CSUN Honors String Quartet

Roster: Violin I - Rossanna, Violin II - Ray, Viola - Natalie, Cello Megan

First of all, congratulations to Natalie for making it in! :) I have to say that I wasn't surprised at the roster because it was one of 2 possible quartets in my opinion. The 2 quartets would be the mild mannered, always perfect quartet and the passionate, get things wrong quartet. The passionate, get things wrong quartet would include players that were willing to take risks to get the message and effect of the music across. Monster players with demonstrative abilities and big sound and stage presence. This would have included: Violin I - Edgar, Violin II - there was really no other violinist who had these qualities. They were either timid, didn't move, or didn't produce enough sound. Viola - Quyen, Cello - the Korean girl (but also Megan because she could have gone either way).

With a missing 2nd violin, a monster playing quartet would have been hard to form and balance. Because of this, I conclude that Edgar, the Korean girl, and myself were all out of the running. The test was to then get a good quartet together that had similar styles. The end result mandated that they match Natalie, since she was the only other violist who auditioned and is a stark contrast from my style of playing. Yohei is even more timid than Natalie which left Rossanna and Ray for violins and Megan for cello (even though I think she is a closet monster player :P)

I've never been part of a more mild and perfect quartet. I wonder what kind of literature they will be playing? Maybe Mozart and things from the classical period? I'd wager nothing like Ravel or Debussy, since that takes a lot of gusto to pull off. Late Beethoven at best? Who knows? Hmnn... Edgar and I were talking on the phone today about starting a string trio with Edgar, myself and the Korean girl. Haha... give me back my Weissaar viola and then we'll start talking ;)