamond with its magnificent sound and clear, concise tone. The Parker Quartet opened with a fantastic
performance of Hadyn’s first quartet. The ensemble played the Haydn piece with a lightness and brilliance.
The three pieces for string quartet and concertino by Igor Stravinsky showed off the delicate intricacies and
complexities of ensemble playing. The Parker Quartet painted a wonderful abstract picture with fluidity and
exuberance.
The Parker Quartet finished with the glorious second quartet by Robert Schumann. The ensemble brought a freshness
and charm to this masterpiece. The Parker Quartet is an extraordinary well-balanced, fine-tuned foursome with
impeccable technique and intonation and phenomenal phrasing.
This quartet plays with maturity and wisdom beyond their years. This concert was pure joy.
Contact: Christina Schmitt
[email protected]
651-290-1449
www.mpr.org
CLASSICAL MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO TO HOST THE PARKER QUARTET
DURING A FIRST-EVER ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCY
The Parker Quartet to perform concerts throughout the region, including
The Varsity Theater in Minneapolis on April 15
(St. Paul, Minn.)—December 15, 2009—Classical Minnesota Public Radio announced
today its first-ever artists-in-residency, the Parker Quartet. The group will embark on a
multi-tiered program throughout 2010—which includes appearances on Performance
Today broadcasts, concerts throughout the region and at a non-traditional venue, The
Varsity Theater in Minneapolis. The group will also teach masters classes, and will host
a national string quartet competition for aspiring classical musicians.
“We have long hoped to host an up-and-coming classical music group,” says Brian
Newhouse, senior producer, Classical Minnesota Public Radio. “When we met the
Parker Quartet, we said, „Yes—bingo!‟ They are so wonderful and generous with their
performances and their can-do spirit about working together.”
The Parker Quartet features rising stars in the classical music world. The New York
Times calls the Parker Quartet “something extraordinary.” The Boston Globe hails their
“fiercely committed performances.” The Washington Post declares them “a quartet that
deserves close attention.” Just three months after winning the 2005 Concert Artists Guild
Competition, the Quartet captured First Prize and the Mozart Prize at the Bordeaux
International String Quartet Competition, sparking international acclaim. In 2009, the
Parker Quartet was awarded the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award.
“The most exciting thing about this residency is the feeling of possibility,” said Karen
Kim, violinist for the Parker Quartet. “There is a great desire to support the arts in this
community, and we can‟t wait to see how far we can take this.”
As a significant community and cultural Minnesota institution, MPR works closely with
organizations such as the Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and
others to bring fine musicians to larger audiences. MPR believes that accessibility is key
to the future of classical music, and thus will provide low ticket prices for all of The
Parker Quartet regional concerts.
The Parker Quartet‟s residency with Classical Minnesota Public Radio is sponsored in
part by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, created by the Minnesota Legacy
Amendment. State funding is used only for residency activities that take place in
Minnesota.
More about the Parker Quartet
The Parker Quartet has distinguished itself as one of the preeminent ensembles of its
generation. The Parker Quartet began its professional touring career in 2002, and in
2005 sparked international acclaim by winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition as
well as the Grand Prix and Mozart Prize at the 2005 Bordeaux International String
Quartet Competition in France. Most recently, the Quartet was awarded the prestigious
2009-2011 Cleveland Quartet Award.
The Parker Quartet are Daniel Chong (violin), Karen Kim (violin), Jessica Bodner (viola)
and Kee-Hyun Kim (cello). Equally at home in a concert hall or a downtown club, the
Parker Quartet has been profiled in Time Out NY, The Boston Globe, Chamber Music
Magazine, and on Musical America.com for their pioneering performances in nontraditional venues. Each member holds graduate degrees from the New England
Conservatory of Music.
The Parker Quartet is currently is in its second season as Quartet-in-Residence with the
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Quartet members are the first-ever Artists-inResidence with Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media. In addition to the
Quartet‟s extensive international tours, recent U.S. appearances include performances
at the Library of Congress, the Caramoor Center, Market Square Concerts and the
Detroit Chamber Music Society.
The Parker Quartet‟s 2007 debut commercial recording (released by Zig-Zag
Territoires), which featured Bartok‟s String Quartets Nos. 2 and 5, received high praise
from industry critics including Gramophone. Their latest recording, of György Ligeti‟s
String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2 and Andante & Allegretto, was released on the Naxos label
in 2009 and will be available in stores this month.
For more information about the Parker Quartet, go to www.parkerquartet.com/. Exclusive
North American management for the Parker Quartet is provided by Opus 3 Artists,
www.opus3artists.com/.
Copies of the Parker Quartet‟s most recent CD are available upon request.
The Parker Quartet to be heard on Performance Today broadcasts
Every first Thursday of the month, starting January 7, 2010 from 11 am.-1 p.m. CST, the
Parker Quartet will join host Fred Child for a performance and chat on Performance
Today. The broadcasts will go through summer 2010.
Tune in: Performance Today is heard weekdays 11 a.m.-1 p.m. CST on all Classical
Minnesota Public Radio stations and on classical public stations nationwide, and online
at performancetoday.publicradio.org/.
Schedule of The Parker Quartet’s regional concerts:
Bemidji: Thursday, January 21
7:30 p.m.
