As the Russian patron saint of artists who create works of dissent under the noses of dictators, Shostakovich is a timely composer to turn to – more so than the Emerson Quartet can have imagined when they programmed a trio of London concerts featuring the first nine of his 15 string quartets.
The Emersons, who have announced they will retire as a quartet in October 2023, have forged a strong connection with Shostakovich’s music over the past four decades. Still, on this occasion that affinity took a little while to show. The Quartet No 1, always one of the briefest and sunniest of the 15, began with the texture well-blended to a fault and some of the tuning unclear, and with the first violinist, Eugene Drucker, rarely singing out above the rest. Things began to spark with the Quartet No 2; from the folksy opening melody onwards Drucker’s playing had more heft, and in the first movement the others lent the music an insistent swing. Everyone’s playing seemed to take on more character – even that of cellist Paul Watkins, who had provided the most distinctive voice in No 1. By the time Lawrence Dutton’s viola line was climbing up through the final chords of the work, the performance had taken on a persuasive intensity.
