After more than 30 years on the concert scene the Emerson String Quartet still owns the reputation of being a finely tuned and well-oiled machine.
But at its appearance Saturday at Jackson Hall at the Mondavi Center for the Arts in Davis, the group delivered spotless music that also proved wanting.
For the first half of the concert these long-ago Juilliard grads juxtaposed Schubert's buoyant String Quartet in E Flat Major, Op. 125, with the potent, dark and epic brew that is Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 9.
On the Schubert quartet, whose bright and frothy musical nature earned it the nickname of the "Household Quartet," these musicians gave depth to the music. As a result, they turned a seemingly light work into something poignant – with each musical line full of emotional significance, as if the four movements were the equivalent of a musical love letter.
Here was the familiar Emerson approach of cellist David Finckel sitting, while violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer and violist Lawrence Dutton stood – an Emerson tradition since 2002. And this quartet is keen on flip-flopping who plays first violin. With the Schubert, that mantle fell to Drucker, whose clear and pliant approach suited the music well. Some of the music here was delivered with the levity of a cat's prancing, as in the Allegro. And in the youthful-sounding Scherzo, some phrases were so finely shaped that the musical ideas were as clear as a Dürer etching.
It took a huge emotional realignment for these musicians to undertake the monumental Shostakovich. This proved no obstacle, though some of the grit and irony of Shostakovich went wanting in the Ninth Quartet.
Violinist Setzer took the lead in this four-movement work, which unfolds without pause. His playing offered a bracing, almost electric sound that was well matched with the straightforward, super-clear and selfless playing of cellist Finckel. In fact, Finckel proved an intuitive anchor to the syncopated lines that soared above his playing, and the plucked, quirky chords that Shostakovich wrote into this quartet.
The playing here came off as ultra-refined. But does that really suit a work that is so dark and emotionally earthy? Despite the spotless musicality, there was something staid about the approach, which would have benefited from a spontaneous dose of Slavic emotion, as is called for in the final movement.
Dvorák's expansive Quartet in C Major anchored the concert's last half. Here the musicians imparted color and grand scope to each movement. The result was an almost orchestral balance of sound. Drucker led the way on violin. It was some of the tightest and most articulated playing of the evening, especially on the driving and folk-infused Scherzo. But at times, it seemed a bit too precious.
Surely, this was an evening of virtuoso music-making, as befits any appearance by this quartet. But it was, ultimately, one step short of a thrilling evening of chamber music.
Call arts critic Edward Ortiz at (916) 321-1071.
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