Vermeer Quartet
Encyclopedia
The Vermeer Quartet was a string quartet
founded in 1969 at the Marlboro Music Festival
in Vermont
and active until 2007.
With performances in practically every major city in North and South America, Europe, the Far East, and Australia, the Vermeer Quartet achieved an international stature as one of the world's finest ensembles. The Vermeer performed at virtually all the most prestigious festivals, including Tanglewood
, Aldeburgh
, Norfolk
, Aspen
, Mostly Mozart
, Taos
, Bath, South Bank
, Lucerne
, Stresa
, Flanders
, Kneisel Hall
, Caramoor
, Santa Fe
, Albuquerque, Berlin, Schleswig-Holstein
, Orlando
, Daniel
, Edinburgh
, Great Woods, Spoleto
, Ravinia, and the Casals Festival
. Based in Chicago
, they spent part of each summer on the coast of Maine as the featured ensemble for Bay Chamber Concerts
.
The Vermeer Quartet performed well over two hundred works, including nearly all the "standard" string quartets, many lesser-known compositions, a number of contemporary scores, and various other works with guests. Their discography includes the complete string quartets of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Bartók, plus various other works by Haydn, Schubert, Mendelssohn
, Brahms, Dvořák
, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, and Schnittke.
In 2003 they received their 2nd Grammy nomination for their CD of the Shostakovich and Schnittke piano quintets with Boris Berman
on the Naxos
label. Their recording of the six Bartók quartets was released by Naxos in May 2005, and received a 3rd Grammy nomination.
The Vermeer was associated with Northern Illinois University
as "resident artist faculty" since 1970, where they trained some of the most gifted young ensembles performing today, including the Shanghai String Quartet, Enso String Quartet, Avalon String Quartet, Pacifica String Quartet
, and Arianna String Quartet. They were also Fellows at the Royal Northern College of Music
in Manchester, England.
[Alden Productions: CD 23042] features introductions by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Evangelist Billy Graham, Father Virgil Elizondo, Dr. Martin Marty, Elder Dallin Oaks, Rev. Kelly Clem, Pastor T.L. Barrett, Father Raymond Brown
, and Jason Robards
. Rev. Theodore Hesburgh
(President Emeritus of the University of Notre Dame
) wrote, "It is difficult to imagine a more appropriate group of theologians and preachers for the Vermeer's Seven Last Words of Christ recording. The makeup of this group suggests not only a certain moral authority, but a spirit of inclusiveness. At the same time, in a most personal and effective manner, it reflects our religious and social diversity." The American Record Guide calls this CD "an experience unlike any other."
The Vermeer played The Seven Last Words of Christ all over the world. Following their very first live radio broadcast of this work in 1988 over WFMT
(Chicago), well over a hundred different speakers collaborated with the Vermeer, including some of the most renowned religious figures of our time. Their performances reached an estimated 75 million listeners worldwide, thus demonstrating an enduring appeal that extends far beyond the traditional classical music audience. A book entitled Echoes from Calvary: Meditations on Franz Joseph Haydn's The Seven Last Words of Christ (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005) chronicles their long-time involvement with this Good Friday masterpiece and offers rare insight from many perspectives.
About their Beethoven recordings, Stereo Review
said, "What these peerless players give us is a heady blend of old-fashioned warmth and communicativeness, with exemplary demonstrations of modern standards of both taste and technique. More persuasive performances of any of these quartets are simply not to be found."
Australia's The Age
wrote, "Their performance was magnificent: majestic in style, technically without flaw, and utterly persuasive."
According to Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung
, "This is music-making which reveals much of the inner self: music-making of untamed necessity that goes far beyond that which is merely pleasing to the ear."
The Chicago Tribune
wrote: "When presented as poignantly as the Vermeer presents it, the inner core of the piece is left so exposed that both religious and dramatic power radiate from within. The tender loving care that the Vermeer lavishes over every phrase of this unique score is something quite special to behold."
Poland's Ruch Muzyczny summed up, "The Vermeer's interpretation seems so nearly ideal that one can more easily appreciate music as universal harmony."
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
founded in 1969 at the Marlboro Music Festival
Marlboro Music School and Festival
The Marlboro Music School and Festival is a retreat for advanced classical training and musicianship held for seven weeks each summer in Marlboro, Vermont...
in Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
and active until 2007.
With performances in practically every major city in North and South America, Europe, the Far East, and Australia, the Vermeer Quartet achieved an international stature as one of the world's finest ensembles. The Vermeer performed at virtually all the most prestigious festivals, including Tanglewood
Tanglewood
Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...
, Aldeburgh
Aldeburgh
Aldeburgh is a coastal town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England. Located on the River Alde, the town is notable for its Blue Flag shingle beach and fisherman huts where freshly caught fish are sold daily, and the Aldeburgh Yacht Club...
, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, Aspen
Aspen
Populus section Populus, of the Populus genus, includes the aspen trees and the white poplar Populus alba. The five typical aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high altitudes in the mountains. The White Poplar, by...
, Mostly Mozart
Mostly Mozart
The Mostly Mozart Festival is a summer series of concerts held at Lincoln Center in New York City. Currently, the artistic director is Jane Moss while the music director is Louis Langrée. In 2006, it celebrated its 40th anniversary and the 250th anniversary of its namesake Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's...
, Taos
Taos
Taos can meanPlaces*Taos Pueblo, a Native American pueblo, Tua-tah*Taos dialect, a dialect of the Tiwa language*Taos County, New Mexico, United States*Taos, New Mexico, a city, the county seat of Taos County, New Mexico...
, Bath, South Bank
South Bank
South Bank is an area of London, England located immediately adjacent to the south side of the River Thames. It forms a long and narrow section of riverside development that is within the London Borough of Lambeth to the border with the London Borough of Southwark and was formerly simply known as...
, Lucerne
Lucerne
Lucerne is a city in north-central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of that country. Lucerne is the capital of the Canton of Lucerne and the capital of the district of the same name. With a population of about 76,200 people, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland, and...
, Stresa
Stresa
Stresa is a town and comune of about 5,000 inhabitants on the shores of the Lago Maggiore in the region of Piedmont, northern Italy; it is situated on the road and rail routes to the Simplon pass, about 90 km north-west of Milan. Since the early 20th century, the main source of income has been the...
, Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
, Kneisel Hall
Kneisel Hall
Kneisel Hall is an annual chamber music festival and school located in Blue Hill, Maine. The season runs for seven weeks each summer from mid-June until early August. A small faculty works with approximately fifty pre-professional musicians, concentrating almost exclusively on chamber music for...
, Caramoor
Caramoor
Caramoor may refer to:*Caramoor International Music Festival, held at*Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts Inc., a former estate listed on the National Register of Historic Places near Katonah, New York...
, Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
, Albuquerque, Berlin, Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
, Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
, Daniel
Daniel
Daniel is the protagonist in the Book of Daniel of the Hebrew Bible. In the narrative, when Daniel was a young man, he was taken into Babylonian captivity where he was educated in Chaldean thought. However, he never converted to Neo-Babylonian ways...
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Great Woods, Spoleto
Spoleto
Spoleto is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome.-History:...
, Ravinia, and the Casals Festival
Casals Festival
The Casals Festival is a classical music event celebrated every year in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in honor of world renowned musician Pablo Casals.-Background:...
. Based in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, they spent part of each summer on the coast of Maine as the featured ensemble for Bay Chamber Concerts
Bay Chamber Concerts
Bay Chamber Concerts is a non-profit organization located in downtown Rockport, Maine. Bay Chamber Concerts plays a principal role in bringing music, particularly classical music, to the Mid Coast area...
.
The Vermeer Quartet performed well over two hundred works, including nearly all the "standard" string quartets, many lesser-known compositions, a number of contemporary scores, and various other works with guests. Their discography includes the complete string quartets of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Bartók, plus various other works by Haydn, Schubert, Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
, Brahms, Dvořák
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, and Schnittke.
In 2003 they received their 2nd Grammy nomination for their CD of the Shostakovich and Schnittke piano quintets with Boris Berman
Boris Berman
Boris Berman is a Russian pianist and pedagogue .He was a student of Lev Oborin at the Moscow Conservatory. He made his debut in Moscow in 1965. He joined an early music ensemble, at the time the only one in Russia, as a harpsichordist. At the same time he worked with contemporary composers such...
on the Naxos
Naxos Records
Naxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
label. Their recording of the six Bartók quartets was released by Naxos in May 2005, and received a 3rd Grammy nomination.
The Vermeer was associated with Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University is a state university and research institution located in DeKalb, Illinois, with satellite centers in Hoffman Estates, Naperville, Rockford, and Oregon. It was originally founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895 by Illinois Governor John P...
as "resident artist faculty" since 1970, where they trained some of the most gifted young ensembles performing today, including the Shanghai String Quartet, Enso String Quartet, Avalon String Quartet, Pacifica String Quartet
Pacifica Quartet
The Pacifica Quartet is an internationally recognized string quartet based in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, where they are faculty members at the University of Illinois. Its members are: Simin Ganatra, first violin; Sibbi Bernhardsson, second violin; Masumi Per Rostad, viola; and Brandon Vamos,...
