Calder Quartet takes on notorious Morton Feldman work

The Calder Quartet, which includes USC Thornton alumni Benjamin Jacobson (BM’01, MM’07, violin), Andrew Bulbrook (BM ’02, violin), Jonathan Moerschel (BM ’01, MM ’03, viola) and Eric Byers (BM ’03, cello), recently performed Morton Feldman’s notorious String Quartet No. 2 at the Met Cloisters museum in New York City. The piece is five hours in duration and the composer himself has called it a “nightmare.”

Both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal published interviews with the Quartet about their strategies for taking on the rarely-performed piece. In order to build stamina, the group divided the quartet into multiple segments that were gradually expanded to encompass the entire work.

The quartet will next be performing at the Ocean Reef Chamber Music Festival in Florida from Jan. 17-21.