Surfing with Cellos: Quattrocelli in Their New York Debut, 4/17/08

Harsher critics would have called this a pops concert: among the selections in the group’s impressively diverse set at Trinity Church were several movie themes. Just about anything with the slightest bit of melody sounds good if played on the electric guitar, and the same could be said for the cello. But it was the German cello quartet’s playful, often astonishingly imaginative arrangements that ultimately won over the crowd and earned them a standing ovation. Everybody knows the Godfather theme, but how many have heard it all the way through? Quattrocelli’s cover of that old chestnut brought out every bit of tragedy in Nino Rota’s score. Likewise, they did a full-length version of Lalo Schifrin’s Mission Impossible, its middle section revealing itself full of bracing atmospherics worthy of Messiaen. And their cover of Misirlou – yet another composition best known to most audiences as a surf song – started out remarkably authentic, one of the players doing percussion on his cello with his fingers, evoking the dumbek (a hand drum that appears in most Middle Eastern music) which was almost undoubtedly on the original Greek version. But after the bridge, one of the cellists took it straight into Agent Orange territory, wailing furiously on the song’s famous riff while the others played subtly off the melody.

Otherwise, the group proved themselves at home with a wide range of styles. These ranged from baroque (Bach’s famous Air on a G String) to classical (two short, striking Shostakovich pieces, the Balkan dance Ball at the Palace and the hauntingly gorgeous Chitarri, which as one of the group explained became a tv spy show theme), to modernist (a jazz piece by German composer Helmuth Brandt, a Hans Eisler nocturne and a Gershwin medley wherein one of the cellists mimed a trombone while the rest of the group authentically mimicked the horn’s voicings, with hilarious results). Their encore, My Way, was uncharacteristically timid, crying out for a Sid Vicious standin to take over and put some kind of original stamp on it. But it made a point: Quattrocelli sound like no other chamber quartet in the world, and they’re fearless about it. Their next US tour promises to include works by American composers, which should be interesting, to say the least.

Quatrocelli
Four Cellos on a Snowy Night
BY JAMES MOORE

IT WAS A MISERABLE NIGHT out. Big, wet snowflakes falling. Roads, a mess. And all this following a week of temperatures in the 50s.

The Fairfield Concert Association was presenting its March program, a group billed as four young handsome cellists from Germany called Quattrocelli. Always a big fan of the cello, my curiosity was piquing around the corner from the moment I heard about this event. (I play in a group called Sage that features Daniel Sperry on cello.) The event would be held at the Fairfield High School Auditorium, a setting I enjoy very much.

Slogging through the snow, I arrive without my so-called date (another story—suffice it to say she had a cold), receive a program, and take an aisle seat in the second row center. The hall is less than robustly filled. I’d say only a couple of hundred or so in the 700-seat capacity venue complete with balcony. There are four piano stools on the stage.

After a simple introduction, out come four handsome well-coiffed young men. They are dressed in white bowties and black tuxedos with tails, which they flick over their stools. They sit, smile at the crowd, and launch into a gentle Bach piece. Ah, the sound of cello, so mellifluous. (“Mellifluous”—adj., a word with Indo-European roots that means flowing with sweetness or honey). Multiplied times four tonight. Sheets of unctuous cascading vibrations wash over me in a lush aural rainscape of pure tones and rich harmonies. The sound is cleansing, purifying, elevating. I’m already feeling sorry for the empty seats in the house.

In the program I read: "A quartet of four voices of the same register definitely requires the right chemistry among the players. These four come from the same school in Aachen, Germany, where they studied with the same teacher, Professor Hans-Christian Schwieker. This assures a uniformity of technique and tone, and a level of performance that appears effortless."

Effortless indeed, with cello interpretations born to segue shows for NPR. The well-rounded program moves seamlessly from classical to pop to cabaret to folk material and back. A Strauss piece reminds me of a pizzicato plink-plunk polka. (Pardon my lack of descriptive aplomb in this area. Or is that aria?) When the quartet jumps into a pumping version of “Mission Impossible,” I can’t help recalling a certain flight deck. The players on stage are all having fun, hamming it up just a bit. They obviously know how to play and to perform, looking often at one another, intently listening.

