Customer Reviews

Shostakovich: Complete String Quartets (1-15), String Quintet

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I don't know if we can classifiy this as THE definitive reading of the life work of one of this centuries most celebrated creator,but The Borodin certainly capture in a profound way the emotive dramatic core, the essence,colour,gesture,tone and philosophic depth reflecting the weight of this century.

These Quartets inhabit a different space than the Symphonies although the two genres are always placed side by side, incorrectly I think. The Quartets had a purer conception,and they always worked best when left alone without addendums as,the Piano Quintet Op.57, included with admirable aggressive playing from Sviatoslav Richter.Here in the Quintet I thought rendered the strings as mere accompaniment,not first chair actors/ speakers. Shostakovich's creativity always required a voice, that is one element that is shared with the Symphonies,where flute,clarinet,bassoon are given solo roles as a form of commentary on some previous atrocity,or a sense of repose,of serene reflection, and the various First Violin Solos especially that occur throughout all these works is one focus,a parallel with his immense Symphonies.The Borodin allows interpretive freedoms,like concerto soloists each role,and gives it the space it needs, as in the demonic Allegro molto from the Eighth Quartet. The Borodin continually distinguish themselves in not being afraid to play an ugly sound,a Gypsy-like gesture, as again moments from the Eighth where the viola merely marks out a chord quite obviously, with an ugly tone, or the simple provincial minor chord outlines in the Third Quartet,something a street musician might have done.

The Borodin know how to create great tension as in the opening of the Ninth Quartet,compare their reading with others as The Manhatten Quartets rather glib reading (for the lunch time crowd) of the Ninth. This tension is created by a larger dynamic gradation of sound, between what is loud and what is almost barely perceptible with The Borodin. Great drama is engaged here with biting nasal(again ugly) violin sounds always in the demonic Allegrettos throughout these works. Shostakovich's creativity does have a one-dimensional cast like he was revealing/telling the same story over and over again waiting patiently for humanity to change. Well not in the last century. There are more hopeful utterances however as in the opening moments of the Tenth Quartet,a incredibly expansive timbral one with a large Brucknerian sound,yet framed within classic proportions. The Third Quartet as well,written right after the Second World War is positive momentarily,where more Russians perished than anyone else.

The Emerson Quartets readings,for they have a complete set, I found quite reserved,restrained,but not uninteresting opting for a more spiritual,solemn reading,with thinner overall timbres,less overall density of sound, rather than the Borodin here who bring a very large pallette of colour,drama,aggresiveness and irrationality to their playing.

The 15 Shostakovitch Quartets are almost the mirror image of the 15 Symphonies. While the Symphonies are big public statements, albeit statements filled with many private meanings, the quartets are intensely private. Listening the the entire cycle is like reading a locked diary. You feel as if you are listening in on Shostakovitch's private thoughts. And while the symphonies are primarily works of his early years (the first ten were written before the early fifties) the most of the quartets were written later in his career, the last ten date from about 1950 onward.

These are wide ranging works, from the almost Haydnesque 1st quartet through the almost serial 13th quartet, and onward to the intensely elegaic 15th quartet, composed of 7 slow movements. The early quartets are mostly written in Shostakovitch's middle style as reflected in the 5th symphony. The music is clear and very tonal, as most works of Shostakovitch's Soviet Realist style would be. But they reveal underlying secrets in the occasional dissonances and dark moments. And starting with the 6th quartet the music begins to transition into the composer's late style. These works are more enigmatic. The musical language is more chromatic...based on the same synthetic scales that inspired Scriabin and Messiaen...and much more dissonant than the earlier quartets. Shostakovitch is much more experimental, stretching his language and formal structures. Also, there seems to be crytic messages in the music based on numerical symbolism, hidden letter messages, and references to the composer's other music.

These performances are definative. The Borodin Quartet, along with the Beethoven Quartet, have the best pedigree with these works, having worked personally with the composer, and actually premiering some of these works. This boxed set is a beautifully remastered version of the original Meloydia recordings. Where the Meloydia pressings were muddy and boxy, this remastering sounds spacious, like they would sound in a concert hall. And the emotional content of the playing is stunning. If you can get it, this is the recording to have of these seminal pieces. Get them now!

