“
While concert soloists are commonly expected to perform from memory, it is very rare for a chamber ensemble to do so. In the early decades of the 20th century, the Kolisch Quartet built a reputation on performances free of sheet music, a high-wire act few ensembles have copied. For a group to perform without printed music requires both thorough preparation and absolute trust among players. “Everyone needs to know in advance not just their own part, but everybody else’s as well,” Mr. Sirota said.
Yet today more string quartets are taking up the challenge, part of a generation for whom independence from the printed page is only part of a wider search for depth and freedom of musical expression. In 2010 the Parker Quartet gave a run of Haydn performances by heart. Last November the JACK Quartet performed a work by Georg Friedrich Haas in complete darkness.
”
shaun james bockert 