CD-Charts Position 1
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Bach Fugues

by: Emerson String Quartet, Bach

Release Date March 25, 2008
To understand and appreciate Bach means to be fascinated by the art form of the fugue, Bach's most important tool in giving us the wonderful compositions we know from him. A fugue is both a mathematical equation and an exploration into the unknown. Thus, it is never boring, least of all in the way in which Back used it.
The fugues performed by the Emerson String Quartet were originally written for the harpsichord, under the name Das Wohltemperierte Clavier (The Well-tuned Piano). Although some purists frown at such re-arranging, as they did when Glenn Gould played Bach on a Steinway instead of on a harpsichord, it can be defended by pointing out that Bach himself re-used many of his compositions in other works and for other instruments. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
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Debussy, Ravel: Streichquartette

from: Deutsche Grammophon

Release Date September 19, 1995
i have less to say about the emerson string quartet's performance in comparison to others, but rather i'm writing to say that these two string quartets are some of the most amazing, sublime pieces of music i've ever heard. any classical music aficionado, esp. of the music of the 19th and 20th centuries, would love them, and i highly recommend them. i discovered them first through a friend, and then bought the album when, having started out on a long car drive i realized i had no CDs to accompany me. i was practically crying driving down the highway, the first movement of the debussy is so moving! (oops. i didn't mean to pun.) it is definitely cathartic music, as an earlier reviewer said. and virtuosic, brilliant, refined, elegant, emotional and intellectual ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
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Dvorák, Tchaikovsky, Borodin: Quartets

by: Antonin Dvorak, Alexander Borodin, Eugene Drucker, Lawrence Dutton, David Finckel, Philip Setzer

Release Date October 17, 1995
The string quartets of Dvorak and Borodin are among the lushest and easy-to-listen music in the genre, romanticism for every ear. Because of the hummable tunes in the Borodin 2nd (lifted wholesale to become part of the Broadway musical, Kismet) and the folsy vigor of Dvorak's "American" Quartet #12, most performers emphasize this lushness. Not the Emersons, whose readings here are clean and streamlined. They don't dig deep into the wood the way the Alban berg Qt. do. Their is the patented Emerson virtuosity at work, though, with impeccable intonation and matched timbres.

For me, the effect was refreshing, particularly in the Borodin, which hwere gets a performance that never threatens to become gooey. The Dvorak is a mite too efficient and far removed ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
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Antonin Dvorak: Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81; Piano Quartet in E Flat Major, Op. 87

from: Deutsche Grammophon

Release Date May 10, 1994
These are deservedly popular works - perhaps too popular; I think the first movement of the A Major quintet was appropriated by some unmemorable Hollywood production. Younger listeners will be spared the unbidden mental associations attending the second (Dumka) movement which was plagiarised into a saccharine pop-song in the 'sixties.

Regardless of this nonsense, these are wonderful works stuffed full with all those very idiomatic Czech influences which characterised so much of Dvorak's writing when he was at his most musically confident. Ebullient and hummably tuneful, as previously has been suggested these works can be an excellent introduction to the world of chamber music, so often and erroneously regarded as being recondite and difficult to penetrate. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
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Intimate Voices

from: Deutsche Grammophon

Release Date April 11, 2006
Edvard Grieg completed just one string quartet in 1878 leaving one other unfinished and one lost at his death. He is quoted to have aimed at "breadth, flight of imagination and, above all sonority," and the quartet is proof of his success. The quartet has an exuberant start and reminded me more of Dvorak than Grieg. The second movement is a Romanze that begins with a bucolic melody and develops into a dance-like tempo. The third movement is an Intermezzo and picks up the light and playful feel from the prior movement. The Finale is exuberant with agitated passages. The quartet is a tuneful work with some outstanding writing for the instruments.

The Andante lamentoso by Carl Nielsen was originally written for string quartet and double bass or string orchestra. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
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Schumann: Op. Nos. 44 & 47

from: Deutsche Grammophon

Release Date January 23, 1996
A cracking recording of a cracking performance!

