Indivisible by Four: A String Quartet in Pursuit of Harmony

Media:	Paperback
Author:	Arnold Steinhardt
Publisher:	Farrar Straus Giroux
Release date:	01 June, 2000
List price:	~~$15.00~~
Our price:	$10.20 that is 32% off!

Indivisible by Four: A String Quartet in Pursuit of Harmony

Average rating: Stars

Bravo, Arnold Steinhardt!

This wonderfully humorous and true-to-the-art book is sweet music to anyone who loves chamber music. Steinhardt gets it so right throughout this delightful book, I, like many of the other reviewers was disappointed when I reached the last page - I wanted it to keep on going...

Steinhardt hits a universal chord that will resonate particularly well with those "insiders" who have performed chamber music at any level. While reading it, I found myself digging into my CDs and listening to the piece the author was describing. The unique commentary accompanied by the performance brought me a new appreciation for the string quartet genre.

Indivisible by Four: A String Quartet in Pursuit of Harmony - Arnold Steinhardt

Insightful and touching

I wish this book would have had twice as many pages, at the least. I found it utterly impossible to put down, raced through it in barely two days, and now feel bereft for having reached the end. Fortunately, the Guarneri's themselves are still going strong, though cellist David Soyer made way a few years ago for his pupil Peter Wiley. This book deals with the (many) years before that change took place. Arnold Steinhardt is as engrossing a storyteller as he is a violinist, and addresses the multitude of issues, both musical and personal, connected with string quartet playing without ever being boring, pompous, or academic. On the contrary, his lively, often humorous style of writing and the uncompromisingly personal tone he adopts prove perfect vehicles for an in-depth look at the daunting challenges involved in playing the quartet repertoire, but are also highly endearing. By the end you feel you truly got to know these players; an additional reason why the extensive description concluding the book, of a 90's performance of Schubert's Death & The Maiden, interspersed with Steinhardt's musings on the eventual finiteness even of the long-lived Guarneri Quartet, is extremely moving. The focus on such well-known repertoire, by the way, (Beethoven's op. 59/3 and the Cavatina from op. 130 are other Steinhardt favourites) are typical of the accessibility of the book and its laudable lack of snobbery.
Before these final pages, the author offers anything from concert-tour anecdotes, string quartet gags and quartet psychology to insights into the rehearsal process, repertoire choice, musical history, the peculiarities of amateurs, as well as thoughts on the relative merits of recorded and "live" performances. Deftly drafted portraits of musical giants like, say, Georg Szell or Arthur Rubinstein add further interest; the brief appearance of Jacqueline Du Pré as a "pale milkmaid in a flowerprint dress" who then incongruously attacks her cello with animal-like abandon I found quite unforgettable.
In all, I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in chamber music; but it will be a special treat for those with some experience in quartet-playing (if only by pointing out that string quartet repertoire is hard even for players of Guarneri-stature...).

Arnold Steinhardt - Indivisible by Four: A String Quartet in Pursuit of Harmony

GREAT book about chamber music

This book is required reading in the chamber music literature class I teach at a university. Steinhardt's writing is charming and easy to read, and he gives a fascinating look into what it's like to work with the same 3 men in such close quarters for 30+ years. If you have ever enjoyed a chamber music concert, or played chamber music yourself it is a must read. My students who play in rock bands also have found it a very valuable book, since a band is a similar animal to the string quartet.

Consumer Bookstore