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1.Bach: The Art of Fugue by: Johann Sebastian Bach, Emerson String Quartet August 12, 2003
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $16.98 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $13.99 You Save: $2.99 (18%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $7.20
The Emerson Quartet are the last word is modern, slick string quartet groups. Their extremely streamlined sound works very well sometimes, othertimes not. Their recording are usually worth a listen, and usually rank high with the Gramophone, Penguin & BBC critics, but I often find I enjoy other quartets more in given works, and have often traded in for different versions. Too often, they're just too slick. In this case, that slickness works in just the right way. My other string quartet version is a magnificent one by The Juilliard Quartet, their approach being completely different from the present set. The Juilliard perform this work, solemnly, deeply, and slowly, as if played in a cloister, or the medieval room at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It seems as if they've tried ... Read More

2.Bach Fugues by: Emerson String Quartet, Bach March 25, 2008
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To understand and appreciate Bach means to be fascinated by the art form of the fugue, Bach's most important tool in giving us the wonderful compositions we know from him. A fugue is both a mathematical equation and an exploration into the unknown. Thus, it is never boring, least of all in the way in which Back used it. The fugues performed by the Emerson String Quartet were originally written for the harpsichord, under the name Das Wohltemperierte Clavier (The Well-tuned Piano). Although some purists frown at such re-arranging, as they did when Glenn Gould played Bach on a Steinway instead of on a harpsichord, it can be defended by pointing out that Bach himself re-used many of his compositions in other works and for other instruments. But probably the best defense is the utter beauty ... Read More

3.Schubert: String Quintet in C, D. 956 by: Franz Schubert, Emerson String Quartet August 11, 1992
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It's all in the liner notes: "During the five years preceding his early death, Schubert wrote seven masterpieces of chamber music: three string quartets, two piano trios, the Octet and the C major String Quintet [this piece]. Of these, the last, and arguably the finest, is the Quintet." I first became introduced to this work in the LP recording with Jacqueline duPre & Mstislav Rostropovich (cover graphic, a large wooden C). Out of reverence for that recording now lost to me, I refrained from buying anything more contemporary, hoping for its re-release; but it is unlikely ever to be. I had eyed buying one of the Emerson Quartet's versions, but it wasn't until I heard it on XM Channel 112 that I was transfixed. The XM people so kindly responded by identifying this recording. I have bought two copies; ... Read More

4.Debussy, Ravel: Streichquartette from: Deutsche Grammophon September 19, 1995
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i have less to say about the emerson string quartet's performance in comparison to others, but rather i'm writing to say that these two string quartets are some of the most amazing, sublime pieces of music i've ever heard. any classical music aficionado, esp. of the music of the 19th and 20th centuries, would love them, and i highly recommend them. i discovered them first through a friend, and then bought the album when, having started out on a long car drive i realized i had no CDs to accompany me. i was practically crying driving down the highway, the first movement of the debussy is so moving! (oops. i didn't mean to pun.) it is definitely cathartic music, as an earlier reviewer said. and virtuosic, brilliant, refined, elegant, emotional and intellectual at the same time, full of wit and shimmering beauty. ... Read More

5.Beethoven: The Late String Quartets from: Deutsche Grammophon July 01, 2003
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The Emerson String Quartet combine a strength of performance at the same time giving the listener subtle shades of color producing one of the supreme recordings of Beethovens late string quartets ever. They've almost done the unattainable, by producing a new approach to this old musical literature, while maintaining integrity. They bring a level of thought to these performances that have rarely been matched. Enthusiastic and sensitive interpretations rolled into one. Their approach to the late quartets is perhaps my favorite interpretation. The Budapest, Busch, Guarneri, Talich and Vegh quartets are also very good, but these provide technical brilliance and are faithful to the score, while being heartwarming and intellectually inspiring. Also, these are definitely not cold readings, but ecstatic one's. I found them refreshing ... Read More

6.Mozart: String quartets K. 465 "Dissonance", K. 458 "The Hunt" & K. 421 by: Emerson String Quartet November 08, 2005
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This is a beautiful CD. The recording is crisp and clear as a bell, and the Emerson performs with grace and feeling three of the greatest by the greatest. K. 421, is IMO, one of Mozart's finest works. Full of gorgeous melodies, invention, variations (of which he was the supreme master), it makes you think of the quote by a famous violinist (I forget who), "Never have I heard so much great music in so short a time!" It out-Ludwigs Ludwig in its passion and fury. The Emerson Quartet does a bang-up job playing/interpreting this masterpiece.

7.Schubert: The Late String Quartets; String Quintet from: Deutsche Grammophon June 15, 2004
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.... and giving them anything less than a "five" for these recordings would be a mistake. This said, my personal favorite for the late Schubert quartets and his incredible quintet remains the Alban Berg quartet's classical recording -- the purity of Alban Berg's interpretation and their unpretentious, direct approach remains to me the essence of playing Schubert.

8.Dvorák, Tchaikovsky, Borodin: Quartets by: Antonin Dvorak, Alexander Borodin, Eugene Drucker, Lawrence Dutton, David Finckel, Philip Setzer October 17, 1995
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The string quartets of Dvorak and Borodin are among the lushest and easy-to-listen music in the genre, romanticism for every ear. Because of the hummable tunes in the Borodin 2nd (lifted wholesale to become part of the Broadway musical, Kismet) and the folsy vigor of Dvorak's "American" Quartet #12, most performers emphasize this lushness. Not the Emersons, whose readings here are clean and streamlined. They don't dig deep into the wood the way the Alban berg Qt. do. Their is the patented Emerson virtuosity at work, though, with impeccable intonation and matched timbres. For me, the effect was refreshing, particularly in the Borodin, which hwere gets a performance that never threatens to become gooey. The Dvorak is a mite too efficient and far removed form its folk inspiration, yet still impressive technically. Its ... Read More

9.Antonin Dvorak: Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81; Piano Quartet in E Flat Major, Op. 87 from: Deutsche Grammophon May 10, 1994
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These are deservedly popular works - perhaps too popular; I think the first movement of the A Major quintet was appropriated by some unmemorable Hollywood production. Younger listeners will be spared the unbidden mental associations attending the second (Dumka) movement which was plagiarised into a saccharine pop-song in the 'sixties. Regardless of this nonsense, these are wonderful works stuffed full with all those very idiomatic Czech influences which characterised so much of Dvorak's writing when he was at his most musically confident. Ebullient and hummably tuneful, as previously has been suggested these works can be an excellent introduction to the world of chamber music, so often and erroneously regarded as being recondite and difficult to penetrate. If nothing else, this quintet and quartet put the lie to that. Read More

10.Schumann: Op. Nos. 44 & 47 from: Deutsche Grammophon January 23, 1996
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A cracking recording of a cracking performance! The Menahem Pressler we have known and loved for so many years is on his usual form here. The Emersons, whose performances are not always as consistent as their reputation sometimes would have it, really are on song for this CD so it is a wonderful offering. Both the Quintet and the Quartet represent Schumann at his best and most accomplished - they are extremely satisfying works. This is a great CD -a "must have".

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