INDELIBLE VISIONS
OF A TROUBLED WORLD

BILL NEWMAN discusses the Emersons' new recording
of the complete Shostakovich works for string quartet

<< Continued from page 7

Four players of prime technical expertise and musicianship, the Emerson Quartet's performances of Shostakovich are a revelation. Every expression marking, nuance, accent, glissandi, pause, rest marking are scrupulously observed, but above all their stylistic realization of the music in toto reveals a new approach that withstands competition at the start of the new Millennium. The recording has Executive Producers Alison Ames and Christopher Alder sharing the responsibilities, while the team of Engineers: Da-Hong Seetoo (also responsible for editing), Max Wilcox (their regular guy) and Nelson Wong deserves the highest praises for immediacy, balancing all those intriguing musical strands, catching the full bloom of the performers' tonal colorations to perfection.

The Emerson Quartet. Photo: Sheila Rock

While agreeing with Eugene Drucker's assessment: 'I can't think of another quartet cycle in the 20th Century that's more important for our times...' I am sure he also includes the six by Bartók - which they have already recorded - high on his list. And what about the four by Schoenberg, the five by Ernest Bloch and the fifteen by Danish composer Vagn Holmboe? Dare one hope that he and his colleagues will do them a similar service?

To listen to the aural illustrations in this review, you may need to download RealNetworks' realplayer G2.