The Menahem Pressler we have known and loved for so many years is on his usual form here. The Emersons, whose performances are not always as consistent as their reputation sometimes would have it, really are on song for this CD so it is a wonderful offering.

Both the Quintet and the Quartet represent Schumann at his best and most accomplished - they are extremely satisfying works.

This is a great CD -a "must have".

CD-Charts Position 7
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Bela Bartok: The 6 String Quartets - Emerson String Quartet

by: Eugene Drucker, Lawrence Dutton, David Finckel, Philip Setzer, Emerson String Quartet

Release Date October 25, 1990
One reviewer said that Emerson wasn't rough enough. When this was released, I believe it was the roughest interpretation I had ever heard! Over-all, these are very good performances (and 100% accurate). The weakness of these performances is the gentler sections which, though technically perfect, lack feeling and conviction. Béla Bartók: The Six String Quartets - Juilliard String Quartet does a very good job of the quiet sections, but lacks power on the aggressive parts.

My favorite recording of these pieces is Bartók: 6 String Quartets by the Hungarian String Quartet. Since I bought that I haven't listened to other recordings of this piece.

CD-Charts Position 8
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American Originals - Ives & Barber: String Quartets

by: Emerson String Quartet, Samuel Barber, Charles Ives, Lawrence Dutton, Eugene Drucker, David Finckel, Philip Setzer

Release Date January 19, 1993
I really liked the performance of the Samuel Barber string quartet. If played well, this, and other of Barber's pieces assume their true position of great, great importance within the American and, most especially, Euro-American composers repertoires.

He is one of the most important composers.

We can hear this here though one could also leave this recording aside after listening to it not knowing the work's great importance as, greater than the identification of the work as such, there is a lovely and incredible personalness from the players in the identifying with this work which they realise is very great (and so do we). Then also what they do is they demonstrate or exhibit a very, very special uniqueness of this piece itself for which I would give the recording ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
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Steve Reich: Octet; Music for a Large Ensemble; Violin Phase

from: Ecm Records

Release Date April 18, 2000
Octet and Music for a Large Ensemble are two of my favorite Steve reich works. Octet has lots of low winds and piano, giving it a lot of charm and textural warmth. Music for a Large Ensemble has more of an urgent feel, more of a piercing texture at times, and is also a beautiful piece (one of his best, I think). If you like Reich's earlier style, along the lines of Music for Eighteen Musicians, you will probably like these - Violin Phase is more of a novelty to me, as I am more drawn to Steve's pieces that have more harmonic motion (like the other two I just mentioned). If you've never heard Steve Reich, this disk would be a fine start, offering great recordings of two complex, somewhat epic pieces, and a sample of his earliest style (phasing by manipulating tape speeds)

CD-Charts Position 10
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Complete Webern

by: Anton von Webern, Clemens Hagen, David Finckel, Anton Webern, Pierre Boulez, Ensemble InterContemporain, Mary Ann McCormick, Berliner Philharmoniker, Eric Schneider, Gianluca Cascioli, Krystian Zimerman, Oleg Maisenberg, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Christiane Oelze, Francoise Pollet, Lawrence Dutton, Gidon Kremer, Philip Setzer

Release Date May 09, 2000
I share the very positive sentiments of the other reviewers. I have heard both of the Boulez anthologies and prefer this one, although the other is excellent too. Compared to the classic Karajan Webern single CD with the same orchestra, which I also admire, the newer Boulez performances of the same pieces are marked by equally fantastic orchestral playing, and even better recording quality, which makes the extreme dynamics of Webern's writing more effective. If there is a better Opus 1 by any composer than Webern's Passacaglia, I would like to hear it. The Schubert and especially Bach arrangements on the first CD are first class. In my view, all the performances are successful - with special kudos to the soprano Christiane Oelze and the Emerson String Quartet. The documentation, in substance and ... Read More: