The Kronos Quartet
of San Francisco, USA, developed a considerable
following by playing unusual classical,
ethnic and crossover repertoire and
by posing for provocative publicity
photographs. One can’t blame a British
quartet for thinking they could do something
similar. "The Brodsky Quartet’s
musical explorations know no limits,"
says Gramophone. I am a great admirer
of the Brodsky Quartet, but now I guess
I should say, the Brodsky Quartet’s
classical recordings.
This is not a crossover
classical disk, this is a pop music
disk wherein a classical string quartet
is attempting to fill the function of
a pop backup ensemble. A friend who
is a specialist in renaissance lute
repertoire and a Professor of Early
Music also plays in a local rock band
and jazz ensemble, with considerable
success; so I am aware of and sympathetic
to a skilled and talented musician’s
pan-musical expression. Most of the
songs on this disk were written by students
and one assumes that the big names have
come on board to help launch what may
be their careers, something called the
"Brodsky Education Project".
No surprise that the Meredith Monk and
Richard Rodney Bennett numbers are the
best on the disk, but neither represents
either artist at the peak of skill either
in composition or singing. The other
tracks accomplish little beyond parading
before us in new sequences the very
familiar clichés of the pop music
field, although the string quartet occasionally
introduces great moments from Schoenberg,
Cowell or Shostakovich. The effect even
at the best moments are about that of
two radios tuned to different stations
playing in one room.
I mistrusted my initial
negative reaction to this disk, so I
passed it on to some dear friends who
are much more knowledgeable about and
sympathetic to pop music, but their
reaction was, if possible, even more
negative than mine. The problem is you
don’t analyse a pop music disk and appreciate
subtle multilayered values. The disk
either grooves or it doesn’t, the tracks
either fly, or swing, or rock, or they
don’t. The verdict from this disk seems
to be that classical and pop musicians
should, as the shoemakers were once
told, stick to their lasts. Is there
any kindness in encouraging students
to enter the cruel, competitive pop
music marketplace unless they have the
kind of veridical talent that overcomes
all obstacles and sweeps away all compromise
— in other words, they don’t need anybody’s
help? There is much talk about who "helped"
the Beatles found their career, but
isn’t the real point there that their
talent was so powerful no one could
have stood in their way?
Perhaps I am completely
missing the point, but I do not see
any good to come of encouraging children’s
fantasies that by writing a pop song
at age 14 they will be assured of having
a six figure income by age 15 and can
then feel excused from all obligation
ever to make a constructive contribution
either to their own life or that of
the community.
Even the presence during
the writing of this review of Mr. Gordon
Matthew Sumner himself at our local
university conducting a "master
class" in whatever it is he is
the master of, was unable to soften
the atmosphere to admit light to this
evaluation. Press coverage suggested
that Mr. Sumner was being honoured by
the academic community, however in the
fine print we read that his publicity
agent arranged the appearance. However
it is worth noting that Mr. Sumner emphasised
in his talk to the music students that
the proper preparation for a pop music
career is a solid grounding in the classics
and classic techniques.
Paul Shoemaker
Performed and/or accompanied by the Brodsky
Quartet 
