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Posted by Christy Mackintosh
Sunday, 5 September 2010

Assembled quartets applaud Cecilia’s win

It’s the morning of the Finals and the clouds have descended upon Banff, clutching the mountaintops like audience members reluctant to leave the sanctity of a concert hall. We’re hunkering down for one last post-breakfast tête-à-tête with Barry Shiffman, joined by members of the Calliope Quartet in the Community, BISQC laureate Josh Gindele, and moderator David Pay.

It’s a debrief of sorts. A healing session. We’ve had the pleasure of watching all nine quartets perform five works each through four distinct rounds, which is rare in this type of competition. Now we’re experiencing the downside. We’ve gotten to know and love these performers, and overnight, six of them have had their hopes and dreams – and ours for them – dashed. At least for some, that’s what it feels like.

“This is the fourth time we’ve been [to BISQC],” one audience member told me at lunch, “and I still know nothing about string quartets.” Like so many others I overheard today, she was dismayed by the jury’s choice of which three quartets would proceed to the finals. Or perhaps more accurately, she was dismayed by her inability to predict it.

I sat next to one of the jurors at Friday night’s Alumni Gala Concert and she told me that the most difficult task a juror is charged with, in addition to the deep listening required, is setting aside one’s personal prejudices towards the repertoire. And as our panel of experts elaborated this morning, the intricacies of evaluating the performance and not the repertoire abound: there is the audio versus visual impact of performance to consider. Do you choose the accelerating talent or the perfectly positioned (peaked) quartet? Is a technically perfect performance better than a technically imperfect but emotionally impactful one?

Josh reflected on the Miro’s 1998 win and what has kept them together and successful 12 years later, and for him, it comes down to rolling with the punches, having the ability to embrace the changes and challenges of life with an open mind and an open heart. How do you select a jury that’s capable of assessing that?

Barry reminds us there’s an upside: that while naturally disappointed, the quartets who did not make the finals have, this week, achieved a level of excellence that not only shocked Barry and the jury but the quartets themselves, that has made them realize they can and should be aiming higher.

And as one astute observer pointed out, BISQC isn’t a zero sum game comprised of winners and losers. BISQC exists to raise the profile of all of its performers, engage and inspire new audiences, and expand the range and reach of string quartet repertoire.

So what of our three finalists? Cecilia, Afiara, and Zaïde gave exquisite performances of richly varied repertoire. It didn’t matter who won. We loved them all.

Our intrepid BISQC blogger, Christy Mackintosh, is a music lover and freelance writer who lives and works in Banff. She holds degrees in piano performance and English literature, is a contributor to Calgary’s Fast Forward Weekly, has written features for The Globe and Mail, and is working on her first book. She recently participated in The Banff Centre’s Literary Journalism program, where (it could happen to you!) she got a little too used to the buffet at Vistas. She looks forward to feasting of all kinds throughout the exciting week ahead.

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