Bemidji State University, Thompson Recital Hall in the Bangsberg Fine Arts Complex,
Bemidji, MN
Tickets: $20 adults / $5 students. MPR members receive a discount. For tickets, call
218-755-2915.
Sioux Falls: Saturday, January 23
2 p.m.
Augustana College, Kresge Recital Hall, Sioux Falls, SD
Tickets: $12 adults / $8 for seniors and students. MPR members receive a discount. For
tickets, call 605-274-5320 or go online at augietickets.com
Duluth: Tuesday, February 2
7:30 p.m.
St Scholastica, Mitchell Auditorium, Duluth, MN
Tickets: $17 adults / $5 students. MPR members receive a discount. For tickets, call
218-723-7000 or go online at www.css.edu/mitchell.xml.
Decorah: Thursday, March 4
7:30 p.m.
Luther College, Jenson Nobel Recital Hall, Decorah, Iowa.
Tickets: $15 adults / $10 seniors and students. Free to Luther College students. MPR
members receive a discount. For tickets, call 563-387-1357 or go online at
http://boxoffice.luther.edu.
Minneapolis: Thursday, April 15
7 p.m.
The Varsity Theater, Minneapolis, MN
Tickets: $12/$10 for Minnesota Public Radio members. For tickets, go to
varsitytheater.org.
Parker Quartet
The Boston Globe  January 22, 2010
Four’s a charm for Parker Quartet
BY DAVID WEININGER
Pictured, from left: Karen Kim, Kee-Hyun Kim, Jessica Bodner, and Daniel Chong of the Parker Quartet. (Janette Beckman)
The Parker Quartet is one of four ensembles to have come out of New England Conservatory’s prestigious Professional
String Quartet Training Program. Like the other three, the Parker - which graduated from the program in 2008 and
whose members were also undergraduates at NEC - The quartet recently released its second CD: the two string quartets
of Hungarian composer György Ligeti, along with an early Andante and Allegretto (Naxos). If these recordings are
anything to go by, the Parker’s future is bright indeed. Both quartets consist of knotty, difficult music. The first, written
in the mid-1950s, takes off from Bartok and is full of the older master’s angular melodies, jarring rhythms, and crunchy
dissonances; the second - one of Ligeti’s best-known chamber pieces - unveils a kaleidoscope of unusual textures.
The Parkers tear through this music with both pinpoint precision and a spectacular sense of urgency. Whether the music
floats or pounds, they play with a confidence of those speaking a native language.
The quartet’s website features two videos made at the recording sessions, and for all the music’s nervous intensity, the
Parker Quartet’s members seem to radiate an air of calm mastery over it. For years, the preferred recording of these two
Parker Quartet
The Boston Globe  January 22, 2010
page 2 of 2
works has been that by the Arditti String Quartet in Sony’s Ligeti Edition; this is the first real competition to come
along, as the Parkers match them at virtually every turn.
Hopefully the quartet, currently in its second season in residence with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, will soon make
a visit to its old stomping ground. Until then, this excellent CD will serve as proof positive of its potential.
www.parkerquartet.com
Parker Quartet
The Washington Post  December 21, 2009
Parker String Quartet at Library of Congress
BY JOE BANNO
Beethoven's late quartets are still, after nearly 200 years, among the best barometers for assessing a string quartet's
interpretive profile. These complex, emotionally restive works from the end of the composer's life open themselves to a
wide variety of responses. They prove alternately nostalgic and daringly forward-looking in terms of style.
The Parker String Quartet -- a youthful ensemble of New England Conservatory grads -- brought freshness and light to
the first of the late quartets, the E-flat Quartet, Op. 127, at the Library of Congress on Friday. There was a notable ardor
and tenderness to the first movement, a rapt reflectiveness in the second, and subtly inflected, quicksilver engagement
with Beethoven's intricate writing in the Scherzando and Finale. Nothing was offhand or superficial in the Parker's
emotionally mature reading, but the players found the breath of youth under the composer's autumnal ruminations.
Haydn's Quartet in C, Op. 20, No. 2, drew a performance that was so light on its feet it was practically airborne, though
the ensemble also made compelling work of the plunge into darkness at the opening of the slow movement. And in
Henri Dutilleux's moody and mysterious first string quartet, "Ainsi la Nuit," the Parker distilled a potently unsettling
atmosphere from coloristic devices like sudden bursts of pizzicato, a series of eerie upper-string harmonics and the
evocatively slow decay of released notes. Stradivari, Amati and Guarneri instruments from the library's collection,
loaned to the musicians for this recital, contributed silver-toned elegance to everything they played.
Parker Quartet
The Tallahassee Democrat  January 26, 2009
Parker String Quartet shines with electric concert performance
BY STEVE HICKEN
We don't get to hear a great many of the superstars of the concert music world here in Tallahassee. But because
Tallahassee is a music center we do get to hear quite a few up-and-comers. Among the best of the many young string
quartets that have appeared in the United States in the last few years is the Parker String Quartet, who played a program
of quartets by Franz Joseph Haydn, Béla Bartók, and Ludwig van Beethoven as part of the Artist Series at Florida
A&M University's Lee Hall Auditorium on Sunday afternoon.
