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Emerson String Quartet's eighth season at SBU
The quartet's three programs span the emotions from somber to exciting
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The world-renowned and award-winning chamber music ensemble the Emerson String Quartet, featuring Philip Setzer, Eugene Drucker, Lawrence Dutton and David Finckel will mark their eighth season as Stony Brook University's artists in residence with three diverse programs beginning Tuesday evening Oct. 13th. All the concerts will be held in the Staller Center for the Performing Arts Recital Hall.
"It's amazing that it's been eight years already," Setzer, who shares the first violin seat with Drucker, said in a recent interview. "It seems like we've just gotten there. It's really a very good situation for us and the relationships we have with the people at Stony Brook are the key to our being there. The music department there has always been strong and is probably their best kept secret. With choosing a program to perform at Stony brook we can pretty much do what we want but we try to make it interesting and challenging for the audience, but not to the point of forcing them to listen to something they don't want to hear."
The quartet's initial offering on Tuesday, Oct. 13 certainly fits the bill. Both Haydn's "Seven Last Words of Our Savior on the Cross" and Mendelssohn's String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Op. 80 are somber as they are exhilarating. Haydn's piece, originally written as orchestral interludes for a Mass ostensibly to be performed during Good Friday in Cadiz, Spain, was later transcribed for string quartet. Mendelssohn's moving quartet was written shortly after his sister Fanny died in the spring of 1847 and before his death later the same year. It was eventually published in 1850. "It's not a very cheery evening but it's a strong program," Setzer admits. "It's about death."
The ensemble's second concert on Thursday, Dec. 3 will highlight the music of some of the 20th century's most notable composers, including Ives' String Quartet No. 1 ("From the Salvation Army"), Shostakovich String Quartet No. 9, Janacek String Quartet No. 1 and Barber's popular Adagio from String Quartet op. 11. "This is quite a challenging program, challenging in a good way and it's very listenable" explained Setzer. "The Shostakovich piece is very rousing. It should be a very exciting evening."
The Emerson's third show on Thursday, Feb. 4 is billed as an "All Czech" program featuring the works of Dvorak, String Quartet No. 14 in A flat major, op. 105, Janacek, String Quartet No. 2 ("Intimate Letters") and Dvorak's beloved String Quartet in F Major, op. 96, "American". "The Janacek piece is the last one that he wrote and it's filled with a lot of passion and pain," said Setzer. "Dvorak's String Quartet No. 14 is a wonderful piece."
Chamber music fans will also delight in the fact that half the quartet, Setzer and cellist David Finckel, will join Taiwanese pianist Wu Han for a special evening of Schubert trios on Friday Nov. 6. The threesome recently released a recording of Schubert's Piano Trio in B flat Major, op. 99 and Piano Trio in E flat Major, op. 100 for the Finckel/Han independent recording company, ArtistLed. Both pieces will be performed in the concert.
Setzer, who cites Schubert as his favorite composer is genuinely excited about the show. "I've played with Wu Han many times in the past and I always enjoyed playing with her," the violinist said. "I can't think of anything greater than playing an evening of Schubert."
The ensemble has released some 30-plus recordings for Deutsche Grammophon since 1976. Their most recent endeavor entitled "Intimate Letters" is a companion piece to the Grammy Award-winning "Intimate Voices" (2007 Best Chamber Music recording) which featured the Romantic recordings of Scandinavian composers Grieg, Nielsen and Sibelius.
The new disc features the works of Czech composers Janacek, String quartet No. 1 "After Leo Tolstoy: The Kreutzer Sonata" and String Quartet No. 2 "Intimate Letters." Moviegoers may well remember the second quartet as being prominently featured in the motion picture "The Unbearable Lightness of Being." Also on the disc is Bohuslav Martinu's "Three Madrigals for Violin and Viola," a piece written for the brother and sister tandem of Joseph and Lillian Fuchs. The latter, incidentally, was the music teacher of Emerson violist Lawrence Dutton.
The quartet is currently busy working on recording a cycle of Dvorak string quartets that is expected to be released next fall.
Tickets for all three Emerson Quartet concerts as well as the Wu Han performance are available at the Staller Center box office or calling 632-2787.
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