American Composers Forum: An Interview with Doyle Armbrust of Spektral Quartet

"The American Composers Forum is pleased to co-present “Behind the Wallpaper” by composer Alex Temple, performed by The Spektral Quartet and Julia Holter on February 23, 2015 as part of the Liquid Music Series in the Twin Cities. Chris Campbell, the Operations Director of the label of the American Composers Forum, innova Recordings, recently spoke with Doyle Armbrust from Spektral and asked him to share his thoughts about the mysterious and lyrical “Behind the Wallpaper” and a few other topics.

How did Spektral’s involvement in “Behind the Wallpaper” come about, and is there anything to keep in mind or listen for when we hear it February 23?

Behind the Wallpaper came about like the vast majority of our commissions do...we were keen to work with a specific composer. Alex Temple, who is based in Chicago, has an uncanny knack for uncovering the oblique, the humorous, and even the sublime through the idiom of pop musics. While she's hip to Lachenmann and Ligeti, etc etc etc, Alex doesn't rely on a bevy of extended techniques to create anticipation and the feeling of something new. As a performer, it's a wondrous thing, to see a score that doesn't look like the blueprint for the next particle accelerator, and yet has the audience (and the players) buzzing long after the show is over. That isn't to say we don't thrive on those kinds of pieces. It's just that Alex has found a peculiar, devastatingly honest way of delivering music."

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Q2 Music: 10 Imagination-Grabbing, Trailblazing Artists of 2014

"One of the coolest and craziest new-music projects of the year came from Chicago’s Spektral Quartet. In March 2014, the ensemble blew up in pockets everywhere with "Mobile Miniatures" – over 45 ringtones, alarms and mobile alerts commissioned from a who’s who of outside-the-box 21st Century music makers, from Pulitzer Prize winner David Lang to onetime MacArthur fellow George Lewis to Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier and, best of all, quite a few composers from whom I’d never heard (and am glad I have now). Insanely innovative gimmick aside, it’s really good music and a brilliant, cross-discipline introduction to today’s freshest voices. My girlfriend really hates waking up to extended string techniques, though." 

To read the whole article, click here

Bent Frequency hosts Spektral Quartet for dazzling concert of avant-garde music

"Spektral Quartet gave Crumb’s “Black Angels” a vivid, compelling performance. The group was an excellent complement to Bent Frequency, and the pairing of these two ensembles on a common stage will surely go down as one of the programming coups of the calendar year."  

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The Courier-News: Side Street Gallery summons Spektral Quartet

Side Street Studio Arts

"For the next two hours, the artists of Spektral Quartet delivered one amazing performance after another, challenging our notions of what to expect from a string quartet, and pushing the boundaries of what’s musically possible.

Aptly named “The Sampler Pack” because of its variety, the nine-part program spanned almost 200 years of music history, and included works ranging in length from five seconds to more than ten minutes, punctuated by impromptu remarks from the musicians themselves.

In contemporary pieces from Philip Glass and Bernard Rands, the ensemble tightly synchronized their body language and breathing, displaying what violinist J. Austin Wulliman later described as a “group mind” that can only be formed after innumerable hours of rehearsal together. Violinist Clara Lyon, the newest member, meshed seamlessly in this, her first appearance with Spektral."

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Chicago Classical Review: Lee Hyla receives a zealous musical tribute at Northwestern

"Hyla seems to relish the fashioning of pithy titles, but the final work presented is more traditionally labeled, his String Quartet No. 4. A model for the piece seemed to be Elliott Carter’s String Quartet No. 2, with each instrument adopting distinct personalities, and alliances shifting with assent or anger. He also fleetingly conjured Bartok with a nod to a famous theme from his Concerto for Orchestra in the viola line. The Spektral Quartet gave a vivid and idiomatic reading of an engaging work that amply rewarded their considerable preparation."

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Seen and Heard International: Pushing the South American Envelope

"What distinguished this effort from others in the “classical-plus-whatever” genre is the Spektral musicians’ technical expertise. Trained at institutions as diverse as the Paris Conservatoire, University of Southern California and Northwestern University, they have tackled everything from Haydn to Brian Ferneyhough to Lee Hyla, as well as some of today’s most interesting younger composers like Hans Thomalla and Marcos Balter."

