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Founding cellist of the Guarneri String Quartet passes away at 87 |
David Soyer, Cellist, Is Dead at 87
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
David Soyer, the founding cellist of the Guarneri String Quartet and a link to the legendary cellists Pablo Casals and Emanuel Feuermann, died on Thursday at his home in Manhattan. He was 87.
His death came a day after his birthday, his son Daniel said.
Mr. Soyer was the elder statesman when he and three other men about a dozen years younger — the violinists Arnold Steinhardt and John Dalley and the violist Michael Tree — formed a quartet at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont in 1964.
For the next 37 years they played together, a remarkable record of longevity for a string quartet, in which tensions over music making, money and personal differences often cause breakups. The Guarneri became one of the world’s best-known quartets, setting a standard in quartetistry with seamless, warm and impassioned playing and a unanimity that did not efface individual personalities.
Mr. Soyer retired in 2001, making a handoff to his student Peter Wiley in a concert at Carnegie Hall. In the first half, Mr. Soyer played in Beethoven’s Quartet No. 13 in B flat (Op. 130), with its monumental Grosse Fuge finale. For the second half, Mr. Wiley sat next to his former teacher for Schubert’s String Quintet in C.
Mr. Soyer, weary of touring, quoted Claus Adam on Mr. Adam’s leaving the Juilliard Quartet as cellist: “I don’t want to have a heart attack at a Holiday Inn after having had dinner at a Howard Johnson’s.”
Last May Mr. Soyer reappeared for another Schubert quintet performance at the Guarneri’s last concert in New York City, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The ensemble retired as a whole, playing its final concerts this season.
The Guarneri traveled the world, playing 100 concerts a year, and its success drew the attention of writers and filmmakers. At least three books have been written about it, including one by Mr. Steinhardt. It was the subject of a well-received documentary in 1989, “High Fidelity: The Adventures of the Guarneri String Quartet.”
Mr. Soyer had a big, romantic sound. In the 1986 book “The Art of Quartet Playing: The Guarneri String Quartet in Conversation With David Blum,” Mr. Soyer described the position of a cello in a string quartet as both base and bass.
“In the role of base the cellist has to assure the foundation of the ensemble,” he said. “There must be sufficient sense of presence and substance of sound to provide a point of stability. In the role of bass the cellist must give life to the harmonic structure.”
The cello, he added, must also be the “rhythmic monitor” of a quartet by “setting the pulse, articulating points of rhythmic stress, conveying a sense of rhythmic direction.”
In a telephone interview Friday, Mr. Dalley described Mr. Soyer as the “quintessential quartet cellist.” One of his great strengths, he said, was a powerful presence. “What you want is a strong, assertive character in the bass.”
Besides his son Daniel, of Needham, Mass., Mr. Soyer, who also lived in Halifax, Vt., is survived by his wife, Janet, a retired harpist; another son, Jeffrey, of Fairlee, Vt.; a sister, Dolores Soyer, of New York; and two granddaughters.
David Soyer was born on Feb. 24, 1923, in Philadelphia to nonmusical parents and took up the cello at the relatively late age of 11. His first teacher was Emmet Sargeant, a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra; he went on to study briefly with Joseph Emonts, a member of the New York Philharmonic. His major teacher was Diran Alexanian, followed by lessons with Feuermann and Casals.
In the Blum book, Mr. Soyer recalled playing the euphonium in a Navy band in Washington that included Bernard Greenhouse, another cellist in a famed chamber ensemble, the Beaux Arts Trio. Mr. Soyer made his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1942, under Eugene Ormandy, performing “Schelomo” by Bloch.
In 1961 Rudolf Serkin invited him to the remarkable chamber music gathering in Vermont that he helped found at Marlboro College. Mr. Soyer had known Mr. Dalley from freelancing in New York. Mr. Dalley, Mr. Steinhardt and Mr. Tree knew one another from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. All four played chamber music with Serkin.
Mr. Soyer returned to the festival to perform chamber music nearly every summer for the last 30 years, said Frank Salomon, the music manager and Marlboro’s co-administrator.
He was also a teacher, giving lessons until two weeks ago at his apartment, said his son Daniel. He was on the faculties of Curtis, the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music.
Mr. Soyer would often recall the tough, almost abusive styles of some of his teachers, and joke about their influence. “My students cried a lot, but didn’t learn,” he once said. “They just cried. So I lightened up, and we were all happier.”
