How to Succeed in an Ensemble: Reflections on a Life in Chamber Music

By Abram Loft

Preface

1 My Winding Road to an Ensemble Career
2 Columbia: My Years at the Other End of the Classroom
3 How I Joined the Fine Arts Quartet
4 Instruments: Seeking the Ideal
5 The Freelance Years
6 Recording: Pioneering in the 1950s and Beyond
7 Concerts, Travel: Our Tours in the 1950s
8 A Landmark Concert Series
9 Reviews: Read 'Em and Weep?
10 The Fine Arts Quartet in a University Residency
11 The 1960s: Playing Far and Wide
12 Illness, Injury, and Other Problems
13 The 1970s: My Last Years on the Road with the Fine Arts Quartet
14 How I Left the Fine Arts Quartet—and Lived On
15 Forming or Joining an Ensemble: Some Words to the Wise
16 Rehearsal in the Real and Ideal Worlds
17 Repertoire, Program Building, Guest Artists
18 Survival: Gigs, Recording, Reaching Your Public
19 Teaching Chamber Music
20 The Business Side of Ensemble Life
21 The Chamber Ensemble in Residence
22 Recapitulation and Coda

Repertoire List
Guest Artists
Discography
Suggested Readings
List of Musical Examples

Index