When Hartwig Christ (“the shortest”) introduces the band, he explains how separate airplane tickets must be purchased for their cellos as the instruments are too big for carry-ons and too precious to go as cargo. (His cello, inherited from his mother, is Dutch, built in 1663. Lukas Dreyer [“the oldest”] has a much younger German cello from 1760.) Though Lukas appears to be the leader, they all take turns introducing segments of music, which is elegant and egalitarian. Matthias Truck (“the tallest”), who does the arranging with Lukas, has a Swedish tennis player’s physique with an easy smile and a friendly air. Michiel (“the youngest”) is the newest member, with the most youthful cello.

Funny and bright, they are at ease speaking, even with slightly halting German accents. In true democratic fashion, all four members take turns soloing. They feature a number of pieces by renowned German jazz musician Helmuth Brandt, a saxophonist and big band composer who wrote for the double bass. Touching melody lines match eclectic frames of reference.

The second half of the show starts with Manuel de Falla’s “Danza del Fuego” with its bumblebee buzzing intro driving into an evocative Spanish fire dance feel. This is followed by a Gershwin medley that literally kicks ass. (I would find out later from Lukas, it came from a trombone quartet arrangement.)

Two more pieces by Brandt are followed by music from Elmer Bernstein’s the “Magnificent Seven,” which conjures images of the Marlboro Man and class action lawsuits. (“Come to where the flavor is. . . .”) At one point, the cellos drop out and the whole group whistles the melody, the juxtaposition tickling the room. They finish off the evening with an unlikely surf guitar instrumental from the movie Pulp Fiction. “Miserlou,” written by Dick Dale. (You may recall I did a column on Dale last June.)

The song starts off low-key and perky with a Spanish flavor. Then two minutes in, the cellos lurch into a yowling Arabesque wail that sounds like surging gas-powered buzz-saws. The audience claps along on the double backbeat. Dig it: a group of hoity-toity classical musicians ripping through a surf number.

After a standing O, they offer a French impressionistic version of “The Pink Panther.” And then, milking the cow for all it’s worth, like some celestial elevator music to the heavens, they do Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” their way, a perfect coda for the show.

Afterwards, Lukas, who has a distinctly John Lennon visage, invites me to hang with his mates. We talk at length of all manner of things, especially classical music. Lukas is first chair in an 80-piece orchestra and cut his professional teeth playing in string quartets. Says Brahms is his favorite classical composer. Loves Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich and the man who did most of Fellini’s movie music, Nino Rota.

He waxes poetic about the mystical mathematics of the musical spheres that composers like Brahms (and some of Bach), among others, were able to incorporate into their compositions, comparing them to certain classical architecture done in proportions that matched those intervals of the music. This style of composing, done with a mathematical precision where other things emerge from the more surface melodic and harmonic structures, is not a part of the modern milieu.

After playing 25 dates with Quattrocelli, Lukas rushes back to Germany in time for three practices and then the opening of an incredibly difficult opera, one with recently restored killer cello parts that require Lukas to sync with vocalists even though he’s down in a pit with his back to the performers. Plus, he has over 600 CDs of film music to sort through looking for the quartet’s next recording.

His partner in crime, Matthias Truck, plays me one of his side projects, a cello duo called Ponticellos. Three of the pieces incorporate percussion and are smack-daddy honking. Matthias talks about the fun he had organizing a string section for a large-arena tour with a German hip-hop band, enjoying the wider exposure but never quite finding satisfaction with the sound of the amplified cello. He hopes to correct that with an electric cello he found in Rome made by a company called Alter Ego; it’s being fitted just so and tweaked to his personal tastes.

I have a blast hanging out with these guys. My favorite moment is when Lukas tells me why he enjoys playing with Quattrocelli. “I know really good musicians that don’t listen to each other. It’s all about listening, even if you’re playing the same thing every day. You feel where the other people are at in the moment and respond to that.”

They crash at the Super 8, grabbing some shuteye before heading up to Wisconsin the next morning. I drive home through whisking gobs of snow, the road blurring into unseen horizons, windshield wipers, like drunken cello bows, keeping time.