Haydn was the first to develop the string quartet as a genre (as opposed to a piece that happens to be written for two
violins, viola, and cello), and his Quartet in G Major (Op. 76, No.1) is one of the genre's first masterpieces. The Parkers
(violinists Daniel Chong and Karen Kim, violist Jessica Bodner, and cellist Kee-Hyun Kim) brought the piece's
elegance and humor, playing with a light touch in the first three movements, with the second, slow movement marked
by beautifully realized ensemble phrasing.
The furious pace and aggression of the last movement revealed an overall arc to the piece in which the first three
movements were foils for the last-in most music of Haydn's era much of the expressive content is front-loaded in the
first movement. This interpretation was convincingly delivered, as the Parkers pushed the finale to the breaking point,
but never beyond.
Along with Dmitri Shostakovich and Elliott Carter, Bartók was one of the great quartet composers of the 20th century.
His Fourth Quartet (he wrote six) contains many of the hallmarks of the composer's mature style-the folk-like melodies,
dissonant tonal harmonies, driving rhythms, arch forms (where pieces have an odd number of movements and the
central movement is in some ways the most important), and nocturnal slow movements.
Sunday's performance was electrifying, with the playing distinguished by a rhythmic expressiveness and intensity that
was now violent, now playful, and always right together. The third movement of the Quartet is a series of expressive
solos over quietly shifting chords, and it gave each of the Parkers a chance to shine.
The concert closed with an expansive performance of Beethoven's Quartet in Eb Major (Op. 127), one of the series of
deeply searching and introspective quartets the composer wrote near the end of his life. The reading emphasized how
the rhythmic details work with the work's large-scale structure to create the overall effect, and the Parker Quartet pulled
it off beautifully.
The Parker String Quartet is another reason to feel optimistic about concert music performance in the years to come.
Parker Quartet
The Tallahassee Democrat  January 23, 2009
The Parker Quartet is busy making Beethoven hip
BY MARK HINSON
More than 70 teenage music students sat quietly on the floor of the band room at Florida High on Wednesday afternoon
while members of the visiting Parker Quartet blazed their way through a Beethoven scherzo.
The players were met with enthusiastic applause when they finally scampered to a halt during the informal in-school
recital.
"The Beethoven piece was off the chain," senior and alto-sax player Desmond Thomas, 18, said after the music was
over. "It sounded perfect. It was real cool."
The Parker Quartet is hoping for a similar reaction when the foursome performs a public concert at FAMU on Sunday
afternoon as part of the Artist Series season. The program features Beethoven's Quartet in E-flat Major, Opus 127, Bela
Bartok's String Quartet No. 4 and Joseph Haydn's String Quartet in G Major, Opus 76.
Haydn was also on the menu and the minds of Parker Quartet musicians during the Florida High stopover - one of
many school visits the group made this week as part of an artist-in-residence program for the Artist Series.
"You've probably heard of Mozart and Beethoven, but Haydn was Mozart and Beethoven's teacher," violinist Karen
Kim told the students. "There are over 80 string quartets Haydn wrote. If you only remember one name from today,
remember Haydn."
The Parker Quartet formed seven years ago when Kim, violist Jessica Bodner, violinist Daniel Chong and cellist KeeHyun Kim met as students at the New England Conservatory in Boston. They took their name from Beantown's
landmark Parker House Hotel.
"That's where Parker rolls, Boston baked beans and Boston cream pies came from," Kee-Hyun Kim told the Florida
High students, and that seemed to impress them almost as much as the Beethoven piece.
During a question-and-answer session, students peppered the Parkers with queries that ranged from what modern
groups were on quartet members' iPods (lots of Radiohead, by the way) to why Chong's 400-year-old violin has a
transparent chin rest.
"Oh, I got this in Paris because I thought it looked cool," Chong said. "It's really comfortable. It's made of the material
they use to reconstruct bone."
That, of course, brought an immediate chorus of "coooooollllll" from the kids.
Speaking of kids . . .
The Tallahassee Community Chorus is inviting the Swift Creek Middle School Chorus to add fresh vocal flavor to a
performance of English composer John Rutter's Mass of the Children during this weekend's Unity Concert.
Mass of the Children was first performed at Carnegie Hall in 2003 and dedicated to Rutter's young son, who was struck
by a car and killed in 2001.
Don't worry, the mass - which also incorporates a poem by William Blake -- is more inspirational than funereal.
Parker Quartet
Tallahassee Democrat  January 23, 2009
page 2 of 2
The Unity Concert has been dubbed as "Our Tribute to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" because Joanne Rogers, the
widow of Public Television's beloved "Mister" Fred Rogers, will be a special guest at the show. Rogers also graduated
from Florida State College of Music, where she studied with the renowned composer and professor Ernst von
Dohnanyi.
The music starts at 8 p.m. Saturday at Bradfordville First Baptist Church, 6494 Thomasville Road. FSU choral king
Andre Thomas will conduct the Community Chorus and Mary Biddlecombe will direct the middle-schoolers. Soprano
Nichole Nordschow and baritone Alexander Elliot will be the featured soloists.
