Ensemble knows the way Journey’s rewarding

You could do worse than to take a stroll through history with the Emerson String Quartet. On Saturday at the University of Maine in Orono, the world-class chamber music ensemble led a packed Minsky Hall on a musical odyssey from classical to romantic to modern. As with all worthwhile journeys, this one was bewitching, emotional and, more important, in the end you felt as if you had arrived somewhere.

The end, perhaps, was the most memorable segment of the two-hour-plus concert. The final work, Shostakovich’s Quartet No. 2 in A Major gave startling voice to the composer’s stirring poetics. The performance was so powerful that every note, whether agonizing or folkish, seemed more dauntlessly realized than the next. There was no backing away from the aching loneliness in the piece, nor from the sweet dancelike settings.

First violinist Eugene Drucker had already captivated the audience in the first half of the concert by alternating between the superfast fingering and tender strains of Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in D Major. While the group evenly shared in the muscularity of the Shostakovich, the eye and the ear were often drawn back to Drucker, who navigated between mystery and exultation. Something natural rose from the Shostakovich, something human and recognizable in a way that was illuminating historically and personally. Written at the end of World War II, the score of sharp angles and muted tones carries intimations of our own time. This is the kind of entertainment you cling to these days.

Yet the Shostakovich did not outshine the first half of the concert, which was elegant and underscored the impressive qualities associated with the quartet: nuanced rhythms, technical polish, joyful expression. There was the Mendelssohn but also Mozart’s String Quartet in G Major, K. 387, which had both gravity and humor. Like a team that makes a home run in the first inning, the players scored big in the first moments of the concert, especially Philip Setzer, who assumed the role of first violinist for this one and gave it a spinning intensity.

The spontaneity of mood, the clarity and forwardness of sound gave the Mozart an enticing modern feel. The strong tonal statements in the Menuetto movement testified to what Drucker said in a phone conversation last week – that, in the course of a concert, each musician reveals something about his instrument. I’m not sure I’ve ever encountered a cellist as jocular and effortless as David Finckel, or a violist as balletic and resonant as Lawrence Dutton.

As an encore, the quartet returned to stage to play Bach’s “Chorale,” often used as a final thought to “The Art of the Fugue.” As high-level and appreciated as this ending nugget was, my own thoughts lingered on the Shostakovich and recalled another of Drucker’s comments. The challenge in these times, he said, is “to find renewal in artistic activity, and chamber music is one of those activities.” Again, you could do worse than to spend an evening of artistic activity with the Emerson String Quartet. It’s unlikely, however, that you could do better.

Alicia Anstead can be reached at 990-8266 and aanstead@bangordailynews.net.