Interview by Kyle Macmillan
After its sweep of all the prizes at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, critics regularly applauded the Dover Quartet as an emerging ensemble with abundant talent and huge potential.
But what once was potential has become undeniable achievement. Simply put, the Dover has arrived. Now in its 17th year, kind of the start of middle age for such an ensemble, it is solidly embedded as one of the finest string quartets not just in the United States but also the world.
“I don’t think we really spend much time thinking of ourselves in any historical context,” said cellist Camden Shaw, “or comparing ourselves to other groups. What I can say is that at this age, we’re really comfortable playing with one another, and we’re comfortable being ourselves, which takes a long time.”
Making Their Colorado Music Festival Debut
Colorado Music Festival audiences will have a chance to hear for themselves July 29, when the Dover makes its debut on the series, with a program featuring the inaugural string quartets by three great composers: Leoš Janáček, Robert Schumann and Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
The Stories Behind the Setlist
Such an unusual grouping of firsts would seem to be deliberate, but Shaw called the combination a “crazy coincidence.” A Dover policy is that each player gets to request a no-veto selection each season, what the players call “dream pieces,” and Schumann’s Quartet No. 1 in A minor, Op. 41, was violist Julianne Lee’s selection.
Second violinist Bryan Lee’s choice was Tchaikovsky’s Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 11, another beloved masterpiece of the chamber-music repertoire. Rounding out the line-up is the Quartet No. 1, The Kreutzer Sonata, by Janáček (1854-1928), a Czech composer whose fame came late in his career in 1916 with the opera, Jenufa.
Janáček’s two quartets are among the most important of the 20th century and reflect his interest in folk music and extended tonality. The first, written in 1923, was inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s novella, The Kreutzer Sonata, about a man who kills his wife in a jealous rage after becoming convinced she has become romantically involved with a violinist with whom she had been performing the celebrated Beethoven sonata.
“It’s really wonderful,” Shaw said of the Colorado line-up. “because all three of those pieces are wildly different styles and all really inspired. That’s a cool program – quite intense.”
Guest Artist Spotlight: Pierre Lapointe Joins the Dover
Pierre Lapointe, a founding member of the 20-year-old Escher Quartet, will serve as guest violist for this concert and three subsequent ones elsewhere, substituting for Julianne Lee. He knows the four members of the Dover well, because the two ensembles have toured together previously, performing Felix Mendelssohn’s celebrated Octet, and second violinist Bryan Lee has substituted with the Escher a few times.
“Our styles are similar, so I think it works well,” Lapointe said. “Whenever Bryan joins us, it doesn’t require that much rehearsing, and I’m figuring it’s going to be the same with them, because I’ve recorded most of the pieces we’re playing [with the Escher.]”
Given that the Escher and Dover quartets are both highly respected and at similar stages in their careers, it might seem only natural that they would be rivals or competitors, but they don’t see it that way. “Basically, the Escher and Dover go way back and help each other out whenever possible – we admire each other,” Shaw said.
Reinventing the Quartet Model
The Colorado Music Festival concert comes as the Dover is about to embark on a major – and potentially risky – new chapter spurred by Lee, who joined the quartet in Fall 2023. “With Julianne, we really felt like we had the dream team,” Shaw said. “She is an amazing colleague and an amazing player, and she really fit into the group in a way that was, frankly, uncanny.”
But after touring for a year with the quartet, Lee realized she could not handle its punishing schedule and heavy-duty traveling. Not wanting to disband or lose her, the quartet instead decided to massively curtail the number of concerts it does each year from 90-120 to about 25.
Lee will return to the Boston Symphony in July as assistant principal second violin, and it has agreed to give her time in her schedule so she can tour with the quartet in concentrated doses. That same month, the Dover’s first violinist Joel Link, will take over as concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra and will also split time between the two ensembles.
Such a huge reduction in performances is all but unprecedented for a quartet of the Dover’s standing. While ensembles might start out with light schedules as they try to establish themselves or pare back as they look toward retirement, rarely do they do it when they are at their peak.
Shaw, who plans to devote more time to concerto and recital performances, sees it as a positive. “I’m really thrilled at this opportunity,” he said, “to keep playing together but in a really focused capacity, because it’s like we’re turning it into a passion project that is not going to go stale.”
A Beethoven Milestone and a Chamber Music Legacy
Two important developments mark the Dover’s arrival in the top tier of the quartet world, starting with its recording of the complete set of quartets by Ludwig van Beethoven, which was released in 2023 as an eight-disc boxed set on the Cedille label.
Performing all 16 of the works, which span Beethoven’s career and incorporate a vast range of moods, stylistic variations and technical challenges, is seen as the ultimate test for any string quartet. Shaw called the mammoth project a “pinnacle” moment for the group.
“The amount of effort and sheer willpower that went into that – it was like nothing I’ve ever done before,” he said. “When that was over, I remember waking up after the last session, three years of recording done, and it just felt like a vacation everyday for at least a month.”
Carrying the Torch After Legends Retire
The second big development was the recent retirements of the famed Emerson and Orion string quartets and dissolution of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, which left a void at the top of the field that the Dover was perfectly positioned to fill.
“In all honesty,” Shaw said, “some of us have experienced a little bit more pressure on stage, feeling like there is a serious reputation to uphold, and when you’re younger, if you sound great, it’s seen as an amazing accident. But I think we always held ourselves to an excruciatingly high standard.”
What’s Next for the Dover Quartet?
What comes next for the Dover Quartet remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: when they take the stage on July 29, listeners can expect the same uncompromising focus, chemistry, and passion that have defined their rise to the top.
The Dover Quartet performs at the Colorado Music Festival on Tuesday, July 29 at 7:30 pm MT.
