Selected Press
INTO THE LIGHT
“Just five years after forming, the Bay Area’s Telegraph Quartet has established itself as an ensemble of serious depth and versatility, and the group’s terrific debut recording only serves to reinforce that judgment. The programming – a collection of comparatively little-known works by Webern, Britten and the late American modernist Leon Kirchner – bespeaks a wonderful boldness of spirit, and the performances, which are vibrant and full of exploratory fervor, follow through beautifully.” — San Francisco Chronicle
“For my taste, the most outstanding tracks of Into the Light are those devoted to the Three Divertimentos by Benjamin Britten, an early work whose sophisticated language foreshadows his mature chamber music. Here, the Telegraph Quartet’s interpretation sparkles with brilliant humor, balancing out the seriousness of the other works as they bring this exciting new disc to a close.” — Strings Magazine
“Like five epigrammatic character pieces from outer space, they conjure eerie landscapes, fantastic atmospheres as well as ineffable inner spaces. The Telegraph Quartet’s realization of these ‘jewels’ (Stravinsky) is crystalline and thoroughly engrossing.” — The Whole Note
”This is a compelling music, and the Telegraph Quartet’s rhythmic acuity, rapid tempos and intense lyricism is stunning…The Telegraph Quartet is yet another brilliant young string quartet that makes chamber music so vital in today’s classical music performances. This disc showcases three unfamiliar 20th century works that modern quartet explorers will savor.” — Audiophile Audition
“All the works here are bound to please a concert audience and this little collection of works dating a forty year period from 1909 to 1949 are excellent vehicles for this ensemble which sports a lush sound and a feeling for the proper shaping of melodies." — New Music Buff
“The perfectly crafted unity of their playing, as in the vivid triplets that begin Kirchner’s First Quartet, is as striking as are the smashing pizzicato notes and electrically sparking ponticello that enliven the whole disc.” — San Francisco Classical Voice
“Without question, the quartet (Joseph Maile and Eric Chin, violins; Pei-Ling Lin, viola; Jeremiah Shaw, cello) offered a perfect balance in programming, artistic ability and sound, the latter possibly due to having the violins in bookend seating positions one and four rather than the usual side by side. It seemed to provide a fuller overall sound and more balanced quality. Technically, the four were flawless and tireless in putting out the utmost excellence possible.” — The Virginia Gazette
“The youthful exuberance of the Telegraph Quartet was evident right from the start of the Beethoven, which was spirited and boldly sculpted, with a wide dynamic range. Immediately striking, too, was the harmonic brilliance of the foursome's instruments, a set from the American luthier Douglas Cox. Eric Chin's violin had a silvery quality most of the time, but it could turn a bit steely under pressure. Pei-Ling Lin commanded the brightest-sounding viola I can remember hearing.The Brahms got a passionate reading, again boldly shaped, with a huge range of loud and soft. Dinnerstein almost always balanced wisely, and interpretively she was very much on the string players' wavelengths. There was a standing ovation at the end.” — Dallas News
“But an ensemble that can invest Webern or Kirchner with the soulfulness, tonal beauty and intelligent attentionto detail that the Telegraphers brought to this music — well, that’s an incredibly valuable addition to thecultural landscape.” — San Francisco Chronicle
“In their sold-out performance at Carnegie Hall last night, the Telegraph Quartet took one of the richest sources in the history of music and traced how profoundly it could resonate in the here and now…As the night went on, commonalities among the works broke the surface forcefully: tonalities, riffs, humor and sarcasm. All that, and an intuitive camaraderie within the ensemble, as well as the quartet’s close attunement to the music. From the first smoldering cello notes and then the snarling introduction of Leon Kirchner’s riveting String Quartet No. 1, they had come to conquer.” — New York Music Daily
“I've heard the Telegraph play Schoenberg, Cowell, and Webern over the years, and they are a terrific, intense young ensemble that plays brilliantly off of each other.” — SF Civic Center