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Chicago Magazine: Chicago's New Music Scene Cuts Loose

"One of the most popular series is run by the virtuosic string ensemble Spektral Quartet. These concerts, called Sampler Packs, intersperse single movements or short works with stage chatter over the course of an evening. In June, Spektral set up its Sampler Pack at the Hideout as a choose-your-own-adventure for the audience, with the program printed in installments on balloons. As the audience chose a piece, the musicians popped the balloon with the corresponding work written on it."

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Pitchfork: Mobile Miniatures

"Normally my iPhone ringer is set firmly to "off," but I recently changed it to a new piece by the esteemed composer and one-time Pulitzer finalist Augusta Read Thomas. It's a 35-second, anxious tangle of pizzicato and odd-angled violin and cello lines called "You're Just About to Miss Your Call!" It really captures the existential panic that its title describes.  

Thomas's piece was commissioned by the Spektral Quartet, an enterprising Chicago-based string ensemble that recently decided it wanted to populate the world's iPhones with contemporary classical music. For what they're calling the Mobile Miniatures project ("Your mobile phone is our newest concert venue"), they contacted 46 composers. For anyone who follows the world of contemporary classical, it's an embarrassment of riches: everyone from Bang On A Can co-founder David Lang to Nico Muhly to indie figures like Deerhoof's Greg Saunier and Julia Holter."

To read the whole article, click here

Chicago Tribune: The next accordion star

"Their mission," says Labro, referring to the Spektrals, "is to make sure to play new music and traditional repertoire from all genres. And I always wanted to show people that there is music beyond Piazzollla. … That there is life after Piazzolla."

Certainly there is in "From This Point Forward," which marks the beginning of Labro's partnership with the Spektral Quartet, not the end. For their next recording, they plan to venture into contemporary classical music.

To read the whole article, click here

The Telegraph: The new ring-tone composers

"There’s nothing so irritating as someone else’s ring-tone. First comes the jolt to one’s nerves. Then comes the thought, “You really think THAT’s amusing/good to hear?”, as a burst of One Direction or a mooing cow scrapes tinnily at one’s ears. Of course our own ring-tone is always a model of discreet wit and taste. And yet when it rings we’re always desperate to turn it off, which shows wit and taste aren’t really the issue. The ring-tone is simply beyond redemption. It’s irritation in its purest form, like cold calls or being put on hold.  

The Spektral Quartet, a Chicago-based string quartet, begs to disagree. They think a ring-tone can be a moment of aural delight, and have commissioned 65 brand-new ring-tone-sized pieces to prove it, all available to download from the quartet’s website. They range from one second in duration to 40, and have been written by 47 American composers of all ages, races and styles."

To read the whole article, click here

Chicago Classical Review: Haydn’s “Seven Last Words” finds luminous expression with Seraphic Fire and Spektral Quartet

 "The Spektral Quartet performed The Seven Last Words alone in Rockefeller Chapel in March 2013, and as a resident ensemble at the University of Chicago, they know how to adjust their performance for the chapel’s acoustics. Each instrumental line, especially the sweet but steely sound of Aurelien Fort Pederzoli’s solo violin, was clear, but the overall texture had a velvet edge. In the sixth movement (“Jesus cried out: I thirst”) of the nine-movement piece, the plucked violins and violas sounded like guitars gliding through a hushed lullaby. This was religious meditation with a gentle edge rather than the sharp angles and angry undercurrent of heaven-storming fire and brimstone." 

To read the whole article, click here

Huffington Post: These Game-Changing Ringtones Bring The Symphony To The Streets

"Think of it as public art -- except that it's on your phone.  

Thanks to an innovative new initiative from the Chicago-based contemporary classical ensemble Spektral Quartet, cell phone users will no longer be limited to a selection of dreary, muzak-esque sound bites or blaring, regrettable Top 40 clips when it comes to choosing their ringtones.

Late last month, the quartet launched Mobile Miniatures, a new Kickstarter-backedproject where they commissioned over 45 different composers -- including familiar names like Nico Muhly, Julia Holter, the Dirty Projectors' Olga Bell and Pulitzer Prize winners Shulamit Ran and David Lang -- to create original pieces specifically intended to serve as ringtones. The ensemble then performed and recorded the compositions, putting them up for sale on their website."

