Five stars for Emerson String Quartet’s farewell concerts in New York

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After 47 seasons, the Emerson String Quartet played their final concerts this past weekend for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. The most consequential American string quartet after the Juilliard, in the 1980s Deutsche Grammophon chose them to record the central repertoire for the still-new CD format. Their discography brought awards for their collections of the Beethoven, Shostakovich and Bartók quartets, among others, and fame.

Emerson always meant “intensity”; their robust sound often seemed poised at the edge of violence, especially live. Though the Saturday concert veiled this in warmth and thoughtfulness, intensity was there and doubtless stoked by the loud, vocal ovation from the audience the moment the group came on stage.

The programme for a quartet late in its style was music of late styles, Beethoven’s Op 130 Quartet in B-flat major, with the Grosse Fuge as the last movement, and after intermission Schubert’s Quintet in C major. A programme note from violinist Eugene Drucker explained that the Quintet was the piece used as transition from cellist David Finckel to Paul Watkins in 2013 — Finckel rejoined for this concert, making up a quintet — and that Op 130 was the “one piece through which to attempt a summation of our life and work as quartet players”.

That came through in an engrossing performance. The sound was refined, with a warm, soft surface and a sensation of weight and strength underneath. This had a feeling of great balance and insight. Late style of Beethoven’s, coming from deep inside the deaf composer’s mind, can seem fragmented; the challenge is to stitch together his logic and wilfulness. It’s like writing Finnegans Wake with the succinct, placid prose of Hemingway.

The Emerson did this with subtlety and wisdom. Rather than differentiate anything as transitional or gestural, they played everything with equal weight. Quick changes of mood and musical ideas were connected by a way of shaping the ending of one phrase so that it perfectly prepared the start of another. This kind of passing around the music is the height of chamber music playing and one rarely hears it so natural and expressive.

The pace of the Presto was invigorating, the music unexpectedly playful. The Andante was a little polite, but the Alla danza tedesca was suave, with earthy rhythm. The Cavatina had the feel of a yearning for freedom. The Grosse Fuge was quick, slicing, with a feel of struggle and superb balance between introverted and extroverted moods. The dotted rhythms were bounding, propelled by the quartet’s intensity. This was great technique and even greater thinking.

The stately Schubert Quintet is a very different late style, the young composer contemplating life while knowing his death is not far off. The circumstances belie how serene the music can be, and the Emerson brought out the sunniness and tenderness. With a very different sense of form than Beethoven, they connected the long through-line with a sweet legato.

Internal balances between the five instruments were superb, always clear. The long Adagio had an exalted sense of ceremony, the group playing with a lyrical, symphonic sound. The storm in the middle returned to great calm. The Scherzo was tremendous, the most rousing playing of the night, and the Emerson brought great dance energy and articulation to the finale, the thinking again as exquisite as the energy, the sense of style full of life and joy. This was a farewell with greatness.

★★★★★

emersonquartet.com