Composer: Antonín Dvořák
Performer: Emerson String Quartet
Number of Discs: 3
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalogue: 4778978
Release: 2010
Size: 862 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
CD 01
String Quartet No. 10 in E flat major, Op. 51 (B92)
01. 1. Allegro ma non troppo
02. 2. Dumka. Andante con moto
03. 3. Romanze. Andante con moto
04. 4. Finale. Allegro assai
String Quartet No. 11 in C major, Op. 61 (B121)
05. 1. Allegro
06. 2. Poco adagio e molto cantabile
07. 3. Scherzo: Allegro vivo
08. 4. Finale: Vivace
CD 02
String Quintet No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 97 ‘American’
01. 1. Allegro non tanto
02. 2. Allegro vivo
03. 3. Larghetto
04. 4. Finale (Allegro giusto)
Cypresses for string quartet, B152
05. 1. Moderato
06. 2. Allegro ma non troppo
07. 3. Andante con moto
08. 4. Poco Adagio
09. 5. Andante
10. 6. Andante moderato
11. 7. Andante con moto
12. 8. Lento
13. 9. Moderato
14. 10. Andante maestoso
15. 11. Allegro scherzando
16. 12. Allegro animato
CD 03
String Quartet No. 13 in G major, Op. 106 (B192)
01. 1. Allegro moderato
02. 2. Adagio ma non troppo
03. 3. Molto Vivace
04. 4. Andante sostenuto: Allegro con fuoco
String Quartet No. 14 in A flat major, Op. 105 (B193)
05. 1. Adagio ma non troppo
06. 2. Molto vivace
07. 3. Lento e molto cantabile
08. 4. Allegro non tanto
Terzetto in C major for two Violins and Viola, Op. 74
Scherzo
As with many recordings by America’s Emerson String Quartet, this three-disc set of Dvorák’s chamber music is very, very good, but not great. One cannot fault the program — four excellent string quartets, a magnificent string quintet, and a lovely transcription for string quartet of the song cycle Cypresses — nor the performances, at least from a technical point of view. The recording is clear, deep, and vivid with every part audible, but with all parts coalescing into a coherent whole. In their almost 35 years together, the Emerson has developed a tight ensemble that still leaves room for each player to shine, and the interpretations are always faithful to the letter of the scores.
But where one wants soul and emotional depth, the Emerson disappoints. There ought to be more anguish in the central Andante con moto from the E flat major Quartet, Op. 51, more shades of meaning in the opening Allegro non tanto of the E flat major Quintet, Op. 97, and especially more overt emotionalism in Cypresses. Though these performances are fine as far as they go, there are many that go deeper into the music and deliver much more satisfying interpretations, for example, the recordings by the Prague Quartet, the Vlàch Quartet, the Panocha Quartet, and the Smetana Quartet.