Beethoven – Late String Quartets (Emerson String Quartet) (2003, FLAC)

(http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/19/wkg4.jpg/)

Performer:
Emerson String Quartet:
Eugene Drucker, violin
Philip Setzer, violin
Lawrence Dutton, viola
David Finckel, cello

Tracklisting:
CD 1
01-04. String Quartet No.12 in E flat, Op.127
05-11. String Quartet No.14 in C sharp minor, Op.131
CD2
01-05. String Quartet No.15 in A minor, Op.132
06-09. String Quartet No.16 in F, Op.135
CD3
01-05. String Quartet No.13 in B flat, Op.130
06. Grosse Fuge in B flat, Op.133
07. String Quartet in B flat, Op.130: VI. Finale (Allegro)

https://mega.co.nz/#!WlhD3RDZ!X089oWSuvXSCAt161I7zchmicthkr1h38tb9W9n-3WM

———- Post added at 02:39 AM ———- Previous post was at 02:39 AM ———-

The Emerson Quartet’s recordings of the late Beethoven string quartets from 1994 and 1995 are by no means bad or even poor performances. The Emerson is clearly a superb quartet, arguably the best America has ever produced, with a strong tone, coherent intonation, and a cogent ensemble. No matter how difficult Beethoven’s writing becomes — and in the late quartets, Beethoven’s writing can become immensely difficult — the Emerson rarely shows any trace of effort or strain, but rather sails through the music with its virtuoso technique. But a virtuoso technique is the only basic requirement for playing Beethoven’s late quartets. What the late quartets demand is not just virtuosity but intellectual, emotional, and spiritual depth. And while the Emerson surely has the intellectual depth and possibly the emotional depth, it certainly lacks the spiritual depth. It can play through the fugue that opens the C sharp minor quartet, it can hold together the variations from the E flat major quartet, it can express the wit of the Allegretto from the F major quartet, it can even play all the notes of the monumental Grosse Fuge. But in very few cases can it plumb the greater emotional depths. The Cavatina from the B flat quartet is too shallow, and the Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile from the C sharp minor quartet is too superficial. Worse, the exalted spirituality of the "Heiliger Dankgesang" movement from the A minor string quartet is nowhere to be heard in the Emerson’s interpretation. The result is a set of the late quartets that is technically almost impeccable but that is emotionally questionable and spiritually empty.