San Diego Spotlight : There’s No Second Fiddle With the Emerson Quartet

The hierarchy of violinists in a string quartet has been codified in popular perception by the familiar put-down “playing second fiddle.” In an effort to bring a sense of equality between the two requisite violinists in a string quartet, the Emerson String Quartet rotates violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer in the first-chair position.

In a typical Emerson Quartet performance, Drucker will play first violin for half the program, then switch to second violin while Setzer takes over first chair. The approach flouts every music performance tradition, Setzer says.

“The clear precedence is for not switching,” Setzer explained, “especially in Europe, where there still is a tradition to name the group after the first violinist. Much of the early quartet literature was written for a virtuoso first violinist, although, even in Haydn’s time, that had started to change.”

Benefits of this procedure include less wear and tear on the first violinist, according to Setzer, which allows the group to learn more music. Emerson is known for its wide repertory, especially its championing of 20th-Century string quartet compositions.

“It also took away the possible frustration from each violinist of not playing first violin,” he added.

The Emerson String Quartet plays at 8 p.m. today in Sherwood Auditorium, part of the La Jolla Chamber Music Society’s chamber music series. Besides the predictable Haydn and Beethoven offerings, the ensemble will play Bela Bartok’s Fifth String Quartet. In 1990, Emerson won two prizes for its recording of the complete Bartok String Quartets, a Grammy for best classical music album and Gramophone Magazine’s record of the year award.

Emerson was formed in 1979, although Setzer and fellow violinist Drucker had been performing together since 1976, when they were both students. Since Emerson started touring, Setzer has noticed a gradual change in the composition of their audiences from decidedly elderly to a slightly more diverse age span.

“Isee a lot more young people than there used to be in our audiences. The typical age of string quartet audience members has always worried us, and it’s still a big concern. Sometimes we wonder who will be in our audience 10 years down the road. Winning a Grammy, which is a magic name in the pop world, brought a certain glamour to the quartet among younger listeners. When we play in the Orient, especially, there are a lot of students in the audience, not to mention those swarming around the stage door afterwards trying to get autographs.”

The 40-year-old Setzer was probably destined for a musical career. Both of his parents played in the Cleveland Orchestra, one of the country’s premier symphonies, and the young Setzer studied violin with Cleveland Orchestra concertmasters Rafael Drurian and Josef Gingold. Setzer’s father also had his own string quartet in addition to his symphony duties.

“I remember secretly listening to his quartet rehearsals in our home. After my mother put me to bed, I would sneak to the top of the stairs and crouch just out of sight in order to listen to the quartet music. I knew that playing with the quartet formed the happiest moments of my father’s career.”

Winners show their stuff. Seven vocalists from this year’s local competition for the Metropolitan Opera auditions will give a concert Sunday at 3 p.m. in Camino Hall on the University of San Diego campus.

Prize winners Tracy Van Fleet and Nina LoMonaco will be joined by encouragement award winners Elena Correia, Katherine Lundeen, Tonia LeBlanc, Andrew Richards and Terry Ray Phipps. Ironically, the top two prize winners, first-place soprano Sylvia Wen, who won the $1,000 Augusta B. Starkey award, and Patricia McAfee, who took second place and a $500 award, will not perform in the concert. Wen’s previous engagement with the Orange County Chorale, and McAfee’s commitment with the San Jose Opera company will keep these up-and-coming divas from singing with their local colleagues.

Suffragette Tea. Since the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, women in this country have enjoyed the right to vote. But that’s no reason not to celebrate the spirited memories of the women’s suffrage movement.

As a prelude to the Nov. 1-3 production of UC San Diego’s “The Mother of Us All,” Virgil Thomson’s opera about suffragette leader Susan B. Anthony, members of the La Jolla Symphony Orchestra and Chorus are holding a suffragette tea Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m.

At this recreation of a Victorian Five, local women poets will read works by their favorite female poet, as well as selections by the inimitable Gertrude Stein, who was Thomson’s librettist for his decidedly feminist opera. Tom Nee, the opera’s musical director, will discuss the work, and soprano Martha Jane Weaver and baritone Michael Morgan, members of the UCSD opera cast, will sing excerpts from the score.

The tea will be held in a private home (8415 La Jolla Scenic Drive) near the UCSD campus, and period dress is welcome. Tea tickets are $10. For additional information about the tea, call 534-4637.