How can a performance of Shostakovich’ piano quintet be dramatized by using words, movements, staging and lighting?

Laura Lunansky

Student Number 3026329 Supervisor(s) Andrew Wright, Maggie Urquhart Title De Formule Research Question How can a performance of Shostakovich’ piano quintet be dramatized by using words, movements, staging and lighting? Summary This research was carried out in and through the practice and performances of ensemble ‘de Formule’, a piano quintet in which we both play the violin. As a result of this research, our goal was to perform the Shostakovich piano quintet in a dramatized way, which we did in 2018. The research text describes the internal research process. By looking at (historical) sources about the composer and the piece, and by analyzing the score we got an impression of the context and atmosphere of the quintet, and we created a story to go with it. We found that the piece fitted today’s very important topic about finding your identity within the (mass) society, knowing the history of Shostakovich’ own struggles and the expressions he creates in his melodies, harmonies, instrumentation etc.: sometimes searching, sometimes dragged along in sarcastic happiness and sometimes screaming for help. All these elements we used to conduct the research process, which included translation of the story lines and expressions into movements, words, light effects and different stagings. As a result of this dramatization, we noticed that the audience seemed to understand the music better, and for ourselves, the performance was a more meaningful experience. Short Bio Coraline Groen obtained a bachelor’s degree from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. Her teachers have included Vera Beths, Peter Brunt and Philippe Graffin in The Hague, and Rodney Friend at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Groen was a member of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Academy 2018-2019 and played with the Bayrische Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra and the Residentie Orchestra. She was appointed principal of the second violins of the NJO, the RAM Symphony Orchestra and the Gustav Mahler Academy Orchestra. Groen is a member of the Volkmann Trio, De Formule, and a duo with bayan player Robbrecht Van Cauwenberghe.

4. Reflection

Looking back on this process, we learned a lot. Not only how to play by heart in chamber music and how to walk while playing, but also how to embrace the inner story one feels when playing the music and making it to something real.

We can definitely say that the dramatization increased our experience with the music; first of all because the creation of the storyline made us look even closer at the score than we would usually do, and when learning it by heart we were obliged to learn the full score by heart - something that is not always happening when playing chamber music, and now the music was so close to us, especially when we created our storyline. It made it easy to perform the music convincingly, and we felt that the audience was also responding: we heard several comments after our concert that people had been sitting on the edge of their chair for the full performance, never distracted or losing concentration. This is something that is not usual!

It was also special to feel the connection with the audience by sharing our own poetry, setting the atmosphere and of course walking next to them. The choreography of the Fugue, the fact that we were so far apart that we were really alone on our path, was one of the most scary and uncomfortable things we had done, but it was very special and it gave a unique experience to us and the audience, something they do not get very often! “De Formule innovates” was a comment from a listener.

Digging this deep into a score is something that we discovered was really worthwile and we are hoping to do similar research with future pieces we play!

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