What first drew me to this idea was not really the question of recording it in a studio. Recording allows endless possibilities where you can stop, reset and build things layer by layer. But what fascinated me was something quite different in how this could this actually exist on a concert stage and a regular concert setting?
Could four musicians walk onto a stage in front of a theatre of 100,500 or 4,000 people and create the same sense of anticipation, precision and momentum live, under the pressure and unpredictability of performance?
As string players, we are accustomed to following an architecture already written on the page. But this presented different challenges where movement, visual rhythm and musical rhythm all had to become part of the same language.
Equally important was the human side of it – exploring ideas together, experimenting, observing how it evolved in front of a live audience, leaving the space for pauses and moments of anticipation on stage as we figured it out. Audiences really seemed to respond to that, so it gradually became woven into the piece itself.
What excited me most was watching audiences react to it in performance. There was an electric curiosity that entered the room almost immediately, where people leaned forward trying to understand what was happening, where the next layer was coming from, and how everything was fitting together.
Watching the eyes of an audience come alive is one of the most thrilling things from the performer’s side of the stage, because for me one of the truest measures of success has always been connection.
The audience weren’t simply listening anymore; they were watching and participating in the build.
I think it was that reaction was really what led us to record and film it. We wanted to preserve something that had begun as a live experience and see whether that same sense of anticipation could exist on screen.
One of the joys of Emerald Strings is working with extraordinary musicians who bring both a very high level of artistry and a real openness to experimentation. Music@Menlo International Program Artist Sara Scanlon, principal cellist of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra Sebastian Stoger and Ian Lum bring remarkable energy and musical curiosity to everything they do.
And I value their enthusiasm, generosity and willingness to step into ideas that sit somewhere between chamber music, theatre and live performance. Projects like this only really come alive when everyone commits fully to the same idea.
Performers:
Gregory Harrington: violin
Sebastian Stoger: cello
Sara Scanlon: cello
Ian Lum: cello
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