Emerson String Quartet with guest clarinetist David Shifrin Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood, Tuesday July 6 at 8:00 pm

Emerson
The Emerson String Quartet. Photo Lisa-Marie Mazzucco.


Emerson String Quartet with guest clarinetist David Shifrin
Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood, Tuesday July 6 at 8 pm

All Mozart Program:

Five fugues from “The Well-Tempered Clavier” book II by Bach transcribed for string quartet (BWV 874, 876, 871, 878, and 877)

String Quartet no. 19 in C major, K. 465, “The Dissonant”

Quintet in A for clarinet and string quartet, K. 581

Encore: fragment of a Quintet in B-flat for clarinet and string quartet

For many reasons, Mozart is one of the most difficult composers for today’s performers to encounter. Historically, he occupies an intermediate zone between Early Music and mainstream performance practices, and today’s musicians have a wide range of performing styles from which to choose, from those passed on by traditional conservatory teachers and established mainstream performers, to the spectrum of historically informed practices exemplified by Dutch, German, English, and even American ‘schools,’ and extending to hybrids of the two. This counts enormously in Mozart, whose sensitive, vocal-based melodies and elegantly complex textures reveal every strength and weakness of a chosen performing style with spectacular clarity. This is not to say that anyone can claim a ‘correct’ choice; writers have long ago established that the notion of ‘authenticity’ is a chimera. The real issue is how effectively and convincingly a performing style can convey the heart and soul of the music to a modern audience.

Read the full article on the Berkshire Review for the Arts!

Michael Miller