Lenox — Their musicianship is exemplary, their intonation uncanny, their repertoire delightfully eclectic, their business model ingenious. The Arcis Saxophone Quartet had all these things going for them on November 9, at the Linde Center for Music and Learning, and a rapt audience got all the benefit.
The Arcis performed the program’s first half without sheet music. This makes a huge difference in the way a chamber-music performance connects with an audience. Instead of hiding behind music stands, the musicians play while standing up and making eye contact with their audience. In Studio E, audience and band are at ground level.
When such a group as Arcis commits their music to memory, they play not as if the notes were coming off the page but as though the music originated from the musicians’ bodies—from their hearts, as it were. The effect is gripping, and it makes one realize that Joyce Linde and friends knew what they were doing when they laid out the floor plan of Studio E. It naturally puts musicians into close proximity to members of the audience.
When the Arcis Saxophone Quartet tours the world, the world is changed. That is because the group not only delights audiences but shows everyone involved with the business side of classical music a new way of promoting live music performance. There is no way it could be without effect. These people could perform for kindergartners or conservatory professors, and they would always get the same result: audience engagement that should be the envy of the world’s major orchestras.
How do they do it? Firstly, they invite everyone in the audience to take plenty of photographs and video of the performance. This outlandish departure from the norm has very obvious benefits to the band and the audience. Because of social media, people all over the world will be talking about a performance the morning after. That kind of buzz is priceless to any classical musician. But it costs the Arcis nothing. Audiences, of course, are delighted
Secondly, they hold a drawing to win a CD with audience members entering their email address at a website they reach by scanning a QR with their smartphones. The entire process is paperless, and no one must leave their seat to enter the drawing.
Orchestras have contracts that obligate them to prohibit photography during certain performances. There are workarounds, but all stakeholders must be in on the plan. James Taylor, for example, wants audiences to enjoy themselves and take photo souvenirs home with them if they like. By all accounts, he has benefited from this policy.
Arcis knows how to present prickly contemporary music in a way that is safe for children and small pets. They know how to involve audiences, and they know how to tell a story. They are educators at heart, and they have had 15 years to polish their desk-side manner.
The Arcis’ program on Saturday included a piece by Marc Mellits, a 1997 Tanglewood Music Center Composition Fellow. There were also works by Philippe Geiss, Shuteen Erdenebaatar, Emma O’Halloran, and audience favorite Astor Piazzolla. Apart from Piazzolla, all of these composers are alive and of recent vintage. Their music is challenging at times, but that is not how members of Saturday’s audience will remember it. All they will remember is having fun.
What the Arcis Saxophone Quartet could do in collaboration with the Boston Symphony Orchestra is staggering to contemplate, because the players are comfortable with everything from abstract music of the type you hear at the Festival of Contemporary Music to big-band repertoire to standard classical repertoire to pop, all performed with precision and conspicuous élan.
Here’s hoping word gets out among BSO decision makers that the Arcis Saxophone Quartet is a smoking-hot contender for a summer Tanglewood appearance.
