Original image by There Stands the Glass.
The members of Parker Quartet were positioned 15 feet from my third-row seat at Polsky Theatre on Wednesday, August 3. Yet I was initially befuddled by the unamplified sound of the elite string quartet.
My primary reference point for Parker Quartet is its sublime 2021 album György Kurtág and Antonin Dvořák. Released by ECM Records, the recording is imbued with the storied label’s characteristic sonic sauce.
What I heard last night was shockingly dry. It took me more than five minutes to reorient myself to Parker Quartet’s true sound characterized by antiphonal violins.
The expressive face of cellist Kee-Hyun Kim helped me get my bearings. He grieved during mournful passages, exhibited elation while playing celebratory segments and chuckled at the humor in three contemporary pieces and a pair of Beethoven's masterworks.
The $10 ticket for the concert by the Boston based group may be the year’s biggest bargain. The maxim about getting what you pay for is usually true, but in this instance I felt like an accomplice in a brazen theft- even if the unprocessed sound threw me for a loop.