[L-R] John Dalley, Michael Tree, Arnold Steinhardt, David Wiley
Photo credit: Dorothea von Haeften
David Stabler reported today that John Dalley, the second violinist of the Guarneri Quartet (which is in its last season as an ensemble this year), has been stricken with cancer.
John really has been the drive within the quartet – the id to Arnold Steinhardt’s superego. His deep, focused tone has always been a firm foundation for Arnold’s gossamer strains, an intregral part to one of the world’s great quartets.
I remember when I was at the University of Maryland, where the quartet was in a teaching residency, and I would have lessons on various repertoire with each of the members of the quartet when they came once a month to the school. I brought in the Bruch Romanze to John for a lesson once, and he played the opening phrase on his violin – one version after another, five, six, seven different ways to phrase this one musical sentence, each equally valid, each equally compelling. It was amazing to watch, and I learned so much just from watching his fingers and bow arm make these very different musical nuances.
My thoughts go out to John, his family, and his compatriots in the quartet – I hope that treatment is successful and he continues to make great music.