if certain notes are thrown into relief; and others only if played very
softly (almost as though they were overtones). To overcome such
difficulties means a great deal of work, real musical instinct and,
above all, great familiarity with the composer's harmonic processes. Yet
with time and patience the true balance of tone can be obtained.


TEMPO

"All four individual players must be able to _feel_ the tempo they are
playing in the same way. I believe it was Mahler who once gave out a
beat very distinctly--one, two, three--told his orchestra players to
count the beat silently for twenty measures and then stop. As each
_felt_ the beat differently from the other, every one of them stopped at
a different time. So _tempo_, just like intonation, must be 'tempered'
by the four quartet players in order to secure perfect rhythmic
inflection.


DYNAMICS

"Modern composers have wonderfully improved dynamic expression. Every
little shade of meaning they make clear with great distinctness. The
older composers, and occasionally a modern like Emanuel Moor, do not use
expression marks. Moor says, 'If the performers really have something to
put into my work the signs are not needed.' Yet this has its
disadvantages. I once had an entirely unmarked Sonata by Sammartini. As
most first movements in the sonatas of that composer are _allegros_ I
tried the beginning several times as an _allegro_, but it sounded
radically wrong. Then, at last, it occurred to me to try it as a _largo_