PARKER QUARTET
RECEIVES THE CLEVELAND QUARTET AWARD, LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE
November 12, 2008 Chamber
Music America (CMA) announced
today that the Parker Quartet has
been selected to receive the Cleveland Quartet Award.
the Cleveland Quartet Award and Endowment Fund, which is manto raise funds for the establishment aged by CMA. To learn more about
of the Cleveland Quartet Endow- Chamber Music America visit
ment Fund. The first recipient was www.chamber-music.org.
the Brentano String Quartet, and
subsequent recipients were the The Cleveland Quartet Award will
Established in 1995, the biennial Borromeo, Miami, Pacifica, Miró be presented on January 18, 2009,
award honors and promotes a ris- and Jupiter quartets.
at Chamber Music America’s Naing young string quartet whose
tional Conference in New York City.
artistry
demonThe eight-venue
strates that it is in
performance tour
the process of esassociated
with
tablishing a major
the award will
career.
“Among
take place during
the many talentthe 2009-10 and
ed string quartets
2010-2011 seaperforming today,
sons. The presentthe Parker Quartet
ers are: Buffalo
has shown extraorChamber Music
dinary skill and
Society (Buffalo,
artistic maturity,”
NY); Carnegie Hall
said Margaret M.
(New York, NY);
Lioi, Chamber MuChamber Music
sic America’s chief
Society of Deexecutive officer.
troit (Detroit, MI);
“It is our great
Freer Gallery of
pleasure to recogArt at the Smithnize them with the
sonian,
(WashCleveland Quartet
ington,
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The Parker Quartet has launched a new website!
Award for their
Friends of ChamThe website includes audio and video, a Flickr photo stream,
past achievements
ber Music (Kansas
press information, a blog and full touring schedule.
as well as for the
City, MO); Market
exciting
career
Square Concerts
that lies ahead.”
(Harrisburg, PA);
Krannert Center at
History of the Award: The cre- The award is not a competition. the University of Illinois at Urbanaation of a lasting legacy for young Nominations are submitted confi- Champaign (Urbana, IL); and the
musicians was envisioned by the dentially to Chamber Music Amer- University of Texas at Austin (AusCleveland Quartet in 1995, as ica (CMA) by a national roster of tin, TX).
a culmination of its remarkable chamber musicians, presenters,
twenty-six-year history. The quartet and educators. The winning string
joined forces with Chamber Mu- quartet’s presentations and persic America and eight prominent formances are funded by income
chamber music presenters to fund from the Cleveland Quartet Award
ARTISTS
http://www.parkerquartet.com
Parker Quartet
Sydney Morning Herald  September 4, 2008
Selby and friends
BY PETER McCALLUM
For those worried that the glorious heritage of European chamber music might have been starting to resemble the
crumbling palaces of a bygone empire, the quality and number of new, young string quartets suggest it is premature to
grieve (as Wordsworth put it) that even the shade of that which once was great has passed away.
Joining Kathryn Selby in her Friends series, the Parker Quartet from the United States is a welcome manifestation of
this phenomenon. The players, in their mid-20s, play not only with the precision of intonation and ensemble which has
become sine qua non for young groups (not always, alas, for older ones), but, more importantly, showed warmth and a
sincere musical commitment and reverence.
To start, most in the audience listened to John Field’s Piano Quintet in A flat, H 34, with pleasure but without
astonishment: the sound was warm but why shouldn’t it be in such a homely sentimental tune? The balance between
this and the Chopinesque piano figuration from Selby was charming and quaint.
The performance of Gyorgy Ligeti’s String Quartet No. 2 (1968) reversed this for some, apparently bringing
astonishment without pleasure, though on the whole the reception was strong. It was interesting to hear how well this
high point of post-war avant-gardism had aged when played with this level of care. Far from sounding like dated
experimentalism, the work kept tension alive through its textural inventiveness, and its tense dichotomy of still,
sparsely spaced sounds, punctuated by explosive harshness which then decayed into scurrying murmurs.
Finishing the first half was a beautiful and tender performance of the slow movement of Samuel Barber’s String
Quartet No.1, better known in its justly admired orchestral arrangement as the Adagio for Strings.
It was in Dvorak’s Piano Quintet, Opus 81, in the second half, however, that one started to know the individuals.
Jessica Bodner on viola played the haunting second movement melody with beguiling simplicity and a glorious sound,
while cellist Kee-Hyun Kim had a capacity to give the bass line direction, interest and tension, against which leader
Daniel Chong and Karen Kim created a violin sound of incisive but coloured clarity.
Selby has chosen her friends well.
Parker String Quartet
Washington Post  May 19, 2008
Borromeo Quartet's Whirlwind Weekend
BY DANIEL GINSBERG
To attend the Borromeo String Quartet concerts at the Library of Congress over the weekend was to catch glimpses of
chamber music's future. Dissolved was the image of churchly presentation of God-touched masterworks; one felt
inserted into an airy, sunlit studio where artists struggle -- through skill, experimentation and work -- to define some
deeply held yet amorphous vision.
The idea was to squeeze into less than 24 hours an artistic residency that usually evolves over weeks. In concerts on
Friday evening and Saturday afternoon, vivid readings of edgy contemporary pieces were paired with white-hot
performances of tried-and-true warhorses. A Saturday morning workshop dealt with the mysteries of quartet playing;
the session was filmed for the Web, one of the visit's several smart uses of technology.
