January will still be Shostakovich String Quartet Month

[Cato]

With many thanks to Karl Henning, I have the Fitzwilliam Quartet performing the Shostakovich quartets.

I listened to the First and was reminded in the first two movements of Mahler several times, especially Mahler's First Symphony.

I have no idea whether the composer had any knowledge of Mahler before he created the quartet, and if not, that would make the similar aroma very interesting.  If he did know of Mahler, perhaps these were vague references to a new interest.

I do not have the score, and cannot pinpoint exactly where I believed the similarities exist, but perhaps someone else has a similar impression.

[Karl Henning]

Your instincts do not lead you astray;  it was sometime ere this quartet that the composer's friend, Ivan Sollertinsky, had introduced him to the music of Mahler.

Welcome to the party!

[Cato]

Your instincts do not lead you astray;  it was sometime ere this quartet that the composer's friend, Ivan Sollertinsky, had introduced him to the music of Mahler.

Welcome to the party!

The notes for the quartet (I think - my eyes are not the best any more    especially with the tiny print used on CD's!) mentioned nothing about Mahler, but I thought those little sections were just a bit too close for it to be a coincidence.

[Cato]

I have listened to the Second Quartet twice now, and while it may not match e.g. Schoenberg's second example of the genre, it does prove the older composer's famous statement that much good music can still be written in C major, or in this case A major.

As a novice to these works, I also would like to remark that all 15 have keys listed, and the keys are rarely repeated.  Does anyone know if Shostakovich intended to have a 24-quartet cycle through all the keys?

[North Star]

I have listened to the Second Quartet twice now, and while it may not match e.g. Schoenberg's second example of the genre, it does prove the older composer's famous statement that much good music can still be written in C major, or in this case A major.

As a novice to these works, I also would like to remark that all 15 have keys listed, and the keys are rarely repeated.  Does anyone know if Shostakovich intended to have a 24-quartet cycle through all the keys?

Yes, he did.

Haven't you noticed that I never repeat a key? I'll write twenty-four quartets, so as to have a complete cycle"

[Cato]

Yes, he did.

Haven't you noticed that I never repeat a key? I'll write twenty-four quartets, so as to have a complete cycle"

Many thanks for the information and the link!  I only had time to skim through things quickly: was there any indication of using different tuning systems, or was everything "wohltemperiert" ?

[Karl Henning]

Also, Cato: YHM

[North Star]

Many thanks for the information and the link!  I only had time to skim through things quickly: was there any indication of using different tuning systems, or was everything "wohltemperiert" ?

No, I don't think there is any tuning system discussion.

[Cato]

No, I don't think there is any tuning system discussion.

Okay, I had a little time to dig around and found nothing either.  The website you mentioned earlier is a really good one for the quartets!

I hope to hear the Third Quartet this afternoon.

[Brahmsian]

Cato, happy to hear you have joined the party, and are enjoying the Shostakovich string quartets! 

[Karl Henning]

I've been gradually listening to the Mandelrings' cycle, in order.  Outstanding rec on our Sarge's part.

[Brahmsian]

I've been gradually listening to the Mandelrings' cycle, in order.  Outstanding rec on our Sarge's part.

I only have the 1st quartet left on my listening cycle (twice each for Eder and Fitzwilliam's)

Still no word from Amazon Canada on when the Bovine Borodin set shipping date. 

[Brahmsian]

I only have the 1st quartet left on my listening cycle (twice each for Eder and Fitzwilliam's)

Still no word from Amazon Canada on when the Bovine Borodin set shipping date. 

Incredibly rewarding and enthralling experience.  60 listens (15 x 2 x 2), from December 10, 2012 to January 09, 2013. 

[mszczuj]

No.5 The aggressive developments of the 1st and the 3rd movement strike immediately and show that it is really good work. But I have needed to listen to them much more to accept the themes. So this movements remind me the first and the last movements of the Beethoven Symphony No. 8 which is for my personal use called by me "Dialettica". Between them the most austere Andante-Andantino makes the quartet even more dialectical.

[Karl Henning]

For me, the Eleventh quartet to-day.

[Cato]

For me, the Eleventh quartet to-day.

In the last hour I have heard the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh for the first time ever!   

Jaunty, enigmatic, troubled, are words for describing all three: I think I prefer the Seventh out of the 3, perhaps because of some of the more unexpected turns in the unfolding of the work.

[Karl Henning]

Splendid, Cato!

[mszczuj]

No. 6. This time I prefer my old LP with Borodin SQ over the Shostakovich SQ.

Here http://www.quartets.de/compositions/ssq06.html you find some remarks of ambiguity or abstract emotionialism of the 3rd movement. But for me its kind of emotion is rather obvious. It is like singing the song which had been very significant for us some time before all this exhausting experiences - so we all are trying to sing it without being able to understand emotion which are in it, but at least we can remind that we could feel some emotions some time ago.

Th first two movements are almost in divertimento character but again with some dialectical emotional complication, and the last movement is like the summary of all it precedes. And the brackets of the almost the same cadenzas in all the movements make my impression that all that is about the past even stronger. This is the past, and all is over, but in the same time it begins again. With us or without us, it doesn't matter.

[Karl Henning]

Very interesting.

[mszczuj]

We should remeber that improvised part-singing was in Russia almost as popular entertaiment as drinking the vodka.