Journeys: Emerson String Quartet

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Souvenir de Florence's turbulent opening is immediately gripping, but the resonant recording makes detail hard to hear...the opening pages [of the Schoenberg] are magical, with vibrato and warmth... — BBC Music Magazine, September 2013, 3 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 20th May 2013
Catalogue No: 88725470602
Label: Sony
Length: 61 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

September 2013

Editor's Choice

Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70

Work length34:28

Album only

Emerson String Quartet, Paul Neubauer (viola), Colin Carr (cello)

I. Allegro con spirito

Track length10:46

Album only

II. Adagio cantabile e con moto

Track length9:58

$1.30

$1.70

III. Allegretto moderato

Track length6:37

$1.30

$1.70

IV. Allegro vivace

Track length7:07

$1.30

$1.70

Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4

Work length27:10

Album only

Emerson String Quartet, Paul Neubauer (viola), Colin Carr (cello)

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This is the first time the quartet ever recorded a work by Arnold Schoenberg.

It is also the first time in almost 30 years they have recorded a work by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; they have never recorded "Souvenir de Florence".

“The repertoire selection is simple but evocative:

‘Verklärte Nacht’ is a journey of love and forgiveness, where moonlight shimmers to light and helps transfigure the night”

‘Souvenir de Florence’ is a work of uncommon beauty and excitement, but also of darkness lying beneath its often bright surface” (Phil Setzer)

The album was recorded in September 2012 in LeFrak Auditorium at Queen's College in New York City, with the same producer/engineer that the quartet has worked with for the past 14 years, Da-Hong Seetoo.

International release is scheduled for May 2013 to coincide with a concerts featuring the CD’s programme, at Carnegie Hall in New York. The cover is part of a picture painted by the quartet's violinist Phil Setzer's daughter. The Emerson String Quartet stands alone in the history of string quartets with an incomparable list of achievements over three decades: nine Grammy® Awards (including two for Best Classical Album, an unprecedented honor for a chamber music group); three Gramophone Awards; the coveted Avery Fisher Prize and an international reputation for groundbreaking chamber music projects including cycles of the complete Beethoven, Bartók, Mendelssohn and Shostakovich string quartets in the world's musical capitals.

The Quartet has collaborated in concerts and on recordings with some of the greatest artists of our time. After 36 years of extensive touring, the Emerson Quartet continues to perform with the same benchmark integrity, energy and commitment that it has demonstrated since it was formed in 1976.

Reviews

September 2013

Souvenir de Florence's turbulent opening is immediately gripping, but the resonant recording makes detail hard to hear...the opening pages [of the Schoenberg] are magical, with vibrato and warmth gradually creeping into the music...But they don't always treat Schoenberg's quieter dynamics with restraint.

September 2013

Tchaikovsky's inspiration sounds as fresh as the day it was conceived...I've seldom encountered a more convinced - or convincing - realisation of this endearing music, and these eloquent artists prove no less attuned to the very different world of Verklärte Nacht

16th June 2013

they are satisfyingly paired and deftly played, at once exuberant and sensuous.

Journeys: Emerson String Quartet

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