MUSIC REVIEWS : Emerson String Quartet Offers Meyer Premiere

The Emerson String Quartet stormed Schoenberg Hall on the UCLA campus Sunday afternoon, beginning its program with a fast, furious, gripping and technically flawless account of Beethoven’s Quartet in F minor, Opus 95.

The technical perfection, but not the anger, informed as well the G-minor Quartet of Debussy, with the projection of the composer’s energetic side and the strength of his melodic lines--rather than his crooning at the moon--providing profound satisfaction.

But the real business of the afternoon for many in attendance--including as large a gathering of double-bass players as is likely to be encountered outside a Mahler symphony--was the presence, as performer and composer, of Edgar Meyer, the ear- and technique-stretching young bassist. He joined the Emerson in the West Coast premiere of his recently completed Quintet.

The Quintet touches many bases. After a promising start with a gently rocking, Appalachian folk-like tune we’re off and running, sometimes in no discernible direction, with a wide-ranging set of variations on the tune, including some lively blue-grass fiddlin’, Middle Eastern ostinatos of the sort we associate with belly-dancing and good ol’ European counterpoint.

Movement two is a syncopated, bluesy affair, marked by bass pizzicatos and, again, ostinato repetitions. For a listener resistant to aural hypnosis, it could be just plain boring.

Without belaboring the point, Meyer’s four-movement work needs tightening and, simply put, more double bass. The composer has, in his respect for the Emerson’s skills, been too self-effacing in regard to showing his own as a performer.

The audience, however, received Meyer’s piece--and his presence--enthusiastically, with even a sprinkling of the whooping that marks a Kronos Quartet concert, which this one did resemble, but only for the 26-minute duration of the Quintet.

A perceived stretch for the Emerson? A capitulation? Nah. More likely just an excursion. The thought of the Emerson Quartet being trendy is intolerable.