Stir Q&A: Microcosmos Quartet's Marc Destrubé talks Death and the Maiden, devilish arpeggios, and tarantula venom
The string masters have maintained a close bond, even with social distancing
Microcosmos quartet members Rebecca Wenham, Tawnya Popoff, Andrea Siradze, and Marc Destrubé.
MUSIC ON MAIN streams a live concert by the Microcosmos Quartet on March 2 at 7:30 pm—a chance to see the Vancouver string ensemble perform from the Fox Cabaret in 1080p high-definition video.
The program features repertoire that’s as emotionally stirring as it is challenging to play: Franz Schubert’s famed Death and the Maiden (String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor) and Thomas Adès’s complex and mesmerizing Arcadiana, from 1994.
Quartet members Marc Destrubé, Andrea Siradze, Tawnya Popoff, and Rebecca Wenham have been playing together for the past 10 years, focusing on repertoire from the last century.
We asked veteran violinist Destrubé about the program and carrying on a quartet during a pandemic.
A string quartet has to play with an intuitive, close bond. How has Microcosmos stayed musically connected over the pandemic?
“We’ve kept rehearsing once or twice a week (in a large space, socially-distanced), and the reduced activity of the pandemic has given us the luxury of time to tackle some very difficult repertoire such as Thomas Adès's Arcadiana. The close musical bond of a quartet continues to evolve and develop, mysteriously, over time, even with only intermittent activity.”
What do you think the upsides are for a concert when it’s livestreamed over pre-recorded?
Marc Destrubé. Photo by Yukiko Onley
“Something about knowing that there’s an audience out there, alongside the intensity and risk-taking of playing a program from beginning to end for the cameras and microphones, brings the experience a lot closer to that of a real concert than a recording ever could. For audiences it gives them a different kind of experience than being in the concert hall, but hopefully also an enriching one, providing a closer look at the inner workings of an ensemble in action, and through that perhaps a better connection with the music. When public concerts are possible again, perhaps live-streaming will take on the function that radio once had: giving those unable to attend in person a chance to still take part in some way.”
How does a violinist prepare for the scherzo and finale in Schubert’s Death and the Maiden? Some have called these sections the “dance of the demon fiddler”—how accurate is that when you’re playing it?
“The usual preparation: scales and arpeggios and hours in the practice room. The devil is in the details!
“That said, the last movement is in fact a ‘tarantella’, a musical form based on a vigorous Italian dance which was said to rid one of a tarantula’s deadly venom.”
Schubert faced death personally when he wrote the String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor. Are you and the Microcosmos Quartet finding parallels in this time when a pandemic has us all facing mortality?
“Although this famous quartet was written during a time of depression, poverty and ill health (from syphilis) for Schubert, he was to live another four years, and indeed wrote a great deal of light-hearted music around the same time. The music does however reflect a preoccupation with death and the darker side of life (including a quote from his song of the same name, as the theme for the second movement); but perhaps it is really for each listener to draw their own experience and emotions from listening to the music.”
Why does the piece make a good fit with Arcadiana on the program?
"There’s an obvious link in that the third movement of ‘Arcadiana’ also references a Schubert song, ‘Auf dem Wasser zu singen’. And Adès clearly has a love for Schubert’s music, having paired his own piano quintet with that of Schubert (The Trout) in a 2005 recording with himself as pianist, and more recently recorded and performed Schubert’s Die Winterreise song cycle (with tenor Ian Bostridge). And together the two pieces make a neat hour of music!"
Find tickets and info here.
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