The Emerson Quartet bid a bleak farewell to London

The Emerson String Quartet

By Stephen Pritchard, 10 November 2022

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“bleached of all tone, a ruined landscape, spare and unyielding”

Reviewed at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London on 9 November 2022

Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 13 in B flat minor, Op.138

Shostakovich, String Quartet no. 14 in F sharp major, Op.142

Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 15 in E flat minor, Op.144

Emerson String Quartet

Renée Fleming and friends bid adieu to the Emerson String Quartet

Sam Jacobson, 15th October

In one of their final performances, the Emerson String Quartet comes to Cleveland to present André Previn’s Penelope, featuring Renée Fleming and other special guests.

***11

The Emerson Quartet begins its last series at Lincoln Center

Edward Sava-Segal, 23rd April

In the first leg of a chronological traversal of the string quartet repertoire, the Emersons were on top form.

****1

The shadows of this life: the Emerson Quartet on tour in Sydney

Zoltán Szabó, 7th September

A disappointing outing for the Emerson String Quartet in the first Sydney concert of their eight-city tour of Australia.

**111

White-hot intensity from the Emerson Quartet at Milton Court

Mark Pullinger, 8th November

From the claustrophobic intensity of Britten and Shostakovich to the sunny balm of Beethoven, this was an excellent recital.

****1

Evgeny Kissin and the Emerson Quartet at Carnegie Hall

Edward Sava-Segal, 27th April

There was a palpable sense of communion during a performance bringing these great musicians together at Carnegie Hall for the first time.

****1

At Tanglewood, a weak contextualization of Shostakovich

Edward Sava-Segal, 19th July

Linking Shostakovich and Chekhov, a full of good intentions performance at Tanglewood, was marred by a shaky mise en scène.

***11

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Stephen Pritchard

Stephen Pritchard began singing as a treble at the age of eight and progressed to become a tenor in Portsmouth Cathedral Choir, the Gibbons Consort and now the English Chamber Choir. Writing about music has been at the core of his 40-year career in journalism, chiefly at the Observer. He has been known to play a pretty mean jazz double bass.

The Emerson Quartet, masters of Shostakovich, bid a bleak farewell to London