Emerson String Quartet – The Haydn Project (2 CD + Bonus CD, FLAC)

Composer: Bela Bartok, Ludwig van Beethoven, Antonin Dvorak, Franz Joseph Haydn, Charles Ives
Audio CD
SPARS Code: DDD
Number of Discs: 3
Format: FLAC (image+cue)
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Size: 750 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: no

Disc 1
01. String Quartet in F minor, op. 20 no. 5: Allegro moderato
02. String Quartet in F minor, op. 20 no. 5: Menuetto
03. String Quartet in F minor, op. 20 no. 5: Adagio
04. String Quartet in F minor, op. 20 no. 5: Finale: Fuga a due soggetti
05. String Quartet in E flar major, op. 33 no. 2: Allegro moderato, cantabile
06. String Quartet in E flar major, op. 33 no. 2: Scherzo: Allegro
07. String Quartet in E flar major, op. 33 no. 2: Largo sostenuto
08. String Quartet in E flar major, op. 33 no. 2: Finale: Presto
09. String Quartet in G major, op. 54 no. 1: Allegro con brio
10. String Quartet in G major, op. 54 no. 1: Allegretto
11. String Quartet in G major, op. 54 no. 1: Menuetto: Allegretto
12. String Quartet in G major, op. 54 no. 1: Finale: Presto
13. String Quartet in D major, op. 64 no. 5: Allaegro moderato
14. String Quartet in D major, op. 64 no. 5: Adagio cantabile
15. String Quartet in D major, op. 64 no. 5: Menuetto: Allegretto
16. String Quartet in D major, op. 64 no. 5: Finale: Vivace

Disc 2
01. String Quartet in G minor, op. 74 no. 3: Allegro
02. String Quartet in G minor, op. 74 no. 3: Largo assai
03. String Quartet in G minor, op. 74 no. 3: Menuet: Allegretto
04. String Quartet in G minor, op. 74 no. 3: Finale: Allegro con brio
05. String Quartet in D minor, op. 76 no. 2: Allegro
06. String Quartet in D minor, op. 76 no. 2: Andante o piu tosto allegretto
07. String Quartet in D minor, op. 76 no. 2: Menuetto: Allegro ma non troppo
08. String Quartet in D minor, op. 76 no. 2: Finale: Vivace assai
09. String Quartet in G major, op. 77 no. 1: Allegro moderato
10. String Quartet in G major, op. 77 no. 1: Adagio
11. String Quartet in G major, op. 77 no. 1: Menuetto: Presto
12. String Quartet in G major, op. 77 no. 1: Finale: Presto

Bonus CD
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791)
String Quartet No.14 in G, K.387
1. 4. Molto allegro

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 – 1975)
2. Allegretto (Polka) for String Quartet

Antonin Dvorak (1841 – 1904)
String Quartet No.12 in F major, Op.96 – “American” B.179
3. 2. Lento

Charles Ives (1874 – 1954)
String Quartet No.2
4. 2. Arguments:

Anton Webern (1883 – 1945)
5 Movements for String Quartet, Op.5
5. 4. Sehr langsam

Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828)
String Quartet No.13 in A minor, D.804 – “Rosamunde”
6. 2. Andante

Bela Bartok (1881 – 1945)
String Quartet No.4, Sz. 91
7. 4. Allegretto pizzicato

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
String Quartet No.9 in C, Op.59 No.3 – “Rasumovsky No. 3”
8. 4. Allegro molto

3 DISCS ACTUALLY

The third is a set of individual movements by Mozart, Schubert, Dvorak, Bartok, Ives, Shostakovich, Webern and finally a sizzling performance of the fugue from Beethoven’s third Rasumovsky. It’s brilliant, so I don’t know why they are being so coy about it.

The first thing that I commend strongly about this set of 7 Haydn quartets is the actual selection. They range in order of composition from one of the op 20’s to the great op77 #1, and 3 of the 7 are in minor keys. I get a definitely serious feel to the Emersons’ approach to all 7. Op 33 #2 ‘The Joke’ is included, and for once the jokiness at the end is downplayed, to my great relief. Another aspect that interested me was the fairly moderate speeds they take in the finales to the first 4 numbers, getting distinctly livelier in the last 3. I find this extremely convincing — the music in the earlier finales is slighter than in the later ones and to my ears it benefits from not being rushed. What I would have liked to find out from the liner notes is whether that, or something else entirely, was the Emersons’ thinking, but the remarks are to a familiar pattern — useful and informative background information, very little about the performances, and rather gushy ‘chatty-learned’ stuff on the music.

I would describe this as a really distinguished set. It ought to suit experienced listeners in search of new insights, and for new(er)comers the format has been quite brilliantly devised as an introduction to the string quartet repertory presenting the father of the genre in depth followed by glimpses of what his successors did with the heritage he left them. Recorded quality also excellent.