Release Date: 01 April 2001
Label: Hyperion Records Ltd
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 034571171555
Genres: Classical Chamber Music
Description
Shostakovich's 15 string quartets represent one of the 20th century's most profound statements in chamber music. As he grew older, Shostakovich's focus shifted increasingly towards the chamber medium, and the Quartets contain some of his most personal and poignant musical utterances.
Here the St Petersburg String Quartet add to their highly successful series of quartets by Shostakovich with three more compelling recordings, this time Nos 5, 7 and 9.
Shostakovich wrote his Fifth Quartet in 1952 and is his greatest string quartet up to that time—a masterpiece which he never surpassed and rarely equalled for its consummate symphonic integration. It was the first quartet to have a direct connection with one of his symphonies, in this case the Tenth. The Seventh Quartet was completed in March 1960. It is the shortest of the series and explores aspects of quartet-writing not encountered in other of his works, at least up to that time. It is dedicated to the memory of his first wife, Nina, who had died in 1954. The work moves between passion and tension and draws largely on fugal writing to make the distinctions apparent. The Ninth Quartet is another personal work, dedicated to Irina Antonovna Shostakovich, his third wife whom he married in 1962.
Tracklisting
Roberto Prosseda, London Philharmonic Orchestra / Nir Kabaretti
The Brabant Ensemble / Stephen Rice
Steven Isserlis
The Nash Ensemble
MultiPiano Ensemble, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin / Ivor Bolton
Marc-Andre Hamelin
Marc-Andre Hamelin, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Andrew Litton
Gothic Voices / Christopher Page
St. Petersburg String Quartet
St Petersburg String Quartet
St Petersburg String Quartet
St Petersburg String Quartet
St Petersburg String Quartet
St Petersburg String Quartet
St Petersburg String Quartet
