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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Masterful new recordings of two 20th century masterpieces,
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This review is from: Lento - Alfred Schnittke: Klavierquintett; Shostakovich: Streichquartett Nr. 15, Op. 144 (Audio CD)
Under the blue title in this interesting CD by the wonderful label Ecm wroth Lento, which means slowly. Two chamber pieces fill up this CD by two Russian Composers, Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) and Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975). The first piece, Piano Quintet is a very personal work by Schnittke. It is dark music, not an easy one, which will need to hear couple of times before understanding its full impact. Also given here a masterful performance by the Keller Quartet. The playing is solid and build up with tensions. The next piece is accurse by the great Russian Dmitri Shostakovich. So here we have his last chamber work, the String Quartet No. 15 which like Schinttke work is not an easy one. The composer worth it very closely to his death, almost without the ability to write it in his own hands. The long first movement, Elegie, is for me one of Shostakovich most spiritual music. The next movements are full of fear and shocks, maybe from death, and they lead to an enigmatic last movement. Here also the Keller Quartet gives a powerful playing. The Ecm production is also great. With detailed notes and well balanced clear sound, making those performances a top choice for those seeking alternative recordings of masterpiece chambers works of the 20th century.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
glacial tempos and the end of hope,
By
This review is from: Lento - Alfred Schnittke: Klavierquintett; Shostakovich: Streichquartett Nr. 15, Op. 144 (Audio CD)
I understand that this is a style-album but even so I found the deliberate, scripted choice of tempos for this already dark music to be oppressively depressing. For me, it was about as easy to listen to as Giulini's Bruckner 9th from Vienna - everything simply drags. This is more the fault of the pianist, whose affected pace depletes the music of all incisiveness and drama, and which nearly causes the poor Keller quartet to bog-down. What we are left with, as the album's picture suggests, is a baggy, monotonous arch of gloom. Yes, the Schnittke quintet, a masterpiece, is a frightful composition but whether or not it was meant to be a monument to grey inertia should be questionable. There is a vastly superior performance with Irina Schnittke on NAXOS.The Shostakovich suffers more from this approach because he is by far the inferior composer on this album. All too often does his music become trapped in repetitive rhythms and marches that either wear themeslves out or where simply trite from the get-go. Here the musicians' program amplifies the already sorrowful nature of the 15th quartet and turns it into all-out suicide music. The Fitzwilliam, Borodin and Emerson quartets have all done better in this music, though I personally find the Emersons and their mechanical reticence, or 'Americanism', to be very annoying. the sound is great though
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