The Emerson Quartet performs Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Dvořák

In 2023, the illustrious Emerson Quartet announced that—after 47 years, dozens of acclaimed recordings, nine Grammy Awards, and a robust international career—they would disband later that year after performing a series of farewell concerts around the world. The Final Curtain, which shows their last ever performance in Prague at the famed Dvořák Hall, is a moving testament to the depth of their rapport, the precision of their craft, and the remarkable artistry that led The Times to write that "with musicians like this, there must be some hope for humanity."

In their final Czech outing, "America's Quartet" perform for over an hour and a half, beginning with Mendelssohn's first String Quartet in E-flat, a sublime demonstration of the composer's gift for melody writing. They continue with Brahms's third and final Quartet in B-flat, lighthearted but rich in texture and emotion, before finishing with a work by the most beloved of Czech composers (and the man who gave the venue its name): Antonín Dvořák. The Bohemian master's final Quartet, No. 14 in A-flat, was composed in 1895 after his return from the United States, and stands out for its great harmonic and rhythmic complexities that the Emerson Quartet succeed in executing to their usual impeccable standards. Their brief encore, the transcription of a haunting Dvořák song, lets them bid farewell to Prague with two minutes of simple perfection.