Formed in 1976, the Emerson String Quartet is a New York–based string quartet in residence at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. They have released more than thirty albums and won nine Grammy Awards.  The Emerson String Quartet took its name from the great American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. Violinists Drucker and Setzer alternate as first and second violinists. For their new album, Journeys, Emerson String Quartet performs two string sextets from the 1890’s, Souvenir de Florence by Tchaikovsky and Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) by Arnold Schoenberg. This is the quartet’s first recording of anything by Tchaikovsky since the 1980’s and its first ever recording of a piece by Schoenberg. They are joined on both of these sextets by two frequent collaborators, American violinist, Paul Neubauer and British cellist, Colin Carr. “Our new album embodies the idea of “journeys” on several levels,” says Eugene Drucker. “The wide spectrum of colors, moods and compositional techniques in Tchaikovsky’s passionate Souvenir de Florence could be a journey from Russia to Italy and back again. Schoenberg’s Verklarte Nacht depicts more of an internal journey from anguish and psychological torment to acceptance and love.”

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