To underscore its teaching role at the New England Conservatory, the Borromeo shared the stage on Friday with the
Parker Quartet, an exciting graduate-level ensemble at the Boston school. Playing with a delicacy and precision that
belied the members' youthful looks, the Parker gave full form to Gyorgy Kurtag's "Six Moments Musicaux," Op. 44,
each miniature arising like a bountiful universe. Two of the Parker members joined the Borromeo for an explosive
reading of Tchaikovsky's "Souvenir de Florence," in which madly driving tempos and strongly drawn details sacrificed
nothing in narrative flow.
At the workshop, discussions centered on the myriad issues of articulation, balance and phrasing that arise in working
up any masterpiece. The New England Conservatory Quartet -- a college-level ensemble working with the Borromeo -performed in a nicely turned account of Haydn's Quartet Op. 76, No. 4 ("Sunrise"). The Parker read again through a
few of the "Moments," and the Borromeo brought out the dancing ecstasy of Beethoven's "Holy Song of
Thanksgiving," from Op. 132.
The final concert was about string color and tone, as the Borromeo played the first movement of Beethoven's Quartet
Op. 18, No. 3, on the library's priceless collection of Guarneri and Stradivarius instruments. Returning to its own
instruments, the ensemble gave a blended, ruby-throated account of the complete work. The Parker closed out with
Dvorak's flowing Quartet in E-flat, Op. 51; it went down like a well-deserved dessert after an intense, illuminating and
ultimately enjoyable weekend.
NE W Y O R K | L O S AN G E L E S
Parker Quartet
Boston Globe ∙ April 13, 2008
Kurtag for Kids?
Young listeners are ready for a challenge, says this quartet
BY JEREMY EICHLER
Because the Parker Quartet routinely
plays for children, its members have
learned a couple of important things.
First, little kids never get the memo
that says that classical music is for
adults only. Second, they have
wonderfully open ears and can
respond to a vast range of music
without prejudice.
Take for example the family concert
that the quartet will play at Concord
Chamber Music Society on April 20.
It includes a few movements of Haydn, but it will also feature a series of "Moments Musicaux" by
Gyorgy Kurtag, a contemporary Hungarian composer whose tense, volatile music may well give some
parents pause when it appears on one of their own subscription concerts. Could this really be a good idea
for kids?
"Definitely," says Karen Kim, one of the Parker violinists. "Kids have such a different perspective
on music. They're so open to contemporary music and love being exposed to the different sounds that
come about. And they have no problem whatsoever saying whatever they think."
At the heart of the Parker's program in Concord is a piece called "Aaponi's Destiny," written for
them by composer Erik Jorgensen and described as a "Choose Your Own Adventure Musical Odyssey."
The piece is about a mayfly given just one day to live, and the kids decide whether she should stay in the
country or go to New York City to maybe catch an opera, drop by Central Park, or go to a ballgame, with
the music of course tailored to their choices.
This sort of creative approach to children's programming seems typical of the Parker Quartet, a
locally based ensemble whose members will soon be completing a graduate program at New England
N E W Y O RK | L OS A N G E LE S
Parker Quartet
The Boston Globe ∙ April 13, 2008
page 2 of 2
Conservatory and, armed with new management, will probably be leaving Boston to hazard its fortunes in
the competitive world of professional string quartets. While still a graduate ensemble at NEC, the Parker
has been making a name for itself both through traditional recitals but also with gigs in casual spaces like
the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge and a Brooklyn bar called Barbes. The quartet gives its graduation
recital in Jordan Hall on April 29.
While still in town, the group has recently been working with the German avant-garde composer
Helmut Lachenmann, whose music is full of rasps, whispers, and nontraditional noise effects, but
according to Kim, even this formidable fare goes down well on children's programs.
"When we play Lachenmann on a normal concert, we know there are going to be some unhappy
audience members." she said. "But we just played it for some kids in Rockport. They loved it. They told
us that it sounded like UFOs."
Parker Quartet
New York Times ∙ September 18, 2007
Classical Works in a Bar’s Back Room
BY ALLAN KOZINN
It seemed simple enough to the naked eye: the Parker String Quartet was spending Sunday
evening giving high-energy performances of Bartok and Ligeti works in the back room at Barbès, a bar in
Park Slope, and a few dozen drink-nursing listeners — as many as the room could hold — packed in to
hear them.
But other agendas were also at play. Concert Artists Guild, which runs the annual competition
that this quartet won in 2005, and has traditionally managed its winners, is now retooling its approach. It
is teaching its musicians to manage their own careers and is presenting them not only in standard
programs but also at spaces like Barbès.
And the Parker Quartet, formed in 2002, when its members were students, is intent on reaching
new audiences as it builds its career. The group has its own series at Barbès.
The Sunday concert, which opened its series, gave the players a chance to work through the
thorny Ligeti scores they are recording next month for Naxos. But they opened the program with the first
movement of the Bartok Third Quartet, as an overture of sorts, a glimpse of Ligeti’s roots in Hungarian
modernism. The points of contact are chromatic density and a penchant for sudden shifts between eerie,
harmonically vague atmospherics and explosive bursts of solid, sharp-edged chords.
The Parker Quartet is equally persuasive at both extremes: in the Bartok movement and in
Ligeti’s two full-fledged quartets, these musicians brought considerable warmth and richness of tone to
sweetly accented themes and gentle chordal writing, and unbridled textural brashness to the more volatile
passages.
