Shostakovich: String Quartets 1-13

Overview

Shostakovich "Strings Quartets Nos. 1-13"? Why aren't "No. 14" and "No. 15" here? They're not here for the simple reason that the original Borodin String Quartet broke up before Shostakovich composed them. These recordings were made before 1971 when the Borodin Quartet was led by Valentin Berlinsky, when it was a hard, tough, and tight quartet; when it was an acerbic, ascetic, and violently expressive quartet; when it was, above all, a modernist quartet. If that's the way you hear the first 13 string quartets of Shostakovich, this set is mandatory listening. And this should be the way you hear the first 13 Shostakovich string quartets because as much as they are Shostakovich's secret musical biography, his quartets are a history of modern times and for most of humanity in modern times, especially citizens of the U.S.S.R, when modern times were as hard and violent as Shostakovich's quartets. The Berlinsky-led Borodin Quartet's recordings of the 13 quartets are real, honest, true, and overwhelmingly moving without ever once allowing the least trace of sentimentality. Melodiya's sound is more than adequate and Chandos' transfers are more than acceptable.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/20/2003
Label:	Chandos
UPC:	0095115106426
catalogNumber:	10064

Tracks

1. String Quartet No. 1 in C major, Op. 49
2. String Quartet No. 3 in F major, Op. 73
3. String Quartet No. 12 in D flat major, Op. 133
4. String Quartet No. 4 in D major, Op. 83
5. String Quartet No. 5 in B flat major, Op. 92
6. String Quartet No. 6 in G major, Op. 101
7. String Quartet No. 7 in F sharp Minor, Op. 108
8. String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110
9. String Quartet No. 9 in E flat major, Op. 117
10. String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 122
11. String Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 68
12. String Quartet No. 10 in A flat, Op. 118
13. String Quartet No. 13 in B flat minor, Op. 138