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Shostakovich and Schubert: Emerson Quartet (Eugene Drucker (violin), Philip Selzer (violin), Lawrence Dutton (viola), David Finckel (cello)), Ralph Kirshbaum (cello), Wigmore Hall, London, 17/18/19.11.2008 (BBr)

17.11.2008 (BBC Lunchtime Concert)

Shostakovich: String Quartet No.13 in Bb minor, op.138 (1970)
Schubert: String Quartet in A minor, D804 (1824)

18.11.2008

Schubert: Quartettsatz in C minor, D703 (1820)
Shostakovich: String Quartet No.14 in F#, op.142 (1973)
Schubert: String Quartet in D minor, Der Tod und das Mädchen, D810 (1824)

19.11.2008

Shostakovich: String Quartet No.15 in Eb minor, op.144 (1974)
Schubert: String Quintet in C, D956 (1828)


What possible reason could there be for joining these two so different personalities together? They both wrote a very significant body of quartets, to be sure, and, with the exception of the Quartettsatz, all the music contained within these three recitals was written by men living under the shadow and threat of imminent death. Whatever the reason for this programming, the Emerson Quartet filled the Wigmore Hall to capacity, and then some, three times over, for some very exciting and intelligent music–making.

Many of Shostakovich’s later works were written with the knowledge of his own mortality, having been in ill health for some time – he suffered from a debilitating condition which affected his right hand and which finally forced him to give up playing the piano – this was diagnosed as polio in 1965. He suffered heart attacks in 1966 and 1971, on top of all that he broke both his legs. In a letter of 1967 he wrote, “Target achieved so far: 75% (right leg broken, left leg broken, right hand defective. All I need to do now is wreck the left hand and then 100% of my extremities will be out of order.)" Towards the end he was under treatment for the lung cancer which was eventually to take his life. So it’s easy to understand why his mind was preoccupied with life, and, more especially, death.

The 13^th Quartet is dedicated to the (by then retired) violist of the Borodin Quartet – Vadim Borisovsky – and the work celebrates that instrument in that it leads the music from time to time. Although having the feeling of a lament, this isn’t sorrowful music, but it certainly doesn’t contain any laughs either! The music is very serious with no respite; forget light and shade, think dark, heavy, night. And what about those taps on the wood of the instruments? The 14^th Quartet starts with a very jolly tune for cello – this work is dedicated to the cellist of the Borodin Quartet, Sergei Shirinsky – and the cello takes a very prominent role here. But this is no more an happy quartet than its predecessor. The central adagio is sparse – a long cello solo, followed by an equally long duet for cello and viola, then the full ensemble in music of a solemn passion. There’s a real nobility about this music. The finale is hectic, the music filled with short figures which are thrown around until a slow coda brings maters to an uneasy rest. Is this, perhaps, the composer coming to terms with his own mortality? Shostakovich’s final quartet, the 15^th, is unique in structure. The six movements is nothing new – Beethoven did it in his op.131 – but the tempo markings single it out from every quartet which preceded it – five adagios and an adagio molto! But despite the constant slow tempo this isn’t the dark and dismal experinece one might expect. Talking with a friend before the concert we both agreed that this was not, necessarily, a work for the concert hall, perhaps private listening at home might be a better venue for appreciation, but a packed hall sat spellbound as the music wove a strange kind of magic, and we were, quite rightly, proven wrong. The first movement was tenderness itself, in parts, but the ensuing Serenade – was there ever a more un–serenade–like serenade? – with its screaming lines dispelled all thoughts of an easy ride. After this the music simply becomes more complicated. The ending brought a kind of calm but left us all feeling that although we had experienced something very private, nothing will ever be the same again. Applause somehow seemed wrong, and the slightly muted response was no reflection on the performance.

The Schubert works inhabited, in some ways, the same world as the Shostakovich. The delightful Quartettsatz is a quicksilver piece – perhaps the first movement of a discarded larger work – and is mercurial in its flight. Apart from a couple of mementary lapses in intonation, this was given as the perfectly formed, polished little gem it is.

The other works were written after Schubert had been diagnosed with the syphilis which was to kill him and the two quartets heard are full of sorrow and regret, defiance and even anger. D804 contains one of Schubert’s most heart–breaking first movements, with the juxtaposition of major and minor giving an unstable feel. The slow movement variations on a theme from his incidental music to Rosamunde are terse and brief, the scherzo angular and the finale gives the only ray of hope in the whole work. Der Tod und das Mädchen is full of drama, no regrets here, just fire, pure and simple. The sublime Quintet is Schubert’s crowning glory in his chamber music catalogue and the tone of tonight’s performance was set by the playing of the first two chords. Here was a presentation of the music on a grand scale. With Ralph Kirshbaum’s solid bass underpinning the construction, the musicians launched into a reading of nobility and great stature. No more need be said. Beethoven commented, "Truly, the spark of divine genius resides in this Schubert!" and at his best, as in these works, Schubert can be seen to truly be the equal of the older master.

With the single exception noted above, these three recitals presented playing of the highest quality, interpretations of great insight and understanding and whether in a miniature such as the Quartettsatz, or the difficult Shostakovich 15^th Quartet the Emersons delivered most intelligently thoughtful accounts of the music which held the audience breathless, and with the magnificent Ralph Kirshbaum as second cello, displaying a superb authority, crowned three days of very satisfying music–making.

For an encore on Monday we were given Mozart’s arrangement of Bach’s Fugue in E and on Tuesday an unfinished Andante by Schubert whose concluding falling violin notes, the music simply petering out, left the audience wanting more, which it was rewarded with in Wednesday’s show. After the Quintet we were sated and needed no more. The excited and vociferous applause said it all.

Bob Briggs


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