January will still be Shostakovich String Quartet Month

[Karl Henning]

 Quote from: Brian on December 03, 2012, 12:07:26 AM

Hey, since so many people are keen on making December "Shosty quartet month," why don't we start a discussion club thread and those of us who decide to listen throughout December can have a nice long chat about what we're hearing. I'd be very happy to join the party, with the proviso that I would probably be one of those unimaginative people who starts with #1 and works forward. I've only heard 5 or 6 of the quartets but have the complete Borodin (Melodiya), the ongoing Pacifica, and one CD of Fitzwilliam (#s 8 and 9)...

 
Per Brian's suggestion.

♫ Though I've started the thread, I do not propose that I should "own" it.

♫ Come as you are, chat up the quartet(s) as you listen.

♫ I have no quarrel with Brian's method of starting with the Op.49 and working in order from there; still, I may adopt another scheme, myself.

[San Antone]

I'm in.



I'll probably listen to some recordings of my favorite quartets but by groups new to me.

[Karl Henning]

In the spirit of not reinventing the wheel: Here's what looks like a nice thumbnail intro to each quartet (my link here is to the Op.49, but there are tabs for all 15).

[Brahmsian]

In the spirit of not reinventing the wheel: Here's what looks like a nice thumbnail intro to each quartet (my link here is to the Op.49, but there are tabs for all 15).

Excellent link, Karl, thank you!  And yes, the Elegy quartet movement (written prior to the 1st string quartet), and taken from an aria sung by Katerina in Lady Macbeth off Mtsensk, is gorgeous!

[San Antone]

In the spirit of not reinventing the wheel: Here's what looks like a nice thumbnail intro to each quartet (my link here is to the Op.49, but there are tabs for all 15).

Fantastic link!

Many thanks, Karl.

[Karl Henning]

And as cited on that page, the composer writes to his friend Sollertinsky:

I have also completed my quartet, the beginning of which I played to you. In the process of composition I regrouped in mid-stream. The first movement became the last, the last first. Four movements in all. It didn't turn out particularly well. But, you know, it's hard to compose well. One has to know how.

Notwithstanding what may well be a Gogolian tint, the self-effacement is (meseems) both genuine and becoming. (Obviously, I think well of the quartet, the composer's modesty notwithstanding.)  It were most difficult to imagine a Stockhausen or a Boulez being so modest about his work ; )

[San Antone]

My first stab at this project is Quartet No. 15 by the Shostakovich Quartet.



I love the first movement's gradual expansion of the texture. 

[San Antone]

Next up one of my favorite quartets, No. 12 - said to a 12-tone work, but if so, Shostakovich nevertheless considered it to be in D-flat.  I am listening to the Quatuor Danel play it.

[Brian]

Since I'm at work and on NML, I'm trying the Quatuor Danel, whom I don't have on CD.

#1 seems like such a sweet trifle, but with everything "wrong" - the sweetness keeps getting sapped, expectations defied. A mellow microcosm of what's to come?

The opening gesture of #2 I'm trying to place as a very ethnic moment, at least in this performance. It sounds like some nationality's music - but which? All I've thought of so far is Gabriela Lena Franks' Peruvian-influenced chamber music.

[San Antone]

Since I'm at work and on NML, I'm trying the Quatuor Danel, whom I don't have on CD.

#1 seems like such a sweet trifle, but with everything "wrong" - the sweetness keeps getting sapped, expectations defied. A mellow microcosm of what's to come?

The opening gesture of #2 I'm trying to place as a very ethnic moment, at least in this performance. It sounds like some nationality's music - but which? All I've thought of so far is Gabriela Lena Franks' Peruvian-influenced chamber music.

#2 draws on Jewish music from Eastern Europe.

[Karl Henning]

Finally listening to the Op.49. Cor, what a day it's been : )

[Brian]

#2 draws on Jewish music from Eastern Europe.

Ah! Maybe I'm thinking of Polish folk music, of the Szymanowski/Czarnecki mold.

[Brian]

Idle, tiny thought: the viola solo at the end of #2 is so noble, so full, so rich to me - one of my favorite viola lines, now.

[SonicMan46]

String Quartet No. 1 this morning - reading along from Karl's excellent link; the first two 'moderato' movements are indeed melodic and wistful, followed by the shorter more aggressive final movements ('allegro molto' & 'allegro') - I liked both of these performances, but felt that the Mandelings were somewhat more lyrical in the first two movements but had enough edginess for the final ones; the timings are about a minute difference (Mandelrings slightly slower); also, these recordings are about 20+ years apart and the sound and dynamics are better on the more recent (2005) Audite offering -

 

[San Antone]

#10 by the Eder Quartet



From the excellent site Karl linked to in an earlier post

The quartet begins with a bugle-call from the first violin, the note A flat followed by an E minor triad. The movement then introduces many of the motifs and themes which will reappear, often heavily disguised, in the following movements.

The second movement is a fierce, furious and memorable scherzo, which displays outstanding vitality and dogged insistence. Written in E minor it commences with a series of strident, forceful and assertive chords. Nevertheless by time the second theme is introduced, about a minute later, the tempo has imperceptibly but decisively quickened. The combination of force and speed affects the listener like a pebbles on a stormy sea-shore: he is battered and thrown in all directions by an irresistible power. This is tense, exciting music; an outpouring of emotion, and the contrast between this movement, the Allegretto Furioso, and the next could not be more stunning for there now   follows   one of Shostakovich's sublime and heartbreaking passacaglias.

The nine bar passacaglia theme is introduced on the cello and then subjected to eight subtle variations. It has not the defiant characteristics of the famous passacaglia of the First Violin Concerto, but its graceful and calm melody remains embedded in the memory long after the quartet has terminated.

The passacaglia's finale leads directly into the final fourth movement which commences with a perky little theme. This trots and canters along until, after about a minute a second, a more expansive and lugubrious motif appears on the violins. The perky theme again returns for about thirty seconds until a third theme is introduced. Then all are mixed together into an effervescent cocktail which first bubbles, then pulsates and finally becomes agitated and volatile. Suddenly and unexpectedly the passacaglia's theme reappears, beautifully integrated above the seething undercurrents. The effect is dramatic and the underlying rhythm, seduced by the passacaglia's tranquillity, diminishes. Finally the perky tune, now devoid of some of its tempo, is repeated followed by the more spacious second theme. Then one last surprise occurs before the music terminates into a whisper: the themes of the first movement are recalled and the bugle-call, with which the quartet commenced, echoes over the dying music.

I have not given the Eder Quartet their due, in an act of pure bias against Naxos.       But so far, their account of #10 is very good.

[Karl Henning]

The First yesterday, the Ninth now . . . .

[Fëanor]

I'm going to start at the beginning (Op. 49) and listen thru.

I think I'm going to focus on the favourite version that I own: Fitzwilliam String Quartet.

[mszczuj]

I listen to the op.49 for the third time, but I am not very impressed.

[springrite]

I thought every month is Shostakovich String Quartet month (or was that Haydn)?

I will start tomorrow with #3, one of my favorite, Borodin Recording.

[Karl Henning]

I listen to the op.49 but for the third time, but I am not very impressed.

It's grown on me.  I think Brian has the right angle on it: the quartet is apparently all ease and affability.  All of its harmonic subversions are of so light a touch . . . indeed, it does not seize your collar. That's part of what charms me in the piece.

For myself to-day, the Second.