After performing the two Opus 5 sonatas of Beethoven at Alice Tully Hall on January 31, David Finckel was brought a message backstage that the Emerson Quartet had just won its ninth Grammy award in Los Angeles, for “Intimate Letters”, the quartet’s recording of the Janacek Quartets. A complete list of the Emerson’s Grammys follows. The Emerson Quartet was the first chamber ensemble ever to win a Grammy for Best Classical Album.
1990: Best Chamber Music and Best Classical Album, the Bartok Quartets
1994: Best Chamber Music, American Originals
1998: Best Chamber Music, the Beethoven Quartets
2001: Best Chamber Music and Best Classical Album, the Shostakovich Quartets
2005: Best Chamber Music, the Mendelssohn Quartets
2006: Best Chamber Music, Intimate Voices (Grieg and Sibelius)
2010: Best Chamber Music, Intimate Letters (Janacek and Martinu)
If this is their ninth Grammy, why are only seven listed?
Sorry. Not reading carefully. Two in 1990 and 2001.
I just wanted to try to identify the musicians on my album cover from ’95 (Schumann Quintet/Quartet) and the Emerson has changed slightly so I don’t know for sure who is who. I think Mr. Setzer is sitting on the left with a devilish smile and Mr. Finckel is on the right, next to Pressler.
I heard a performance of the Schumann quartet on Ovation with Pressler at a Swiss concert – and the Andante so moved me I just HAD to go to the internet and get a recording. Emerson is a stunning, masterful quartet and I adore how they play this, again with Mr. Pressler. What’s not to love about this recording and the Emerson! I understand it’s an older recording, but it is quite a moving experience and now I have a recording of the Schumann Quintet, too!
The Schumann Quintet/Quartet cover (from left to right): Larry Dutton, David Finckel, Philip Setzer, Menahem Pressler, and Eugene Drucker.
So glad you are enjoying the recording!