It hasn't been a secret for a long time now, but for anyone who might have missed the news, the Guarneri Quartet will disband at the end of the 2008-09 season, 45 years after it was started by four friends who decided to formalize what they already had been doing for some time.
"There was surprisingly very little disagreement and very little discussion about it," said first violinist Arnold Steinhardt about the decision to dissolve the group. It was something the four had been talking about since the end of the 2006-07 season, and they all felt that the occasion of their 45th anniversary season would be the perfect time to call it quits as a group
The foursome will play their last concert as the Guarneri on May 31, 2009, at the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival in Florida. But before that, they will make one final appearance in Salt Lake City, as part of the concert series sponsored by the Chamber Music Society of Salt Lake City. That concert takes place Wednesday in Libby Gardner Concert Hall.
The Guarneri and the Chamber Music Society has had a long and special relationship that goes back to the series' first season 40 years ago. "We were young whippersnappers then," Steinhardt quipped. And the group has been a part of the society's concert series ever since, returning to Salt Lake City about every other year. "I couldn't even begin to count on the fingers of both hands how many times we've been there." And they still enjoy coming here. "We have a lot of old friends in your neighborhood."
For their Salt Lake swan song, the Guarneri has a wonderful program lined up: Mozart's Quartet in D minor, K. 421, Kodaly's Quartet No. 2, op. 10, and Ravel's Quartet in F major.
Among the three composers, the real surprise is Kodaly, whose quartets are rarely played today. "There are professional quartets who don't know them," Steinhardt said.
Right from the start it was important for the Guarneri to champion neglected works. "Kodaly has been with us from the beginning. One of the things we look to is variety in periods and styles. We have always liked to play tried and true works, but we also like to play those works that are a little unusual and off the beaten path."
This will be a busy season for the group, said Steinhardt, who spoke with the Deseret News from the airport in Cleveland where he was ready to board a flight home to New York. "Everyone wants us one more time." But neither he nor his colleagues (second violinist John Dalley, violist Michael Tree and cellist Peter Wiley) seem to regret the decision to retire as a quartet. "We realized this was the right time. I hope we're still playing well. We've had a wonderful run, and we want to finish while we are still playing well."
Even though they won't be appearing as the Guarneri anymore as of next May, they will still be performing. "We're all in good health," Steinhardt said, "and we will still play a lot individually. And we will probably on occasion perform together. We are all good friends."
Steinhardt has to laugh that people are surprised the Guarneri won't be giving its final concert in Carnegie Hall. "I know people expected us to go out with a colossal fanfare, but we really didn't want that. We're happy to finish our run on Amelia Island, which is a small festival that we enjoy coming to."
And it's fitting, too, that their last concert is on an island. "We played our first concert on Nantucket Island in 1964, and I think it's appropriate that we finish on an island."
If you go ...
What: Guarneri Quartet
Where: Libby Gardner Concert Hall, University of Utah
When: Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.
How much: $25 general admission, $5 students (at the door)
Phone: 561-3999
Web:cmsofslc.org
E-mail: ereichel@desnews.com