By including the early Andante and Allegretto (1950), they gave a sense of Ligeti’s
compositional journey — or at least as much of it as the quartets represent. With their regular rhythms
and thematic charm, the Andante and Allegretto are rooted in Viennese Classicism. The First Quartet
(1954) breaks away, taking Bartok’s acerbic harmonic language as a starting point, and magnifying it.
And the Second Quartet (1968), with its fleet, swirling, harmonically ambiguous pianissimo figures and
pizzicato polyrhythms, evokes the Ligeti of “Lux Aeterna” and “Atmosphères.
The informality of the concert apparently demanded a chattiness that didn’t always serve the
music. Stopping the Ligeti Second Quartet after each movement for a meandering introduction, for
example, seemed needless. And asserting that Ligeti performances have been plentiful only since his
death last year left the impression that these players haven’t paid attention to concert programs other than
their own.
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Parker Quartet
New York Times ∙ September 18, 2007
page 2 of 2
Still, there was a lot to be said for the friendly, even jovial give-and-take between musicians and
audience. And for the listeners, no doubt the visceral thrill of hearing such intense music making in such a
tiny space is part of the draw. This is as close as you’re going to get to a quartet in full flight without
playing in one.
Parker Quartet
Time Out New York ∙ January 4, 2007
A Holiday for Strings
BY BRIAN WISE
A string quartet walks into a bar.… It might sound like the setup for a bad joke, but it’s a reality
for a pair of young quartets taking the stage in New York this month. The Chiara String Quartet, after
more than five years of playing at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, will be devoting a significant part of
its 2007 schedule performing in bars and clubs that normally feature folk, bluegrass and experimental
music. And the Parker String Quartet—whose members are graduate students at Boston’s New England
Conservatory—recently rented a van and toured nightclubs up and down the East Coast. This summer it
will begin a residency at Park Slope club Barbès.
Most quartets measure success one plush concert hall at a time; a club is a one-off novelty at best.
But both the Chiara and the Parker contend that permitting listeners to relax with a beer or cocktail can
attract people in their twenties and thirties, who might find traditional venues alienating. “This gives us a
chance to reach audiences our age who might like classical music, but find the experience of going to hear
it unfamiliar,” says Karen Kim, a violinist in the Parker Quartet, which will play a more conventional
booking at the Walter Reade Theater January 28. “Many people our age aren’t used Photo: Janette
Beckmann
to the formality of the concert hall, and they can’t always afford the ticket prices.
Although members of both quartets report that the crowds at bars are on average half the age of
traditional concertgoers, such venues are also foreign territory for classical music. Acoustics in even the
most music-friendly clubs aren’t always accommodating, forcing the groups to use amplification. Few
bars pay as well as traditional concert halls, and luxuries such as a dressing room are often nonexistent.
But both the Chiara and Parker are eager to adapt to the atmosphere, and typically adjust their
programming to suit the space.
Both groups are surprised by what pieces work in a bar. Quiet, delicate works are generally
avoided, but modernist fare can do well. The Parker often plays the third of Webern’s Five Movements, a
short, bristling 12-tone work, while the Chiara has found success with the middle movement of Bartok’s
thorny String Quartet No. 2. The quartets will also craft set lists on the day of a performance—a practice
unheard of in traditional halls, which send out brochures advertising their programs months in advance.
The idea of breaking through to alternative audiences has even affected the way these quartets
market themselves. The Chiara recently launched a page on MySpace.com featuring audio clips and tour
updates, and now mans a merchandise table at concerts. Meanwhile, the Parker regularly shares double
bills with pop acts to divide costs and maximize exposure. Last fall, the quartet toured with Wynn Walent,
a local singer-songwriter; this winter it has appeared with the Boston Afrobeat Society.
Both ensembles acknowledge that even in the most flexible nightspot, things can go awry. Parker
Quartet violinist Daniel Chong recalls the time a tipsy patron knocked over his music stand during a
Mozart quartet. Still, he notes, club audiences are surprisingly attentive. “Even if the bar’s really rowdy
when we first walk in,” he says, “it is amazing how quiet it can get, and how intently people are
listening.”
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Parker Quartet
Boston Globe ∙ December 7, 2006
Change of Venue is Music to their Ears
BY JEREMY EICHLER
On Tuesday night, I attended two richly satisfying concerts without stepping foot in a concert
hall. The first was a new music program presented by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project at the
Moonshine Room of the popular Club Cafe in the South End; the second was a performance by the upand-coming Parker String Quartet in the Lizard Lounge, a low-slung basement club space in Cambridge.
Next month, the Firebird Ensemble will perform in a local barbecue joint.
What is classical music doing in these spaces? It may sound quirky or even perverse, but it is in
fact an excellent idea and a growing trend. Of course Symphony Hall and Jordan Hall are in no risk of
losing their core constituencies, but they may well stand to gain some listeners if this practice continues.
At 10 p.m., about an hour after the BMOP program ended, I was being handed a wristband at the
Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, and the Parker Quartet, an ensemble of graduate students at New England
Conservatory who have already gained impressive notice, were setting up beneath a pink disco ball
suspended from the ceiling. First violinist Daniel Chong grabbed a mike and welcomed the crowd,
admitting this was the largest young audience they had ever had at a concert.
