Composer: Alban Berg, Ernest Chausson, Paul Hindemith, Arnold Schoenberg
Performer: Barbara Hannigan, Bertrand Chamayou, Emerson String Quartet
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Alpha
Catalogue: ALPHA1000
Release: 2023
Size: 1.28 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Hindemith: Melancholie, Op. 13
01. No. 1, Die Primeln blühn und grüßen…
02. No. 2, Nebelweben
03. No. 3, Dunkler Tropfe
04. No. 4, Traumwald
Berg: String Quartet, Op. 3
05. I. Langsam
06. II. Mäßige Viertel
07. Chausson: Chanson perpétuelle, Op. 37
Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 2 in F sharp minor, Op. 10
08. I. Mäßig
09. II. Sehr rasch
10. III. Litanei. Langsam
11. IV. Entrückung. Sehr langsam
The title of this album evokes not only the life-long journey of all these musicians, but also a lasting friendship between soprano Barbara Hannigan and the Emerson String Quartet. One of the greatest string quartets of the last four decades, the Emersons will disband in October 2023. Barbara and the Emersons were determined to record Schoenberg’s Quartet No. 2 since they started performing the work together in 2015. “The sheer sonic scope of this work takes us on a voyage into previously uncharted territory” say the Emerson musicians. “It’s like a tall, gnarly tree to climb (all the way to another planet, it seems), yet one with deep and emotional roots”, continues Barbara Hannigan. “The soprano’s fin-de- siecle primal scream at the end of the 3rd movement, begging to be relieved of love, is a heavy hitter”. Melancholie is a rare and intimate work by the young Hindemith, “a gem of a piece” that the Canadian soprano has wanted to explore for many years. The fascinating Quartet Op. 3, composed by Berg in 1909 as he was finishing his apprenticeship with Schoenberg, features the quartet on its own. And to round out the album, pianist Bertrand Chamayou joins Barbara and the Emersons for another deeply moving encounter by way of Chausson’s heartbreaking Chanson perpetuelle.
“I breathe in the air of other planets.” It’s with these words of German poet Stefan George, put to music in the “String Quartet No. 2 Op. 10,” that Arnold Schönberg takes leave from Western tonal harmony. Composed from 1907 to 1908 during a very painful period of his life, marked by the composer’s separation from Mathilde Zemlinsky, the work signifies a turning point in the history of European composition. As the centrepiece of the moving Infinite Voyage, this farewell music certainly wasn’t chosen at random by the legendary Emerson String Quartet, as the New Yorkers present us with their last album before retiring after 47 years of loyal and dedicated service.
For the occasion, the quartet called upon a longtime accomplice, the marvelous Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan, who had long been separated from this type of repertoire. Together, they pursue their exploration of Germanic repertoire with Paul Hindemith’s very beautiful early work “Melancholie Op. 13,” a completed cycle of melodies from Ernest Chausson’s postromantic “Chanson perpétuelle” (with Bertrand Chamayou on the piano), and with Alban Berg’s “String Quartet No.3.” On the theme of collaboration, Infinite Voyage delights the listener with its vibrant and harrowing sensuality, in which the bond between the singer and the quartet is clearly heard. They are the ideal performers of music of such mysterious complexity. For the Emerson Quartet, we couldn’t imagine a better farewell opus.