Emerson String Quartet Turned Octet
A Chamber Music Ensemble Doubles in Size to Play Mendelssohn
Jul 5, 2009
A musician will work long hours to hone his ensemble skills, striving to blend perfectly with his fellow instrumentalists in tempo, pitch and volume. But what happens when that ensemble of fellow musicians happens to be a recording of himself? Performance is such a momentary experience, subject to subtle changes at each rendition. Can a musician avoid simply "playing along" with a recording and infuse a living, breathing musicality to the mix?
The Emerson String Quartet did just that when they turned 4 musicians into an octet for their album of Mendelssohn's string quartets. The New York City-based ensemble first recorded themselves and then re-recorded themselves in layered sounds to produce their 2005 album Mendelssohn: The Complete String Quartets.
Mendelssohn: The Complete String Quartets, An Album of Technical and Musical Mastery
The feat wasn't a simple one: to achieve the precision and fidelity necessary for a pristine classical music recording, the group pushed the recording capacity of their computers to the limits. Multiple tracks and high resolution sound piled up the gigabytes of information. But Da-Hong Seetoo, the album's producer, meshed his skills both as a musician and as a technology wizard to put together an album that went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album.
The realities of recording make a spontaneous and fresh-sounding performance difficult to achieve, even if the musicians are only recording one part per person. But to cut and record multiple takes for two parts each can be mentally and emotionally exhausting, doubling the need for caution against rote playing and tired musicality. But again, the Emerson String Quartet rose to the challenge, meriting the album's 2nd Emmy win, for Best Chamber Music Performance.
The Emerson String Quartet Cast of Characters: Philip Setzer, Eugene Drucker, Lawrence Dutton and David Finckel
The Emerson String Quartet consists of Philip Setzer on violin, Eugene Drucker on violin, Lawrence Dutton on viola and David Finckel on the cello. The Emerson String Octet adds their alter-egos: Phil, Gene, Larry and Dave.
Their Mendelssohn album may represent their achievements in repertoire by Romantic composers, but the group's versatility stretches across many musical eras. From Bach to Haydn to Brahms to Shostakovich, the ensemble reinvents the masters of each classical music period since the 18th century. In addition, the group's recording of Borodin's String Quartet No.2: Third Movement: Nottorno (Andante) was included in the soundtrack to Disney's The Little Match Girl. This short film appears as a bonus feature with the 2-disc DVD version of The Little Mermaid.
Sources
Emerson String Quartet website
Video: Emerson String Quartet: Mendelssohn, The Octet, Part 1 and Part 2.