To read the whole article, click here

Miami Herald: Seraphic Fire takes on 'The Seven Last Words of Christ'

"With perfectly coordinated entrances and silences, Spektral’s mature, passionate rendition had the purity and precision of a Mozart overture. This sober, forceful tone prevailed in the chorus for the remaining seven Sonatas."

To read the whole article, click here

Preamble to a Post: Studying the Arditti Quartet

Any string quartet that performs contemporary music today has listened to and admired the aesthetic rigor, musical commitment and amazing longevity of the Arditti Quartet.  I know there are others who - like me - have been listening to the Ardittis since childhood.  So, when I finally saw them live in 2012 - as opposed to years of listening to studio recordings - at the Darmstadt Summer Courses, it was a revelation to see their raw energy and the clarity of their interpretation of an incredibly difficult work.

The piece of which I speak is Brian Ferneyhough's String Quartet No. 6, a stylistic and instrumental triumph that I am continually intrigued by as a listener.  I had heard it once in recorded form, but seeing them perform live with absolute precision in microtonal unisons and complex rhythms made the music come to life through their virtuosity.  But even more, it was not just technically sound and true to the page: they had command of colors within a distinctive quartet sound that's all their own.

I've been intrigued with Ferneyhough's music from my vantage-point as a performer for years, and finally got to tackle some with Spektral this fall when we played his Adagissimo on a few concerts.  I've already had thoughts about that piece, but since I keep ruminating on the Sixth Quartet (and that Darmstadt performance) I'm planning to undertake a study of the wealth of materials available online about the Arditti Quartet's approach to the work.

So, I share those links with you intrepid new music listeners/performers/composers with the hope you'll discuss the results of my studies in a week or so.

In the meantime, here's video of the Arditti Quartet giving the work its world premiere, two years before I saw them play it in Darmstadt.  Even at this early stage in their interpretation you can see their unity of vision and cooly collected communication in the face of stern challenges.

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Sniff My Pits!

We’ve all been there…

Two hours in a suit or gown, the stage lights radiating down with the heat of a thousand suns as you tear through a Presto movement. The lateral blast of the air conditioning creates a frigid ring at your collar, the wet blooming outward with every passing measure. Ticklish beads of sweat scurry down from the under-arm toward the culvert at the belt line.

As you stand for the final bow, you consider the options for greeting friends and fans in the lobby. The old elbows-planted-at-the-waist hug? A quick change of shirt? Did you bring an extra shirt? 

This inevitable performer’s scenario has taken me through pretty much every deodorant and antiperspirant available to humanity. From the voodoo pastes (looking at you, Lush) to the Nordic crystals to the chemical slurry at the pharmacy. I’ve tried them all…even that pore solder that is sold to brides-to-be that comes with all the terrifying warnings of death, despair and disease on the back.

The thing is, you can stuff your skin full of aluminum and sweat a little less, but I don’t need a double-blind, peer-reviewed study to infer that this approach may cause my armpits to go all RoboCop.

The good news is I’ve found a product that doesn’t lance your pores with metal chips, smells fantastic and minimizes packaging waste. I give you: Life Stinks Deodorant

The little glass tube you see is the oil, which goes on first, is light and won’t stain your clothes, I promise. You rub a tiny amount on your fingertips and apply. Then comes the powder, which you can buy in a small plastic dispenser (I use it for travel), or the larger metal container with the screen on top. The benefit of the latter is that it is refillable, cutting WAY down on waste. Just fill the dispenser from the bag, shake a bit on your palm and pat under your arms. It takes exactly one go-around with this process to get used to the old-fashioned powder method and forget all about roll-ons.

So now the benefits:

1. This stuff smells fantastic. I love the cedar version, but the lavender is great too.
2. I stay drier longer. 
3. Even though I will eventually sweat, especially under those stage lights, I never get to that funky odor place because of the combo of the oil and powder.
4. My shirts are lasting longer because there isn’t a white paste build-up from antiperspirant.
5. I can give you a real hug, elbows unencumbered, after the show.
6. It’s a natural product, and won’t plug your pores with aluminum.

This is an awfully long post about deodorant, but it took me decades to find my holy grail unicorn of underarm delights. I hope it helps you, fellow performer, and that all your future shows are funky for the right reasons.