Infinite Voyage is billed as the final album from the Emerson Quartet capping a long and illustrious career.  It’s also a collaboration with Barbara Hannigan so it’s perhaps not surprising that it includes music by Berg, Schoenberg and Hindemith though Chausson’s Chanson perpétuelle belongs to a rather different style.

The disk starts with Hindemith’s Melancholie, Op.13.  It’s quite a sparsely scored piece and Hannigan’s treatment of the text is interesting and quite individual.  There’s a rhythmic flexibility, almost caressing the words.  It’s especially marked in the third stanza “Dunkler Tropfe”.  I’m not familiar enough with the piece to judge how unusual Hannigan’s treatment is or isn’t but I think it really works.

Next is Berg’s String Quartet, Op.3.  This is a complex, astringent work.  Rhythms and tonality are equally stretching for players and the listener.  The Emerson’s bring a wealth of experience of the Second Viennese School to bear here and it’s an excellent performance.

The Chausson; Chanson perpétuelle, Op.37, is in a more romantic, post-Wagnerian vein.  It also includes a piano part; played here by Bertrand Chamayou.  The text (by Charles Cros) concerns a woman, deserted by her lover, contemplating suicide.  It’s lush, melodic and even a bit sentimental.  It’s an interesting contrast with the rest of the record.

Finally, probably the most familiar piece on the CD, Schoenberg’s String Quartet No.2, Op.10.  It seems odd that this provoked a riot as, even though it’s from the composers fully atonal, pre-serial phase it’s not that extreme.  It’s also notable, as a string quartet, for setting text in the third and fourth movements.  The first two movements are complex, busy and very high tension but the drama definitely ramps up a notch when the singing starts.  Hannigan’s style here is more straightforwardly dramatic than in the Hindemith; necessarily probably as the third movement lies quite high and ends up with a sort of “primal scream”.

The fourth movement “Entrückung” sets a seriously weird text (by Stefan George).  The opening line is “Ich fühle luft von anderem planeten” which introduces a really dark, brooding mood before getting steadily more dramatic and closing on the enigmatic “Ich bin ein dröhnen nur der heiligen stimme”.  This is the one work n the disk I’m reasonably familiar with and I can say with some confidence that this performance is an excellent way to get to know it.

The recordings were made in 2022.  The Berg was recorded at Staller Center for the Arts, Stony Brook University, New York and the other tracks at Muziekcentrum van de Omroep, Hilversum. All are very clear and well balanced and sound just fine at 44.1kHz/16 bit. There’s an excellent booklet with lots of useful information besides texts and translations.

The recording will be released on September 8th in physical CD, MP3 and standard and hi-res FLAC formats.

Catalogue number: Alpha Records ALPHA1000