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'quattrocelli' a hit at Border Concert
By Wayne Barron

Special to the Times

“quattrocelli”—the name says it all.

Four cellos—under the masterful control of a quartet of superb musicians from Germany —had the audience applauding with as much enthusiasm as at any Border Concert in recent memory.
The quartet hit the Backus Auditorium stage in International Falls last Tuesday (March 2) in the Border Concert Association’s latest offering in this season’s series. And judging by the post-concert buzz, this show was viewed by many as one of the best ever.
From their opening number, J.S. Bach’s “Air,” Quattrocelli began to weave their magic on the audience with a virtuosity and technical perfection that was spellbinding.
In true democratic fashion, none of the musicians assumed the role of leader, and in each piece, the melody line bounced effortlessly back and forth from one instrument to another.
The concert, aptly titled “Kaleidoscope,” featured an eclectic range of classical music, pop, and folk songs, and even movie themes—all of which were brilliantly arranged by two of the group’s members, Lucas Dreyer and Matthias Truck.
The mood was upbeat and often hilarious as all four members in turn showcased their individual virtuosity in selections such as Fritz Kreisler’s “Liebesleid,” de Falla’s well-known “Ritual Fire Dance,” and “Miserlou,” in which one cello did double duty as a percussion instrument.
Despite a relaxed appearance on stage, Quattrocelli’s astounding precision and dynamics were achieved by almost continuous eye contact among the members of the quartet.
They seemed rarely to look at their music, preferring instead to communicate with each other by the slightest nod of the head or a subtly raised eyebrow.
These four cellists proved they can handle a wide variety of musical styles, but their fondness for jazz was evident all through the concert. A sparkling arrangement of five familiar Gershwin melodies was sandwiched between the theme from “Rhapsody in Blue.”
They also played four selections by German saxophonist/composer Helmuth Brandt, in which the tight jazz harmonies were nothing less than spine-tingling.
Quattrocelli dispelled any preconceptions that four cellos on a concert stage equals an evening of quiet chamber music. With their fresh, free-wheeling, rhythmic show, they gave the Border Concert audience a performance to remember for a long time.
After being given a standing ovation, Quattrocelli played as an encore, Frank Sinatra’s signature hit, “My Way.” A more fitting choice could not have been made, for Quattrocelli certainly “did it their way.”

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The success of the four cellists in Oestrich was ultimately due to the brilliance of the mixture they offered: a fascinating, many-facetted concert in a sacred setting,...

The enthusiasm of the four players and their delight in music-making infected the audience. It was fascinating how the four of them communicated with looks and gestures.. The listeners thanked them for the bouquet of well-known melodies with lengthy applause and finally went home happily with the strains of Frank Sinatra's "My Way" in their ears.

..Bach's "Air". deeply felt, contemplative, almost devotional, with beautiful singing tone and well-chosen moments to "breathe": we were privileged to hear a truly great interpretation of the piece.

..after this, none of the many listeners there could keep their seats, the enthusiastic applause ended in standing ovations after the third encore..

The cello quartet gave a concert of musical subtlety, wit and passion, casting a spell over the audience with their music and their charm. The quartet has been conquering the concert halls for five years now.

The quattrocelli ensemble evokes storms of applause in the Cloisters.

In Münzhof the quattrocelli cello quartet took the audience by storm. the players have such perfect command of their instruments. they make fantastic music without giving themselves airs. No, what they show is feeling - and an infectious delight in music-making. It was a pleasure of a most unusual kind.

The audience was beside itself with enthusiasm and gave tremendous applause. Their appreciation was rewarded with 3 encores.

Have there ever been such enthusiastic storms of applause interspersed with wild whistling and shouts of appreciation in the history of the "International Meersburg Castle Concerts"? This was what happened on the night of the "Extraordinary Chamber Concert" with the quattrocelli ensemble. The arrangements and original compositions they offered were absolutely brilliant, How they communicated with one another and involved the audience! And the arrangements! Absolutely brilliant!

The tickets were completely sold out in two hours.

Cello quartet "quattrocelli" delighted the audience at the Stadthalle.. From the first to the last note, the four of them impressed us with their unbridled enthusiasm, their delight in playing and communicating..