Jan 18, 2008

Chamber music in bite-sized servings

Ying Quartet makes
classical sounds palatable
to new generation

By Paul Freeman / Entertainment Writer

Bridging the past and future, the Ying Quartet creates innovative music. Their 2007 work, "Tchaikovsky: Three String Quartets, Souvenir de Florence," earned a Grammy nomination. They won a "Best Classical Crossover" Grammy for 2006's "4 + Four," an interaction with Bay Area jazz mavericks the Turtle Island Quartet.

At Kohl Mansion in Burlingame on Sunday, the quartet will be showcasing their enthralling new release, "Dim Sum," a celebration of pieces by living Chinese-American composers.

Of Chinese descent, born and raised in America, the four Ying siblings - David (cello), Timothy (violin), Phillip (viola) and Janet (violin) - relished putting the spotlight on music that mirrors their heritage.

"It was a repertoire that we've been curious about for a number of years," David Ying said. "There are a number of prominent, interesting composers mixing elements of Western art music and Asian classical music."

It takes skillful musical mixologists to make such blendings work. "Crossover can have an ugly connotation," David said. "Sometimes you can wind up diluting both of the things that you're trying to mix and having something that's less interesting than either thing by itself."

David believes experimentation is necessary in figuring out which musical styles can combine in a worthwhile fashion. "These two traditions (chamber and Chinese) have aesthetic aspects in common - subtlety, nuance and intimacy, the idea that there's expression in every little gesture," he said. "So the mix is successful, artistically. It's flavorful music. It opens up a world all its own. People enjoy hearing it and we enjoy playing it."

Each crossover exploration is a learning experience. "When I'm in the audience and I see artists being creative and imaginative and opening themselves up, I love that. I get their energy," he said. "When you come back to playing the classics, having journeyed away from it, you become aware of things about a Beethoven quartet that you hadn't thought of before.

"Often when we do the Chinese music, we play it alongside something impressionist, like Ravel or Debussy. The Asian aspects of that music will come out more. It's fascinating. People say, 'I never thought about how Asian Ravel sounds.' That's the sort of thing that can happen when you take these musical journeys. Not only is it interesting for its own sake, but it can clarify things that are going on in familiar compositions. It's part of my continuing education. That's why I went into music, because I felt like I was going to learn from it for the rest of my life."

The Yings believe that context is everything. "Another way in which we've changed the context (of chamber music) is in serving these Chinese-American pieces in smaller morsels. It gives us flexibility," David said. "String quartets are traditionally 30-minute pieces, which limits how you can program things. We're playing shorter pieces or even parts of longer works that we felt would stand alone well. We decided to call this music 'Dim Sum.' We thought it would be fun to have a food analogy for people to understand what we're trying to do.

"Since this music is new to many people, being able to hear small bits of it through the ears of several different composers gives them immediately a wider appreciation and context of what the possibilities are."

The efforts of the Ying Quartet may attract new listeners to classical music. "For people in China who know nothing about a string quartet, but know something about traditional Chinese music, this would be a way into learning about a Beethoven quartet," David said.

"Young people like listening to what's current and maybe less so to something that's classic. The string quartet is a way to bridge that. We have tried to be omnivorous in our musical taste, because we realize we have the opportunity to help bring music to a lot of people. What we do on one front might help people appreciate what we do on another front."

David senses an adventurous spirit blossoming. "I love being a musician today," he said. "The walls that were boundaries between musicians or styles or countries or cultures seem to be so minimized now. It seems like a big, wide playground to explore. This conversation that's happening in the music world between different styles, it's very important."

The Yings' musical conversation began during their childhood in Chicago. "My parents, especially my mom, appreciated music and thought it would be something wholesome and fulfilling for us to get into," David said. "My dad, being a physician, probably thought, 'Someday when they're doctors, they'll come home in the evenings and get rid of their stress by playing the piano.' So they started us on lessons, but not thinking it would get us this far."

Performing with one's siblings has its advantages and disadvantages. "We've got a lifetime of baggage," David laughed.

"On the other hand, we've got a familiarity, a common language, a comfort with one another, a trust. That's quite a built-in strength. It's stressful at times and to make it through, you have to believe in your colleagues."

David believes musicians have to be willing to broaden their horizons. "The things that we think about and get involved in today are certainly not things that we would have thought of doing years ago, when we started," he said.

"That's the secret of any successful, long-standing chamber music group, not only to get along, but to enjoy developing together. If you don't evolve, it gets old pretty quickly, even when you're playing great music. Getting involved in all these unusual things has helped us encourage each other to grow."

The Yings are currently the faculty quartet-in-residence at the prestigious Eastman School in Rochester, N.Y.

"We're dealing with future professional musicians. We want them to enjoy participating in this life's journey that we've enjoyed, for them to get as much out of it as we have," David said. "Hopefully they can share it with a lot of people, because many people don't realize how good (classical) music is. ... If we can be a small part of their journey and help boost them on their way, that's a privilege for us."

The Yings' goal is to make creativity part of everyday life. "Music is a metaphor," David said. "If we experience the new ways people are getting things across musically, it makes us realize, hopefully, that we can do that in other areas of our lives, too - not be limited by the way things have been done for years and years before. Artists inspire each other to try new things. That's what makes the arts great."