The Brooding And haunting String Quartets Of Dmit
I've been listening to a superb five CD set on Deutsche Grammophon of all 15 string quartets by the great Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich (1906 -1975) , played by the outstanding Emerson Quartet , one of today's finest chamber groups , which consists of violinists Eugene Drucker , Philip Setzer , violist Larence Dutton and cellist David Finckel . These intense and disturbing quartets are intimate expressions of the composer's emotional and spiritual life under the iron rule of the Soviet government .
According to the notes to the set , Shostakovich "lived from the early years of the Russian Revolution through civil war , famine , Stalin's terror , the Second World War , more brutal repression , the thaw , and into the stagnation of the Brezhnev era ", and "his music is thoroughly caught up in the maelstrom of Soviet history ". Shostakovich had risen to prominence before he was out of his teens with his precocious and brilliant first symphony , and went on to become the most important composer of the Soviet Union . He received every honor a Soviet citizen could , but went in and out of favor with the government , having at times incurred the wrath of that ruthless and paranoid mass murderer Stalin for writing music which displeased him and failed to live up to the ideal of "Socialist Realism ".
He died in 1975, apparetly a broken and bitter man . But he left the world a legacy of powerful and compelling music , as well as some hack work which he was forced to write under Soviet domination . Shostakovich produced a monumental serioes of 15 symphonies , concertos for violin, cellos and piano , two operas , assorted choral works , ballet and film scores and chamber music , including his 15 string quartets , which have been described as his private side, as opposed to the public declarations of his symphonies .
The quartets were written between 1938 and 1974 , when the composer's physical ailments made it extremely difficult to put notes on paper . They are decideldly more conservative than the quartets and other music of the avant-garde composers who were his contemporaries , being in definite keys such as C major and F sharp minor etc, and having recognizable themes . But they also contain much harsh dissonance . They combine brooding introversion and gloom with outbursts of rage , as well as biting sarcasm and irony , like much oif his music . It isn't feel goood music , but it can be positively cathartic . There are lighter and more lyrical moments , but they are a minority .
Some contain the use of his signature motif ; the notes D, E flat , C and B, which spell out the name Dmitri Shostakovich in a kind of musical cipher . Other composers have done this also . This motto can also be found in the great 10th symphony .
The grim final quartet consists of five slow movements , all marked adagio , or slow . This is the composer's numbing farewell to life . In addition to the recordings by the Emerson quartet and other Western quartets , there are recordings by such Russian groups as the Borodin quartet , whose musicians knew the composer well and worked with him often . It might be a good idea to get to know the basic works of the string quartet repertoire by such greats as Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and others before you try the Shostakovich quartets , but you should not miss these haunting and disturbing works .