There are quartets enough that play standard repertory tidily, even brilliantly.

At the end of the week, the orchestras give a public concert, playing repertory they have learned during the week.

He played mostly standard repertory and made it sound fresh and unfamiliar.

Where else, moreover, will enterprising audiences experience star performers playing such unusual and provocative repertory?

The quartet is forging an identity as a group that plays standard repertory but also, in the spirit of its explorer namesake, new works.

"Every night we play different repertory," he said.

Of course informed musicians anywhere can learn to play Russian repertory sensitively.

These behaviors occur in his jazz and improvised solo performances, but are for the most part absent whenever he plays classical repertory.

"When Melvin and I were young people, you didn't play specific repertory until you were a certain age," he said.

Many musicians have tried to get their names in the papers by playing unusual repertory.