Shostakovich: The String Quartets

The Fitzwilliam Quartet is English by birth but shows a lot of Russian soul in these works, which were recorded in consultation with the composer. Their technique is flawless, their immersion in the music total, their interaction with one another and with the music spontaneous and intense. Priced competitively with the Borodin Quartet, they do not have any added attraction to match the Piano Quintet in that set, but this close-up stereo recording is significantly better. Highlights of the set include the relaxed, folk-flavored No. 1; the tense, autobiographical No. 8, which recalls the terrors of World War II, quotes a lot of Shostakovich's earlier works, and mourns for the "victims of fascism and war"; the contrasts of quiet beauty and fierce intensity in No. 10; and the bold structure of No. 15, Shostakovich's last quartet, in which he looks at death, steadily and without blinking. --Joe McLellan Amazon.com

Opportunity Waits for No Hominid! Do it! Buy!

Shostakovich's string quartets are as much the supreme masterworks of 20th Century music as Beethoven's were of the classical period. I hardly dare say more about them; they are profound on every level, and like Beethoven's, they grow more profound with every listening.

Shostakovich, in a sense, discovered the Fitzwilliam String Quartet when its members were undergrads at Cambridge. He entrusted the first western performances of his last three quartets to them for premiere, and they in turn made the first western recording of his full quartet cycle.

Many full cycles have been recorded since, and people have different favorites. I have three sets; this one by the Fitzwilliams is my own choice for the most insightful and incisive. But here's the important part of this review. Although $46.00 more or less is the standard price, I've just happened to notice that there are several sets available used for less than $10.00! Some used-CD dealer in Outer Slobbovia is gonna say a prayer on my behalf tonight! May 22, 2008

So-so

The first ones are warm and human (as much so as anything written since the 19th century ever gets except Rachmaninov or Sibelius). But as they progress, they become more dissonant and strident and unpleasant. Well-performed. I suppose all editions of them are. I doubt I'll listen to them much. But I'll haul them out occasionally and listen until I can't take it any more. The price was right. A bargain. September 27, 2007

Hum a little Shostakovich

I enjoyed these performances and would have purchased this album, but there is a persistent hum on some of these CDs and, once noticed, it became impossible for me not to notice it. February 19, 2007

Not just a bargain--a must-have

There are perhaps several complete Shostakovich cycles one would like to own for these amazing pieces, and this is one of them. Not every single quartet is perfect, but that is to be expected. What these players excel in is an emotional depth that is perhaps left behind in the sheer brilliance of the Emerson SQ's playing.

Their tempi are excellent: fast when necessary, and painfully slow where Shostakovich asks for it. Perhaps my favorite point of their playing is the articulation, which is broader than most recordings I hear. Typically, they only play short when asked to in the score, and I think this sounds better than, for instance, if the opening of the Fifth Quartet, a work of enormous gravity and passion, is taken lightly.

Get this one. Highly recommended. February 5, 2007

lusterless

The only qualm I have with this set is that the String Quartet No. 9 is a lusterless endeavor when compared to other renditions. The intensity and suffering just isnt there. November 4, 2006

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