Someone, somewhere, had written or said that the string quartet is the most rigorous and unforgiving form of music to compose, so I went out and bought some string quartets to hear what rigour and lack of forgiveness sounded like.
It sounds like this album:
It's a beautiful album. Once I bought it, just to put a pin on how deeply uncool I am, I had two albums on constant rotation: this album of Mozart string quartets and "How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb" by U2.
So either a total absence of sentiment in the former or a complete sentimental hose-down in the latter. I knew no middle ground.
I still don't.
Anyway, I became a fan of the Tokyo Quartet.
Less than a year later, in 2005, I was doing a play at the St. Lawrence Centre in Toronto called 'Take Me Out'. In this show, I played a Latino major league baseball player who only spoke Spanish, while doing full frontal nudity in an actual onstage shower with several other naked male actors.
My wife said she saw the show three times before she realized there was dialogue in the scene.
One winter night I showed up at the theatre, ready to lather up my crotch in front of 800 people while speaking a language I don't speak. I came through stage door and was just approaching the performer's entrance for the Jane Mallett, a smaller theatre in the same building, when there, cello case in hand, was Clive Greensmith, the English cellist for the Tokyo Quartet, whom I instantly recognized from my Mozart CD cover.
I said, "Are you Clive Greensmith??"
He took a tiny step back.
He was not used to being recognized in public. I doubt many string quartet cellists are.
"Yyyes," he said.
He was not used to being recognized in public. I doubt many string quartet cellists are.
"Hi. I'm Cyrus. I'm a huge fan of you guys."
I could see him relax a little. "Oh. Thank you. Are you in the audience tonight?"
I said, "No. I'm doing a play in this building. When you're playing, I'll be naked and covered in body wash."
"Oh! Haha," said Clive.
There was pause, I said something else about how much I love them, he said thank you again and I went off to pretend I knew how to play baseball, my fandom deepened and solidified.
He was so polite and gracious and masked being weirded out so well.
And holy shit, what a great cellist.
So when it came to buying a digital recording of the complete Beethoven string quartets for my phone, naturally I bought the Tokyo Quartet's. Online, there are a million nerd-slam arguments about which recording is best, but I have my loyalties: Clive was nice to me, I buy Clive's CD.
I'm simple that way.
Today I listened to them play Opus 18, No. 2 in G Major.
There are many things I loved about this recording. Of course, picturing my good buddy Clive playing and throwing me a thumbs up in the rests. But also, the surprises in the music itself. 3 min 57 secs into the 1st movement, a perverse odd sneaky section; all the silence and breath in the second movement. And most surprising in this quartet: the third movement is a trio. I almost wished I heard "Psssshhhhttt" as the guy who wasn't playing kicked back and opened a can of Fresca.
The only video on Youtube of the Tokyo Quartet playing the Beethoven quartets is this - them playing the complete quartets. It's over eight hours long and I don't know how you'd keep track of when one ended and the next one began. So I'll leave it here along with a recommendation: buy one of the Tokyo Quartet's albums. Support my best friend Clive. They disbanded in 2013, but I'm sure they'd still appreciate your business.
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