#29: Introduction to accompaniment

Section 3: Antonin Dvořák – String Quartet Op.96, ii: Lento

This movement demanded close attention to the basic idea of ‘accompanying’, and to nuances within its amalgamation of social and musical functions. One might take the view that a subsidiary role – designated on the basis of the material ‘itself’ – equates to a responsibility to lay down a disciplined, organised, even ‘structural’ canvas on which melodic fantasy can unfold with freedom. But this is not necessarily inconsistent with the idea that these voices can take a great deal of control of the music in a less overt manner, by shaping the underlying landscape on which the ‘foreground action’ unfolds. These dynamics are usually quite imperceptible to a listener, especially when working within a synchronised aesthetic, but they are vividly experienced from the inside of a small group. We found that an incidental benefit of bringing this sensitivity ‘outside’ the synchronisation convention was to shine more of a light on the precise nature of those interactions. Indeed this can be interesting for any ensemble to try, independently of an interest in early recorded style.

This topic took centre stage in the Lento of Op.96, where the notion of ‘persona’ overlapped in many different ways with more neutral descriptions of the score, and especially its structural and textural features. One might be inclined to extrapolate subsidiary, pivot-like ‘roles’ from the consistency of the inner parts, at least as they appear on the page. The sheer variety the Czech Quartet adopted towards that material, then, meant that internal ensemble dynamics were always likely to dominate our attention in this movement.