By Forrest Wu

New music champions Brooklyn Rider break astonishing new ground in 2012’s Seven Steps. Still basking in the critical glow of their interpretation of Phillip Glass’ complete string quartets, the ensemble’s innovative spirit moves in unexpected new directions on this release. Unexpectedly, the group (who are violinists Johnny Gandelsman and Colin Jacobsen, violist Nicholas Cords, and cellist Eric Jacobsen) focuses their unique approach to nuance on one of Beethoven’s momentous String Quartet No.14 in C# minor, Op. 131. Paired with a work written for the group by NYC-based composer Christopher Tignor and, most interestingly, the quartet’s first foray into creating their own music, the album braves uncharted territory with heart-rending results.

Beethoven is often interpreted with a heavy hand, and a heavier bow arm. Molto vibrato, confusing and disproportionate rubato, and inattention to balance often characterize the way works like Op. 131 are performed, even by the most seasoned ensembles. By bringing the same intricate, plaintive, and absolutely tuned sensibilities to Beethoven as Glass, Brooklyn Rider in turn breathes new life into one of the great masterworks of the western canon. Rather than complicate the composer’s decidedly dense writing further, the ensemble interprets the score with an ear to an evolving music culture. If not for the delicate dynamic hairpins and light touch of vibrato that betray the recording’s humanity, the incredible sense of intonation that the quartet displays could easily be mistaken for a very expensive synthesizer. Beautifully balanced textures trump the top-heavy recordings of other quartets, and more effectively communicate Beethoven’s meticulous chord spelling.

Most indicative of Brooklyn Rider’s unique sound is their careful, subtle use of vibrato. In conversation with Nicholas Cords, Brooklyn Rider’s violist, I inquired about the ensemble’s iconic attention to vibrato and, more often, its omission.

Forrest Wu: “Your collective sound is very precise in terms of vibrato placement. It’s at once a very contemporary and very old concept- how did that translate into Beethoven, which is often interpreted so heavily?”

Nicholas Cords: “Yes, the vibrato thing. It is definitely one of the things that bind us together as a quartet. We actually vibrate a lot of the time, but it is mostly very subtle. We try to keep two things on our dashboard constantly- harmonic thinking and rhythmic thinking. These are the driving forces behind most any piece of music, and excessive vibrato can obscure both seriously. We are slightly against the grain here, but I think this was similar to the way the older generation (pre-WWI) thought about vibrato, and I think it is also informed by a lot of the rock/alternative music vocal styles that we love as well. There is so much more to say about the vibrato thing- it seems to be a very contentious issue out there- some people think that it means that we are lazy and emotionless string players! The thing is, there are other engines that drive the complex relationship to human emotions- we like exploring those with a concept of group sound while allowing the composer’s voice to be heard without too many layers of patina.”

In Op. 131’s sixth movement, marked Adagio quasi un poco andante, this removal of typical convention also removes the pretense. A pristine and tearful hymn, the movement cries with added despair as the air is cleared around the score. The sparse usage of vibrato lets Beethoven’s pensive voice leading speak for itself.

By no means does this effect take the fire out of Op. 131. The bombastic work was, at the time of its completion, far beyond the breadth of any Beethoven’s previous quartets. This was, after all, the work that exemplified, for Schumann, “the extreme boundary of all that has hitherto been attained by human art and imagination.” The quartet is a big deal, for musicians and academes alike, and Brooklyn Rider repaints the masterpiece with a palette both as severe and as cool as it deserves.

Cords also had much insight on ‘Seven Steps,’ the track from which the album draws its name. This piece is the group’s first publication of their own music, half composed and half-improvised, and reflects the ensemble’s myriad influences.

FW: I’d like ask how ‘Seven Steps’ is constructed. It seems to be constructed of some tonal themes connected by more abstract material. Is that the improvised stuff?

NC: Roughly speaking, yes. We really did start the whole process with a series of simple improvisation games, little tidbits we picked out of Op.131 that were interesting; hocketing figures, layered chords, pairs of instruments, etc. Even the written parts were informed by improvisation, and moreover by Beethoven.

FW: Did that affect the way you rehearsed Op. 131 in turn?

NC: Yes, it allowed us to enter the piece with a more composerly and creative approach. In no way are we trying to equate ourselves with Beethoven (far from it,) but it is quite debilitating to only look at this music as a monumental challenge or summit for a string quartet. I think the process made the music seem fresher to us, it shed some of its clothing that Op. 131 has accumulated over the years by string playing traditions. We are all a product for better or worse of those traditions, but getting in touch with the score and the creative impulse was one way we thought of doing this differently.

FW: Could we double back to ‘Seven Steps’ for a minute to talk about composer influences?

NC: I think the range is super wide- I think names that were mentioned as reference points along the way ranged from Beethoven to Gubaidulina to Ljova to Kurtag to Kayhan Kalhor to Sigur Rós to Deerhoof to whatever. And yet, none of this was terribly explicit in the process or the result. It is mostly just what came to the surface for the four of us, all of whom listen to and love a really big range of music.

It seems counterintuitive that such a varied range of influence contributes to such a unified sound, but it’s come to define Brooklyn Rider’s signature style. More than an amalgam of inspirations, Seven Steps as an album reflects four artists helping shape a rapidly progressing musical society by imbuing great work of the past with the visceral emotion of the present.

Here’s Brooklyn Rider playing the last movement of Op. 131 for you to watch and listen: