Customer Reviews

Mozart: String Quartets KV387 and KV421

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What frighteningly original and penetrating performances these are! Here is a Mozart whose despair and melancholy are no longer glossed over, nor disguised, nor dismissed. No. This is dark, revelatory stuff to wrestle with; this is the Mozart who, within a few years, would be dumped into an unmarked grave; this is a Mozart whose brooding shadow is far more akin to Beethoven than congenial "Papa" Haydn. No sunny breeze blows through the quartets here, as we are used to. The Emersons reach down into the very heart of the composer and pull from it a view of Mozart, the man, that is both beautiful and unnerving. This is a bleak Mozart, a Mozart caught between the foibles of his character and the musical genius of his mind; a Mozart teasing the throes of poverty; a Mozart plagued by the self-doubt that hung on the public recognition that always just seemed to escape him.

[Running time: 56:32]

The Emerson String Quartet is one of the most successful andpopular chamber groups of the 90s. While this recording may notreceive as much critical acclaim as their Bartok, Schubert or Shostakovich recordings, these Mozart "Haydn" Quartets are played dynamically. My only reason for not awarding a fifth star has nothing to do with the content of the music, but instead with the value of this purchase. Many prospective buyers may want to opt for the Julliard String Quartet's 3CD "Haydn" Quartet performance. With this CD you get two pieces, whereas with the Julliard you get 6. However, with either choice you are getting terrific music.

En este magnífico cd de música de cámara nos encontramos con dos obras magistrales, profundas y complejas del genial Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart dedicadas e inspiradas en su gran amigo Joseph Haydn. Los cuartetos K. 387 y 421 son poderosos ejemplos del gran conocimiento que tenia el genio de Salzburgo de los instrumentos de cuerda y nos regala obras de gran instrospección. El Emerson String Quartet es una de las más dastacadas conformaciones de cámara del mundo y aquí los podemos apreciar en un magnífico ensamble y una gran profundidad de ejecución. Cohesión, vigor, armonia es lo que apreciamos en todo este fabuloso trabajo.

Molto Allegro is merely contrapuntal work like Molto Allegro of Jupiter Symphony. So, for guys it is pants in fire to make it work and stay in tune. Not only they force devilish tempo, but they cream it with expressiveness and accelerations- awesome!! Energizing, catchy and very entertaining!!!

Nothing has topped the Quartet Italiano's full Mozart cycle; and a close listening to both those and this CD reveals where Emerson went wrong. A Mozart quartet is a very gentle, delicate being, and yet the Emersons attack it going not soft and gentle but from quiet to loud in an instant, as if that communicates emotion. You can tell each of them wants to have their part recorded equally as others rather than as a single entity. In a word, they do not treat Mozart with the care he requires. Mozart's anger or angst was sublimated into his music, and his life, and always with an ironic light element to it. Here the Emersons just attack and think loud is identical to passionate, emotional. It is not. Buy the whole set in the Complete Mozart Edition, which I keep going back to even with all the recordings of these quartets I have.