Distant Melodies

A combination of memoir and music history, Distant Melodies takes the reader on a journey of exploration into the related ideas of home, displacement and retreat in the lives and music of four composers whose works Edward Dusinberre has rehearsed and performed as first violinist of the Takács Quartet: Antonín Dvorák, Edward Elgar, Béla Bartók and Benjamin Britten. Distant Melodies explores the experience of living with a piece of music over time and the ways in which engaging more closely with these composers has changed the author's own perception of home. As he learned more about Dvórâk, Bartók and Britten's American experiences, Elgar's remarkable Piano Quintet and the English landscapes that inspired it provided another way to explore the ways in which a piece of music may affirm or alter one's sense of home. While Dusinberre's earlier book, Beethoven for a Later Age: The Journey of a String Quartet,delved into the inner workings of a string quartet, Distant Melodies charts the progress of the Takács during a period of change as the world begins to emerge from the distancing caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As first violinist of the world-renowned Takács Quartet, Edward Dusinberre has won a Grammy and awards from Gramophone Magazine, the Japanese Recording Academy, Chamber Music America and the Royal Philharmonic Society. Combining an international career with his longstanding appointment as Artist-in-Residence at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Dusinberre performs as a member of the Takács in the USA, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia, and is an Associate Artist at London's Wigmore Hall. Acclaimed for its interpretations of a wide range of repertoire, the Takács Quartet is noted for innovative projects. The quartet has worked with Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Roth and poet Robert Pinsky on concerts that combined words and music. A project with the Hungarian music ensemble Muzsikás explores the inspiration and sources for Bartók's musical language. In June 2020 the Takács Quartet was featured in the BBC television series Being Beethoven.Dusinberre's first book, Beethoven for a Later Age: The Journey of a String Quartet, (Faber) melded music history and memoir to illuminate the circumstances surrounding the composition of Beethoven's quartets and the Takács Quartet's experiences playing this music. For this work Dusinberre won the Royal Philharmonic Society's 2016 Creative Communication Award: 'Few have told so well of the musician's life, or offered such illuminating insights to players and listeners alike.', As first violinist of the world-renowned Takács Quartet, Edward Dusinberre has won a Grammy and awards from Gramophone Magazine, the Japanese Recording Academy, Chamber Music America and the Royal Philharmonic Society. His first book, Beethoven for a Later Age: The Journey of a String Quartet, published by Faber & Faber (UK) and the University of Chicago Press (USA), melded music history and memoir to illuminate the circumstances surrounding the composition of Beethoven's quartets and the Takács Quartet's experiences playing this music. For this work Dusinberre won the Royal Philharmonic Society's 2016 Creative Communication Award: 'Few have told so well of the musician's life, or offered such illuminating insights to players and listeners alike.' The book has been translated into German and Korean. Dusinberre's latest book Distant Melodies: Music in Search of Home will be published by Faber in 2022.Dusinberre lives in Boulder, where he is Artist-in-Residence and a Christoffersen Fellow at the University of Colorado., As first violinist of the Takács Quartet, Edward Dusinberre has won a Grammy and awards from Gramophone Magazine, the Japanese Recording Academy, Chamber Music America and the Royal Philharmonic Society. Outside of the quartet he has made a recording of Beethoven's violin sonatas nos. 9 (Kreutzer) and 10 on the Decca label. Dusinberre is also an author. His second book Distant Melodies: Music in Search of Home is published by Faber and University of Chicago Press in the Fall of 2022. The book explores the themes of displacement and return in the lives and specific chamber works of Dvorák, Elgar, Bartók and Britten. His first book Beethoven for a Later Age: The Journey of a String Quartet, takes the reader inside the life of a string quartet, melding music history and memoir as it explores the circumstances surrounding the composition of Beethoven's quartets and the Takács Quartet's experiences rehearsing and performing this music. The book won the Royal Philharmonic Society's 2016 Creative Communication Award. Announcing the award the RPS Committee said: 'Few have told so well of the musician's life, or offered such illuminating insights to players and listeners alike.' Dusinberre lives in Boulder, where he is Artist-in-Residence and a Christoffersen Fellow at the University of Colorado. In 2017 he was appointed a member of the faculty at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara and is a Visiting Fellow at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.