White-hot intensity from the Emerson Quartet at Milton Court

By Mark Pullinger, 09 November 2018

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“the eerie first violin trilling in Solo, like a lone lark soaring above Snape’s reedbeds”

Reviewed at Guildhall School of Music & Drama: Milton Court Concert Hall, London on 8 November 2018

Britten, String Quartet no. 3, Op.94

Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 8 in C minor "Malinconia", Op.110

Beethoven, String Quartet no. 7 in F major, "Razumovsky", Op.59 no.1

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 Emerson Quartet bid a bleak farewell to London

Stephen Pritchard, 9th November

An elegiac farewell as the Emerson String Quartet – retiring next year – close their Shostakovich cycle at the Southbank Centre.

*****

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

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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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.