Yeah, I went for the click-bait headline this time. But chamber music really is about sharing partners, even if it’s of the G-rated variety (occasionally PG-13 for language). It could also be described as cross-pollination, if that’s less offensive to your sensibilities.
What I love most about chamber music is that it really challenges your musical antennae – that musician “spidey sense” that enables you to react to each other in an almost spooky-[inter]action-at-a distance sort of way. If I’m playing a concert with my quartet, which has been together for 10 years now, there is a sort of shorthand to how we do things. This is possible because we know how our colleagues will react in most situations, and how they might play a certain passage. This isn’t to say that there aren’t surprises – live performances does present them, both intentionally and otherwise – but it becomes more like finishing each other’s sentences than trying to guess what they’re going to say next.
I had a great time Friday night with some players that I’ve know for a long time, but haven’t actually done much playing with in recent years. It was great because I had to get areas of my brain up and running that aren’t quite as active when I’m playing in the orchestra or in solo repertoire. It’s why chamber music festivals are such an important opportunity to recharge the batteries. I’ve got lots of chances to do a lot of great chamber music over the next few months, which I’m going to savor!
Check out the Events page for my upcoming chamber music events, and I hope to see you there!