{"id":19532,"date":"2022-10-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-03T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=19532"},"modified":"2022-10-06T11:41:04","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T09:41:04","slug":"rewind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/2022\/10\/04\/rewind\/","title":{"rendered":"Rewind"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

REWIND: <\/span>Great artists talk about their past recordings<\/span><\/em><\/h4>\n\n

This month: Eugene Drucker <\/span>Violinist, Emerson String Quartet<\/h3>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

\n\n
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Bowing out:<\/strong> the retiring Emerson Quartet in its current line-up <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Our finest moment <\/h4>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Beethoven<\/span> String Quartet No. 13 in B flat major, Op. 130 \u2013 Cavatina <\/em><\/strong><\/span>
Emerson String Quartet
DG 449 5052 (1996) <\/em><\/p>\n\n

We had a slight disagreement the day we recorded this. I wanted to begin with one of the other inner movements of this monumental work. Essentially, I wanted to warm up in my role as first violin with something easier than the Cavatina. My colleagues were worried that if we got into another movement, we might not record the Cavatina until after lunch and would either be too tired to play our absolute best or else exhibit signs of the dreaded \u2018after-lunch\u2019 syndrome of slow vibrato and uninspired phrasing while digesting our food. So I yielded, and we began with that most intimate of slow movements. The first take didn\u2019t even come close to being satisfying, but after this somewhat demoralising start, the intensity of feeling that had been aroused, plus the fact that we were now warmed up, led to an inspired second take. We played through it three more times after that. The third take was once again no good, but the fourth and fifth were well played and provided us the material we needed to graft onto the second take, in which we felt that we had struck gold.<\/p>\n\n

\n\n

Our fondest memory<\/h4>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Schubert<\/span> String Quintet in C major <\/em><\/strong><\/span>
Emerson String Quartet; Mstislav Rostropovich (cello)
DG 431 7922 (1990) <\/em><\/p>\n\n

Philip Setzer played first violin when we recorded the Schubert Cello Quintet with Mstislav Rostropovich. Phil often fondly recalls the circumstances under which we recorded with this musical genius, who was a source of inspiration to all of us, in December 1990. The sessions took place in a beautiful Baroque church in Speyer, Germany, and were organised around a public performance in nearby Ludwigshafen. Slava\u2019s energy and zest for life, as manifested during our rehearsals, recording sessions and meals together, were contagious, and carried us through the first movement of this masterpiece without a hitch. But the slow movement didn\u2019t sound right in our first take, which we recorded after a luncheon in which the town\u2019s mayor honoured all of us. The vibrato wasn\u2019t focused or intense enough and the group sound was not gelling. Slava quickly decided that instead of trying to improve it in the course of the afternoon, we should all go back to our hotel in Heidelberg, rest for a few hours and then try again that evening. As we drove back to Speyer, snow began to fall, and there was a magical hush and freshness in the air, almost a fairy-tale atmosphere in that picturesque town as we began to record. Everything fell into place fairly quickly after that. <\/p>\n\n

\n\n

We\u2019d like another go at\u2026<\/h4>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Beethoven<\/span> String Quartets <\/em><\/strong><\/span>
Emerson String Quartet
DG 479 1432 (1997) <\/em><\/p>\n\n

We recorded the entire Beethoven cycle in the mid-1990s. Under the inf luence of our venerable producer Max Wilcox \u2013 who had recorded much of the quartet repertoire with the Guarneri Quartet, and who as a young man had been a devotee of Toscanini\u2019s uncompromising, streamlined approached to the Beethoven symphonies \u2013 we strove to honour the metronome indications that Beethoven provided for his early and middle quartets. In the fast movements, the composer\u2019s numerical choices led us to take risks and push ourselves to levels of sizzling speed and intensity that certainly corresponded to the manic side of Beethoven\u2019s outsize personality. But in retrospect, having performed these works hundreds of times since then, with both David Finckel and our current cellist Paul Watkins, we sometimes wish we could revisit at least some selected movements of the cycle with the benefit of greater experience and a more f lexible approach to certain interpretative details. <\/p>\n\n

Any quartet that we\u2019d re-record with Paul would automatically have different colours and characteristics from our previous pass at it, even if we weren\u2019t trying consciously to shape a new interpretation; the years have passed and the foundation of our collective sound has changed. The <\/em>Emersons <\/em>play <\/em>Shostakovich <\/em>at <\/em>the <\/em>Southbank <\/em>Centre <\/em>on <\/em>8 <\/em>& <\/em>9 <\/em>November <\/em><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

RAPHAEL NEAL, MARK ALLAN, J\u00dcRGEN FRANK<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

REWIND: Great artists talk about their past recordings This month: Eugene Drucker Violinist, Emerson String Quartet Our finest moment Beethoven String Quartet No. 13 in B flat major, Op. 130 \u2013 Cavatina Emerson String Quartet DG 449 5052 (1996) We had a slight disagreement the day we recorded this. I wanted to begin with one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":19522,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"18","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"18","purple_seq_number":"2","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"2","purple_source_article":"article_18-2.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_18-2.xml","purple_source_issue":"November-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"November-2022","purple_external_id":"November-2022-18-2","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"November-2022-18-2","purple_issue_code":"|0000086188||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000086188||","purple_android_product":"com.im.bbcmusic.380","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.bbcmusic.380","purple_ios_product":"com.im.bbcmusic.380","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.bbcmusic.380","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"5b9287a1-9911-4f59-a9d7-30a805560f3d","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-10-06T09:41:09Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"e6312ec2-6a38-472c-aeaa-bf720beb5438","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2022-10-06T09:41:09Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A5jEuwmo4Ryyuqr9yC-tUOA","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[35],"tags":[13],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/09\/aa261992-42ab-4225-b257-26fac0188123-e1664456186609.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/09\/aa261992-42ab-4225-b257-26fac0188123-e1664456186609.jpg",1693,1136,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/09\/aa261992-42ab-4225-b257-26fac0188123-e1664456186609-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/09\/aa261992-42ab-4225-b257-26fac0188123-e1664456186609-300x201.jpg",300,201,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/09\/aa261992-42ab-4225-b257-26fac0188123-e1664456186609-768x515.jpg",768,515,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/09\/aa261992-42ab-4225-b257-26fac0188123-e1664456186609-1024x687.jpg",800,537,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/09\/aa261992-42ab-4225-b257-26fac0188123-e1664456186609-1536x1031.jpg",1536,1031,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/09\/aa261992-42ab-4225-b257-26fac0188123-e1664456186609.jpg",1693,1136,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"REWIND: Great artists talk about their past recordings This month: Eugene Drucker Violinist, Emerson String Quartet Our finest moment Beethoven String Quartet No. 13 in B flat major, Op. 130 \u2013 Cavatina Emerson String Quartet DG 449 5052 (1996) We had a slight disagreement the day we recorded this. I wanted to begin with one…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19532"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19532"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21007,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19532\/revisions\/21007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}