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: March 3, 2010
An obituary on Saturday about David Soyer, the founding cellist of the Guarneri String Quartet, misstated the given name of the pianist who helped found the chamber music festival at Marlboro College in Vermont, at which Mr. Soyer performed regularly. He was Rudolf Serkin, not Rudolph. |
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The American Chamber Ensemble Presents Musaic I Concert on November 1 |
The American Chamber Ensemble Presents Musaic I Concert on November 1
at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York
The American Chamber Ensemble will present Musaic I, the first concert
of its 2009-2010 concert season on Sunday, November 1 at 3 PM at Monroe
Lecture Center Theater of Hofstra University, on California Avenue in
Hempstead, New York.
Featured pieces will include Walter Rabl's Quartet, op. 1 for piano,
clarinet, violin and cello, Schumann's Fairy Tales, op. 132 for clarinet,
viola and piano, Mendelssohn's Trio, op. 49 for violin, cello and piano,
and contemporary America composer Joelle Wallach's After Alcyon's Dream
for clarinet, viola and piano.
Performers will be ACE Directors, pianist Blanche Abram and clarinetist
Naomi Drucker, along with Eriko Sato, violin, Chris Finckel, cello, Lois
Martin, viola and Marilyn Sherman Lehman, piano.
Tickets at Hofstra University Box Office - $15 ($12 senior citizens 65+
and non-Hofstra students). One free ticket with current Hofstra Card.
For ticket information, call (516) 463-6644.
The American Chamber Ensemble explores the great chamber music literature
for clarinet and piano in combination with strings, woodwinds and voice
and presents performances featuring world-class artists. ACE consists
of the finest freelance musicians in the New York area and has been cited
by critics for their superb presentations of chamber masterworks. Their
latest CDs on Elysium are American Clarinet Treasures, featuring core
members of ACE performing works by George Kleinsinger, Virgil Thomson,
Daniel Gregory Mason, Elliott Carter, Douglas Moore and Gary Schocker,
with Guest Artist Stanley Drucker and The American Chamber Ensemble Plays
Peter Schickele, which features five of this modern master's most important
chamber works.
Jeffrey James Arts Consulting
Website: http://www.jamesarts.com |
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Lament for Solo Oboe September 21st concert |
Chamber Music by Meira Warshauer Presented at London New Wind Festival
on September 21 in London, England
Meira Warshauer's Lament for Solo
Oboe will be performed by oboist Catherine Pluygers on Monday, September
21 - 7:30pm at St Cyprian's Church on Glentworth Street in London, England
as part of the London New Wind Festival 2009.
The program, Brand New Music for Winds, will also feature music by Caitlin
Rowley, Anthony Green, Rebecca Oswald, Orie Sato, Dudley Hyams, William
Attwood, Philip Cashian and Michael Finnissy.
Performers will be Catherine Pluygers, oboe and Festival Director, Phil
Edwards, clarinet, Henryk Sienkiewicz, horn, Alan Tomlinson, trombone,
Robert Coleridge, piano and Ellie Blackshaw, violin (guest artist).
Tickets for the September 21 event are $8 and can be ordered by
calling 020-8699-1101 or emailing
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
More about the London New Wind Festival 2009 and Catherine Pluygers
at http://www.londonnewwindfestival.org/ and
http://www.adriannorthover.co.uk/catherinepluygers.co.uk/about.html.
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MUSIC OF GABRIEL FAURÉ - 4/13 Greenwich House Music School |
MUSIC OF GABRIEL FAURÉ (1845-1924)
Bennett Lerner, pianist
Judith Bettina, soprano
Stefani Starin, flutist
PROGRAM:
Nocturne No. 3 in A-flat Major, Op. 33/3 (1882)
Barcarolle No. 2 in G Major, Op. 41 (1885)
La bonne chanson, Op. 61 (1894)
Morceau de lecture, (1897)
Fantaisie, Op. 79 (1898)
Nocturne No. 6 in D-flat Major, Op. 63 (1894)
Barcarolle No. 5 in F-sharp Minor, Op. 66 (1894)
Monday, April 13, 2009, at 7:30 PM
Greenwich House Music School
46 Barrow Street, New York City
Information: 212-242-4770
Admission: $15 |
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MOBILE CHAMBER MUSIC FORTY-EIGHTH SEASON, 2008-2009 |
MOBILE CHAMBER MUSIC FORTY-EIGHTH SEASON, 2008-2009
David Russell, guitar
Tuesday,March 31st, 2009
7:30 pm
Laidlaw Performing Arts Center
http://www.mobilechambermusic.org/ |
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