Goethe described a string quartet as a conversation among four reasonable people. The Emerson String Quartet, which launched Symphony Center’s seasonlong cycle of the complete Beethoven string quartets Sunday at Orchestra Hall, is among the most eminently reasoned groups of conversationalists on the international scene.
Each musician–Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer, violins, Lawrence Dutton, viola, and David Finckel, cello–has a distinctive personality that was smoothly subsumed to the needs of the ensemble and to the considerable demands of Beethoven’s music. Every musical and technical challenge was met at the splendid level of execution one knows from the group’s recent integral recording of the Beethoven quartets on Deutsche Grammophon.
The Emerson had the inspired idea of sandwiching an early and a middle Beethoven quartet around the Second String Quartet of Charles Ives, another uncompromising original who flourished a century later. Ives’ atonal experimentalism invited the players and listeners alike to approach Beethoven’s transitional essays with altered perceptions.
Beneath the well-manicured Classical surface of the A-Major Quartet (Opus 18, No. 5) one could sense Beethoven chafing at the constraints of the grammar he inherited from Haydn and Mozart. The Emerson’s reading made plain just how subversive this score really is. The foursome dug into the finale in bracing accordance with Beethoven’s metronome markings, yet their rhythmic poise prevented the tempo from feeling rushed.
Their manner was even more spontaneous, internal balances even more finely adjusted, in the “Rasumovsky” Quartet in F Major, Opus 59, No. 1. The tragic depths of the Adagio were conveyed within smooth legato phrases that were free of sentimentality. From this listener’s seat at the right of the lower balcony, the ensemble had slightly more presence than at the left of the main floor, where I sat for the first half of the concert.
Early reports that the new Orchestra Hall acoustics do not flatter solo strings simply did not jibe with the warmly pleasing sounds I heard. The old intimacy hasn’t been lost but now there is more air around the sound. With its luminous blend of timbres, the Emerson seemed to enjoy what sonic comforts the room had to offer.
Composed in 1913, the Ives quartet still surprises us with its freely dissonant lines studded with jokey Americana. The Emerson’s ability to sort out the complex sonic layers of sound and put them back together in a way that makes coherent musical sense was nothing short of astounding.
In sum, a very high standard has been set for the remaining Beethoven concerts by other quartets.
