Gripping first video: ELP’s Keith Emerson and his unknown string quartets

A coroner ruled yesterday that Keith Emerson took his own life by means of a gunshot wound. He had been suffering from muscular pain and a possible heart condition that made it hard for him to carry on performing. Keith was 71.

This morning, the pianist Jeffrey Biegel sent us an unreleased video from Wayne H. Lipton, manager of the South Shore Symphony Orchestra on Long Island.

Jeffrey writes: ‘Wayne put it together last night with the recording engineer for the all-volunteer orchestra which thrives on Long Island. These three new string quartets composed by Keith Emerson had their world premiere at the 70th birthday concert in October 2014.

‘A little after 11 minutes, Keith makes a quiet entrance to jam with the quartet for the third short piece. For sure, this is a side of the Keith Emerson millions of his fans never knew–except for those who attended those two evenings.’