INDELIBLE VISIONS
OF A TROUBLED WORLD

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

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Over a considerable period, the Emerson Quartet have absorbed the eternal message behind the printed scores. In a series of live concerts at the Apsen Music Festival, Colorado stemming 1994/8/9, edited compilations of several performances for each work form the basis of this wonderful recording document. The youthful serenity at the start of the early C major First Quartet soon gives way to a glissando 3/4 dancing figure (fig.4) [listen, CD 1 track 1, 1:02 - 2:02], taking on the form of an elaborate satirical waltz in the third allegro molto movement with its passing resemblance to the 'flitting like a shadow' third movement from Mahler's seventh symphony. Changing mood sequences assume larger proportions in the second quartet (1944, dedicated to fellow composer Vissarion Shebalin). [Listen, CD 1 track 5, 5:13 - 6:13]. I was startled by cellist David Finckel's cresendo pizzicati, reverberating like some gigantic guitar. The piece cajoles and shocks by its impudence and daring, yet charms at the same time; then a recitative and romance feature two long statements for first violinist Eugene Drucker. A tantalizing valse in off-beat measures follows, while the final Theme with Variations contrasts an adagio beginning and closing with an extended central section, Più mosso, crotchet = 168 , music of such vehemance for all contestants where I imagined instruments splitting in half under stress while the sprung concert platform actually vibrates!

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