There was a time, not too many years ago, when the Janáček
quartets were the property of Czech ensembles to the exclusion
of the rest of the Western world’s leading string quartets. Not
any longer! They are now among the standard repertoire of most
of today’s quartets. As Janáček’s star has risen on the
international scene and his music has become better understood
outside his native land, his works have appeared more and more
often on concert programs throughout the world. His two quartets,
along with those of Bartók and Shostakovich, are among the greatest
of the genre in the twentieth century. The Emerson recorded the
other two composers’ quartet cycles earlier to much acclaim, especially
the Bartók. They have now turned to Janáček with a rather
unusual, but very appropriate companion, Martinů’s Three
Madrigals for Violin and Viola, placed between the quartets on
the disc. This work more frequently appears on Martinů chamber
anthologies, but makes an especially worthy disc mate here. It
could even be argued that the principal reason for acquiring this
disc is because of its program, rather than for just another recording
of the Janáček quartets.
How do the Emersons stack up against their many competitors?
Compared to other non-Czech ensembles, such as the Juilliard
and Alban Berg Quartet—to which I have direct comparison—very
well indeed. I praised the Dante Quartet (Meridian) last year for its idiomatic accounts of
these works and called them the best non-Czech group I had heard
in this particular repertoire. I was more troubled by the somewhat
reverberant and artificial recorded sound. There is no problem
with the sound on this new DG recording by the Emersons. It
is in fact one of the best sounding quartet discs I have ever
heard. They undoubtedly have thought hard and put a great deal
of effort into these performances, too. They are clearly superior
to the Juilliard, who really seem to be struggling to get Janáček
right. Yet, their very fluency and what sounds like easy virtuosity
has its drawbacks. One wants some sense of struggle in these
works, something to bring out the passion that the lovesick
composer expressed in these very personal compositions. I feel
more of this passion with the Dante than with the Emerson and
even more with such native groups as the Talich and Škampa quartets
(both Supraphon). It’s difficult to explain just what is missing
from these Emerson accounts because they are so well performed
and in such beautiful sound, but listening to one or other of
the Czech ensembles alongside these demonstrates the superiority
of their native feeling in these works.
The Martinů Madrigals, on the other hand, are
more cosmopolitan in scope, not that they have more appeal than
the Janáček works. They are much easier to assimilate
by non-Czech groups. Philip Setzer and Lawrence Dutton do
them complete justice. Martinů composed them in New
York City
for the brother-and-sister duo of Joseph and Lillian Fuchs.
As Anthony Burton points out in his excellent notes, “the title
reflects Martinů’s long-standing love of the Renaissance
madrigal, which for him represented freedom from conventional
formal structures, a range of textures including genuinely equal-voiced
counterpoint, and above all a treatment of rhythm which was
not tied to regular bar lines or four-square phrasing.” This
very attractive composition consists of two rhythmic fast movements
surrounding a slow one that near the end contains a typically
romantic, yearning melody, immediately stamping this as the
work of Martinů. Any fan of this composer would welcome
these pieces. It is interesting that though they were composed
some twenty years after Janáček’s, it’s the latter’s which
sound the more modern!
For all Emerson Quartet aficionados, this disc is a
must. As usual with this quartet violinists Drucker and Setzer
switch roles of first and second violins, respectively, with Drucker
playing the lead in the first quartet and Setzer in the second.
It is astonishing to think that the Emersons have been performing
for over thirty years—the quartet was founded in 1976—and without
a change in personnel. It is also good to see so many string
quartets including Janáček in their repertoire, and having
the Martinů is an added bonus. Too many Czech groups, including
the Škampa, have only the Janáček quartets filling the whole
CD—not the most value for the outlay. On the other hand, for
fans of the composer this new recording can only supplement the
Škampa or one of the other native groups. It does not supplant
it.
Leslie Wright
Emerson String
Quartet (Eugene Drucker (violin); Philip Setzer (violin); Lawrence
Dutton (viola); David Finckel (cello)) 
