Search - Dmitry Shostakovich :: The Complete Shostakovich String Quartets, Vol.1

As good as the Borodin & Fitzwilliam cycles

chefdevergue | Spokane, WA United States | 02/12/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the first of 5 volumes that Oympia issued of the complete quartets of Shostakovich. While there really isn't such a thing as an "early" Shostakovich string quartet (he had five symphonies under his belt before he wrote his first quartet), these first quartets are much more accessible to the casual listener than the final ones, which contain some of the most bleak and desolate music ever conceived. Someone familiar with Shostakovich only through his more famous works such as the 5th symphony would do well to start with this volume rather than volumes 4 or 5.



This is not to say these are not works of substance; indeed they are, but they are light-years away from where Shostakovich finished his musical journey. These quartets contain a broad range of emotion, from light-hearted whimsy to jarring violence, but always with a great variety of colors.



I don't believe these discs are available from Olympia anymore, but if you can find them, you will find the performance of the Shostakovich Quartet to be comparable to anything the Borodin or Fitzwilliam Quartets ever recorded. In fact, a founding member of the Fitzwilliam Quartet wrote the liner notes, which I guess constitutes an endorsement of the Shostakovich's interpretation. In any case, these are very very good performances that I think will stand the test of time --- that is, if Olympia ever sees fit to reissue the cycle."