Schumann String Quartets
Has anyone listened to the Emerson Quartet’s new recording (their first on Pentatone) of the Schumann Quartets? On first listening I thought they were wonderful, with beautiful tone. The only other recording I possess is of 1&3 by the Zehetmair Qt., an award winner in its time. Listening again, I prefer tge Emersons. Any comments? I know there are a few Schumann enthusiasts on this forum...
-
-
I haven’t heard the Emersons, but I am glad that they have moved to the Pentatone label. I had just received the Pacifica Quartet recording of the Brahms Piano Quintet (Menachem Pressler) and the coupling is Schumann First Quartet. I had bought for the Brahms, which is very fine, but right now it’s the Schumann that ha peaked my interest. -
As I said recently on the Listening thread about the Qobuz 24/96 stream......
"A mature view for sure, tending more to the Eusebius than the Florestan mood. But even where one might slightly cavil at a given phrase, tempo or approach, the playing here is of such quality all one can do is admire, dwell upon and revel..... (in fact, the tempi almost always seem perfectly giusto to me...)
Such a specially distinctive Schumann moment like 2(ii) comes off wonderfully well, with such tonal and emotional subtlety, one is lost in this music once again. All three are among Schumann's greatest, most consistently inventive creations and this recording really does give them due respect, treating them as true peaks of the genre such as Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn and so on.
Touchingly personal note here from Eugene Drucker, about how much this music, recorded pre-pandemic, means to them and how it has sustained them through weeks bereft of live performance...."
I don't buy many physical discs just now, but this one has just come through the door....right up there with my previous favourites, the Eroicas and the Leipzigers (MDG Gold - truly audiophile sound, with the acoustic as present as the players...and the original versions are used, uniquely on record).
Incidentally I compared the Emersons' earlier (1990s) recording of No.3.... beautiful ensemble with those perfect surfaces as you'd expect, but just a little studied and restrained in its beauties compared to the exceptional, outstanding newcomer.
With the Zehetmair, there was still a sense, perhaps necessarily, of "a case being made"......bought on release, I admired it without really warming to it. With this new set, finally that respect is there, axiomatically, for one of the peaks of the quartet repertoire. The Emersons really understand the elusive, shifting expressions of the Schumann idiom; but they present it in their own unimpeachable way.Last edited by jayne lee wilson; 31-10-20, 14:10.Comment
-
Must hear the Emersons, I have the Zehetmair which to my ear has a tremendous energy and no lack of warmth but it'll be interesting to compare the two.Comment
-
I've only dipped into the first quartet on the new Emerson recording, but I have to say that it strikes me as overly plush, softly upholstered. My tastes are for something a lot leaner & cleaner: Doric and Zehetmair suit me rather better. And is the Emerson's tempo for the final movement of the first quartet really a proper Presto?!Comment
-
Well, the quickest I know after the Zehtmair for 1(iv) is the Ysaÿe at 6'00, yet the Emersons come in at 6'19, and quite a few take longer.... so yes, more a matter of style than speed...Originally posted by ostuni View Post
I feel that the Ysaÿe miss some of the subtleties in this movement, despite their many qualities elsewhere... the Emersons let it breathe and flex its muscles a little more........ but this is great music and can take a wide interpretive range.
(If you want an eyebrow-raiser, try the Montreal Players string orchestral version at 7'34!)Last edited by jayne lee wilson; 31-10-20, 16:35.Comment
Comment