Indeed, the players in this impressively talented quartet are in their early to mid-20s. It is a sad
fact that students choosing a career in classical music today by and large do not get to perform for
members of their own generation. Friends might show up to support you at a concert, but they are
generally more likely to be found at places, well, like the Lizard Lounge.
It was refreshing to see the Parkers play through some of their repertoire -- movements of works
by Schumann, Mozart, Ligeti, Shostakovich, Ravel -- in this setting. After the quartet blazed through a
Scherzo from Schumann's A-minor quartet, a guy in the corner with a beer offered a spontaneous shout of
"Awesome!" The cellist Kee-Hyun Kim later drew some laughs from the crowd when he introduced the
final Haydn work by announcing they were going to "kick it old school."
But beyond the alternative space and the banter with the audience, what distinguished the Parkers'
set was their fiercely committed performances. They conveyed an appealing sense of urgency in Ravel's
Quartet, and brought out the rugged extraterrestrial beauty of Ligeti's First Quartet. These qualities come
through all the more strongly in such an intimate venue. If you had closed your eyes during many parts of
the set, the biggest difference from what you might hear in a concert hall was the rapt silence. There were
no coughs, no cellphones.
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Parker Quartet
The Boston Globe ∙ December 7, 2006
page 2 of 2
Alternative spaces are not a panacea -- there can be obvious logistical problems, bad PA systems,
obnoxious or indifferent crowds, and myriad other challenges -- but they are spicing up the scene while
allowing, at times, for a rare directness of connection with both new audiences and traditional ones.
Ultimately, the battle for the next generation of listeners should be won or lost based on the quality of the
music being offered and the persuasiveness of the performances. Sometimes this requires slicing through
the traditional packaging that, when viewed from the outside, can too often be mistaken for the concert
experience itself.
Parker Quartet
The News-Times ∙ October 27, 2006
Young audience warms up to quartet
BY JAN STRIBULA
NEWTOWN – Scores of eighth grade students were immersed in chamber music at the Edmond Town
Hall on Sunday afternoon, attentively listening to the Parker String Quartet. Newtown Friends of Music
helped them get ready for a school outreach program to be held on Monday at Newtown Middle School.
By the end of the performance, I think every one had an ear-stretching lesson in music appreciation.
Students themselves, the members of the Parker String Quartet attend The New England Conservatory,
where they are their critically acclaimed graduate quartet in residence. The young masters are violinists
Daniel Chong and Karen Kim, violist Jessica Bodner, and cellist Kee-Hyun Kim. Each of them, in their
own right, is an accomplished musician, and they combine to form a vibrant expressive ensemble.
Still celebrating his 250th birthday, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) gave us his “String Quartet
in G Major, K.387” when he was 26 years old. Kim’s cello sounded quite cheerful in the light hearted
Allegro Vivace assai movement. Clear contrapuntal accents marked the Menuetto, with lots of body
language, especially from violinist Kim. The members of the quartet were paying close attention as they
accompanied each other, reacting in unison to what was going on.
The adventurous contemporary composer Gyorgy Ligeti (1923-2006) may be best known for pieces used
in soundtracks for Stanley Kubrick movies, like “2001, A Space Odyssey.” His unusual “String Quartet
No.1: Metamorphoses nocturnes” used sudden changes in rhythmic patterns, converging and diverging
tonalities. A host of eerie audio emanations with flashes of brightness created a sense of intensity in the
night.
Certainly not standard listening material familiar to the mind’s ear. I’m not quite sure what to make of
the music. But the Parker String Quartet performed the piece with the sense that they’ve taken this
voyage with Ligeti before and knew just where they were going. Chong’s violin acrobatics were out of
this world. Similar to Kubrick’s “2001”, there seems to be quite a story to be told, once it’s understood,
but it’s by no means transparent on first exposure.
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Parker Quartet
Times Union ∙ November 4, 2006
Young players bring a classical repertoire
BY JOSEPH DALTON
SCHENECTADY … The Parker String Quartet, a young, award-winning ensemble from New
York, showed itself in a variety of guises during its Friday evening performance at Union College’s
Memorial Chapel. They gave a come-hither daintiness to Mozart, and let loose some giddy-up-let’s-go
revelry in Schumann.
And then there was the encore … one movement from Webern’s Five Pieces for String Quartet.
Taut, shrill and creepy, it was no more than 30 seconds long. Perhaps it was offered as a delayed
Halloween treat.
There was also a grander foray into modernism, Gyorgy Ligeti’s Quartet No. 1 “Metamorphosis
Nocturnes,” which began with a hair-raising, almost violent intensity. A 20-minute stream of
uninterrupted character pieces, it included a ghoulish secretive dialogue, a rollicking chase scene, a
pungent hesitation waltz, and much more. No wonder that choreographer Christopher Wheeldon chose it
for his 2002 dance for New York City Ballet titled “Morphoses.”
The 1954 piece felt very right for the young players. It may not be actual music of their time, but
it’s music of their age … Ligeti wrote it while in his late 20s. What’s more is that the Parker conveyed it
convincingly enough to win over the sometimes-squeamish audience. When people stand to applaud
before intermission you know something worked.