, and Arianna String Quartet. They were also Fellows at the Royal Northern College of Music
Royal Northern College of Music
The Royal Northern College of Music is a music school in Manchester, England. It is located on Oxford Road in Chorlton on Medlock, at the western edge of the campus of the University of Manchester and is one of four conservatories associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music...
in Manchester, England.
The Seven Last Words of Christ
The Vermeer Quartet's Grammy-nominated CD of Haydn's The Seven Last Words of ChristThe Seven Last Words of Christ
The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour On the Cross is an orchestral work by Joseph Haydn, commissioned in 1785 or 1786 for the Good Friday service at Cádiz Cathedral in Spain...
[Alden Productions: CD 23042] features introductions by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Evangelist Billy Graham, Father Virgil Elizondo, Dr. Martin Marty, Elder Dallin Oaks, Rev. Kelly Clem, Pastor T.L. Barrett, Father Raymond Brown
Raymond E. Brown
The Reverend Raymond Edward Brown, S.S. , was an American Roman Catholic priest, a member of the Sulpician Fathers and a major Biblical scholar of his era...
, and Jason Robards
Jason Robards
Jason Nelson Robards, Jr. was an American actor on stage, and in film and television, and a winner of the Tony Award , two Academy Awards and the Emmy Award...
. Rev. Theodore Hesburgh
Theodore Hesburgh
The Rev. Theodore Martin Hesburgh, CSC, STD , a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, is President Emeritus of the University of Notre Dame. He is the namesake for TIAA-CREF's Hesburgh Award....
(President Emeritus of the University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
) wrote, "It is difficult to imagine a more appropriate group of theologians and preachers for the Vermeer's Seven Last Words of Christ recording. The makeup of this group suggests not only a certain moral authority, but a spirit of inclusiveness. At the same time, in a most personal and effective manner, it reflects our religious and social diversity." The American Record Guide calls this CD "an experience unlike any other."
The Vermeer played The Seven Last Words of Christ all over the world. Following their very first live radio broadcast of this work in 1988 over WFMT
WFMT
WFMT is an FM radio station in Chicago, Illinois, featuring a format of fine arts, classical music programming, and shows exploring such genres as folk and jazz). The station is managed by Window To The World Communications, Inc., owner of WTTW, one of Chicago's two Public Broadcasting Service ...
(Chicago), well over a hundred different speakers collaborated with the Vermeer, including some of the most renowned religious figures of our time. Their performances reached an estimated 75 million listeners worldwide, thus demonstrating an enduring appeal that extends far beyond the traditional classical music audience. A book entitled Echoes from Calvary: Meditations on Franz Joseph Haydn's The Seven Last Words of Christ (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005) chronicles their long-time involvement with this Good Friday masterpiece and offers rare insight from many perspectives.
Reviews
Switzerland's Suisse wrote, "Out of this alchemy is born a thing of beauty which one can define, without hesitation, as perfection."About their Beethoven recordings, Stereo Review
Stereo Review
Stereo Review was an American magazine first published in 1958 by Ziff-Davis with the title HiFi and Music Review. It was one of a handful of magazines then available for the individual interested in high fidelity. Throughout its life it published a blend of record and equipment reviews, articles...
said, "What these peerless players give us is a heady blend of old-fashioned warmth and communicativeness, with exemplary demonstrations of modern standards of both taste and technique. More persuasive performances of any of these quartets are simply not to be found."
Australia's The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
wrote, "Their performance was magnificent: majestic in style, technically without flaw, and utterly persuasive."
According to Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung
Süddeutsche Zeitung
The Süddeutsche Zeitung , published in Munich, is the largest German national subscription daily newspaper.-Profile:The title literally translates as "South German Newspaper". It is read throughout Germany by 1.1 million readers daily and boasts a relatively high circulation abroad...
, "This is music-making which reveals much of the inner self: music-making of untamed necessity that goes far beyond that which is merely pleasing to the ear."
The Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
wrote: "When presented as poignantly as the Vermeer presents it, the inner core of the piece is left so exposed that both religious and dramatic power radiate from within. The tender loving care that the Vermeer lavishes over every phrase of this unique score is something quite special to behold."
Poland's Ruch Muzyczny summed up, "The Vermeer's interpretation seems so nearly ideal that one can more easily appreciate music as universal harmony."
Members
The Vermeer Quartet's last members were:- Shmuel AshkenasiShmuel AshkenasiShmuel Ashkenasi is an Israeli violinist and teacher.-Biography:Born in Tel Aviv on January 11, 1941, he began his musical training at the Musical Academy of Tel-Aviv studying with legendary pedagogue Ilona Feher, the teacher of such violinists as Pinchas Zuckerman and Shlomo Mintz...
, violin - Mathias Tacke, violin
- Richard Young, viola
- Marc Johnson, cello