St. Petersburg Quartet
Preserving Russian traditions in chamber music
BY MARLI GUZZETTA INDEPENDENT ARTS EDITOR
When some people think of the Russian tradition in classical music, they picture young teenagers moving back and forth between the darkened corridors of their Soviet-era block apartments and bright practice studios with wooden floors, large windows and high ceilings. (Some architectural metaphors die hard.) Or maybe it's just me.

COURTESY ST. PETERSBURG QUARTET From left: Boris Vayner (viola); Alla Aranovskaya (First violin); Alla Krolevich, (Second violin); and Leonid Shukayev (cello)

Still, a romanticized notion of Russian musicianship exists, and it's neither mythical nor inappropriate, according to Alla Aranovskaya, first violin for the St. Petersburg Quartet, which will open the Nantucket Musical Arts Society's summer series on Tuesday, July 10. The NMAS also hosts informal meet-and-greets with the performing musicians the night before the show. (See below.)

"No intro needed," NMAS organizer Howard Chadwick wrote of the quartet on the program. "They are fabulous."

The quartet, which has played on Nantucket in the past, will set their strings to a program that includes Shostakovich's Opus 127 (which they will take with them to Europe after their Nantucket show).

Aranovskaya, Alla Krolevich (Goryainova) and Leonid Shukayev graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory together over two decades ago and formed (with another chair) the Leningrad Quartet, whose name they changed later after the city resumed its historic name.

The longevity of their working relationship has created a familial relationship, which means people sometimes bicker - but "when you love the music, it's more important to find the right decision than argue with each other," Aranovskaya said. "We love the music more than our egos."

Though the names of the quartet, like the cities, have changed, the Russian tradition that the quartet hopes to represent in its performances is somewhat timeless. Children are drafted at a young age into music and dance conservatories, then held to high standards of performance and discipline.

"In the Russian tradition, our schools prepared us at a high technical level," Aranovskaya said (making no mention of idyllic practice rooms). "But on the other hand, our teachers emphasized musical theory - why music is created and how it's supposed to go. When we start to work on the music, we think in those phrasings."

The quartet also plays Russian music - focusing on the 19th and 20th centuries, the last heyday for Russian chamber music.

Aranovskaya acknowledged that the chamber music audience has been waning the last few years in America.

"Before, I felt that even in small towns, you can find a chamber music society, or a group of people who love chamber music," she said. "Now is a difficult time for chamber music; financially it's harder."

However, Aranovskaya has hope that the transcendent quality of the music will carry it through uncertain times. "At some point, people start looking for something for the soul … and I think chamber music does that,," Aranovskaya said. "In it, a person can find beauty and all kinds of emotions. It's much more intimate, more personal, than other forms of classical music. I

hope we can keep it alive." I Meet the Artists

When: Monday, July 9, 8 p.m.

Where: Unitarian Church (Hendrix Hall), 11 Orange St.

Cost: Free

The St. Petersburg String Quartet

When: Tues., July 10

Where: First Congregational Church, 62 Centre St.

Cost: $15 at the door or in advance at the Antiques Depot, 14 East St., and Lochtefeld Gallery, 4 Fair St.

For more information on both events, please call 228-1287.