The vibrancy of the Ligeti came as a welcome departure from the quartet’s rather tentative touch
with Mozart’s String Quartet in G major, K.387, which opened the program. The sound was remote,
though there was nuance in every phrase. Also, the dominant tempos were lively, allowing for some
playful personality to come through, especially from the soulful cello of Kee-Hyun Kim. It was like
realizing that being served tea and cookies on fine china and lace doilies didn’t preclude also having a
mirthful conversation.
The program concluded with something mainstream and full voiced, Schumann’s String Quartet
in A minor, Op. 41, No. 1. The themes of the opening movement were not just pastoral but country, as if,
for just a moment, the piece might go off into fiddle playing. One brief phrase in the finale actually
sounded like an Irish reel.
Best of all was the Scherzo. It had a gallop, in both melody and tempo, and was over far too
quickly.
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Parker Quartet
New York Times ∙ November 17, 2005
High Drama via Beethoven and Bartok
BY ALLAN KOZINN
Superb string quartets are plentiful at the moment. But even so, the performance that the Parker
String Quartet gave on Tuesday evening at Weill Recital Hall set the group apart as something
extraordinary.
It was clear from the program's opening bars - those of Beethoven's Quartet in E minor (Op. 59,
No. 2) - that these musicians were determined to keep their phrasing incisive and their textures
transparent. This was Beethoven as high drama, couched in a sound with an unusual presence, depth and
warmth, and pushed to its emotional limits. And the players maintained those characteristics - with some
tweaking to suit the music at hand - in a rigorous program that also included recent work by Gyorgy
Kurtag and Bartok's Fifth Quartet.
What is all the more striking about the group's sound is that the players have achieved it in fairly
short order. The violinists Daniel Chong and Karen Kim, the violist Jessica Bodner and the cellist KeeHyun Kim banded together in 2002 as students at the New England Conservatory. This year, they won the
Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition as well as the Concert Artist Guild Competition.
The concert, part of the Concert Artists Guild's series, was the quartet's New York debut. But the
group brought a souvenir of its visit to Bordeaux as well. Mr. Kurtag's "Six Moments Musicaux Dédies à
Mon Fils" (Op. 44) was written as a test piece for the Bordeaux competition, and it certainly gives a
quartet a workout. Its six movements are varied in shape and texture, but most are spiky to an almost
visual degree, with bursts of angularity offset by passages that range from the dark and tentative to the
pointillistic and high-spirited.
The group closed with a live-wire account of Bartok's difficult Fifth Quartet. Passages that
demand ensemble precision were flawlessly balanced, perfectly tuned and sheathed in lustrous textures.
Even the sections where Bartok asks for deliberately off-pitch playing, or sliding between pitches, moved
with a fluidity that kept the music's currents of anxiety, tension and resolution fully in the spotlight. They
played this work as the perfect modernist counterpart to the Beethoven.
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Parker Quartet
Washington Post ∙ January 25, 2005
A Splash of Color at the Phillips
BY JOAN REINTHALER
It is early in their career and the info on the members of the Parker Quartet has more to say about
who they've studied with (the Cleveland Quartet, the Emerson, the Tokyo and the Takacs) than about
where they have played. But if their performance at the Phillips Collection on Sunday is anything to go
by, this is a quartet that deserves close attention.
First of all, they already have a distinctive personality. It's characterized by an ensemble that
does not sound like an end in itself but, rather, like the result of a focus on the shape, color and weight of
each individual line. Their sound is, at the same time, big and subtle. They propel the music irresistibly
but with extraordinary grace and flexibility and, above all, they make sense of the music.
Their program was the sort that a young group might take on – the Bartok String Quartet No. 2,
the Beethoven Op. 59, No. 2, and, to begin with, the powerful and well-crafted “Nightfields I-II-III”; by
Joan Tower. They are all big, energetic and technically demanding pieces that an ensemble can make a
splash with just by getting through them athletically. What was most impressive about this performance,
however, was that virtuosity never seemed to hold the spotlight. Instead it was Bartok's passion and
introspection, Beethoven's astonishing moodiness and the fine-tuning of Tower's play on timbres that
were projected with energy, and the exhilaration of a risk well taken.
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Parker Quartet
The Strad
FEBRUARY 2006
The Parker Quartet gave the New York premiere of Kurtág’s Moments
musicaux at its own New York debut in Weill Recital Hall (15 November). And although
they had only had the parts for six months, these young musicians gave a finely nuanced
and deeply felt performance. The Parker’s Beethoven (op.59 no.2) was well
characterized, too, and exciting from start to finish. The quartet has a tendency to rush in
fast passages, and its playing can be more expressive in forte than in piano, but I’m
guessing these issues will sort themselves out. I had no reservations whatsoever about its
Bartók Fifth Quartet, which was ferocious yet controlled. The Parker never used force;
the players always let the music speak – thrillingly – for itself.
APRIL 2007
Earlier that day, the Parker Quartet played Haydn, Webern and Ravel with
immensely pleasurable tonal and stylistic sophistication. Haydn's 'Rider' opened the
ensembles matinee program at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater (29 January). It
and Webern's Five Movements op.5 were fully realised on the player's own terms, and it
was fascinating to hear the connections between those two Austrian masterpieces. Ravel's
Quartet in F major, although as immaculately played as the other works, did not possess
the full measure of Gallic style and sound; however, the group's conception was so
clearly in the right direction that attainment must be merely a matter of time.
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