Sure there are other good recordings by other quartets of the complete String Quartets of Dmitri Shostakovich -- for double (or triple!) the price. But not only are the Borodin Quartet recordings cheap, they are the best. The Borodins give an unshakably consistent reading of every quartet (and Shostakovich fires no blanks!). They even throw in the Piano Quintet and the two String Octet movements. Each performance is among the best ever recorded and some ARE the best ever recorded, especially the immensely convincing and coherent readings of the middle-late dodecaphonic quartets (12, 13) and the late 'introverted' quartets (14, 15). Even the over-recorded 8th quartet sounds amazingly fresh here. I can't recommend this set enough. You won't regret the purchase for a nanosecond.

I believe this is the lowest priced complete set of the quartets now available, and probably the best. I had the Manhattan Quartet's traversal, and it is better recorded than the Borodin's but somehow pales in comparison. There are the notes, and there is what is behind and between the notes. A musician might (rightly) scoff at this, but the entire reason for those pages on the music stand is communication -- moment to moment and on the wing.

The Borodin Quartet instictively phrases this music, paces it, balances it, in a thousand ways that cause the listener to marvel at these inventive departures from Vienese/Western chamber traditions. The music is often vulgar, daring to "stink in the ears" as Hanslick once wrote of Tschaikovsky, but just as often naive, childlike, and tragic as Lear on the heath with dead Cordelia. It smiles though wounded; it dances on broken legs; it can make you laugh and break your heart.

Perhaps too often it dares to be more than chamber music ought to be, but in the last quartets -- 11 through 15 -- Shostakovich also concerns himself with pure music and with a very personal way of employing tone rows. The few Beethoven Quartet performances I have suggest that ensemble knew this music best, but the Borodin's match them very closely. I would also recommend the Fitzwilliam Quartet set on Decca, based on lps I owned a number of years ago.

The Quintet performance is a distinguished bonus, adding value to this set. I still think the composer's recording with the Beethoven Quartet remains the best, though not as well played or recorded (the same is often said for Schnabel's Beethoven sonata recordings, the irony being there is more to music than the notes on the page).

This is as good as it gets. Shostavokich's most intimate statements played by a the superlative Borodin quartet. The Borodins play with a level of technical fluency that I've heard matched only by the Alban Berg Quartet at their best. But that is only half of the story--the depth of their interpretations will take you deeper and deeper into the music upon repeated listenings. They summon ensemble colors that evoke the most savory Jewish folk music to the bleakest of winter nights. BMG/Melodiya has done wonders with the sound quality, which, if you have heard these performances on EMI, was bone dry at times. And there are wonderful perks in the set: Svantislov Richter joining them for the Piano Quintet, the Prokoviev Quartet joining them for Two Pieces for Sring Octet. All of this offered in a set ... This is simply one of the finest recordings I've ever heard.

This set is a live recording of the entire 15 quartets of Shostakovich, by a group of musicians intensely focused on 'modern' Russian composers -- i.e. the Borodin Quartet. The combination of the Quartet's assiduous dedication to their national musical treasures together with the presence of an audience creates, in addition to the technical near-perfection, a very special 'atmosphere'. These elements make this set a very special one, and a must for those serious about that great composer's oeuvres. (Noteworthy is also the relatively mite price of this compendium of 6 CD set as compared to the exorbitant prices of the others!)

This is, by far and away, the most personal and emotionally accurate realizations of these incredible works on disc. It may not be as finely recorded as the Fitzwilliam on Decca, but only a few bars of any of the movements show up exactly why the digital age perfectionism of Emersons et. al. totally miss the composers heart crying out in every bar. I recently heard the new Borodin Quartet play some of these at the Wigmore Hall in London, and those interpretations live are even more moving.

Listening to Shostakovich and then to Allan Pettersson really shows up how music critics get tied up in the notes-on-paper approach to music criticism - nay - analysis - and forget that this is the greatest music since Mahler and Bruckner ...

So personal and emotional that you sometimes feel guilt as if you are eavesdropping or as if you stumbled upon dmitri's diary. if i arrived home to see my house aglow with these quartets inside, i would immediately acquire another set along with a personal cd player and return to the blaze with dmitri to help console me. dmitri knew much about frustration and struggle, spending his entire life under the soviet system that tried to contain his musical expression. it seems that they did succeed in tempering his symphonies somewhat, however the quartets were his place to speak freely as they were largely ignored by the government. while still based in tonality, his music has enough abrasive avant-garde qualities to make you realize he has something important to say. hard-edged yet still quite accessible. perfect. spine-chilling one moment and childlike peace the next. certainly the most revealing and significant cycle since beethoven. the borodins play with intensity, joy and reverence as if they grew up with this music. they did. the sound is clean, soft and natural,as compared to many so called audiophile digital recordings that are hard-edged and lead to listener's fatigue. do not go near the virgin classics digital cycle of this music as the sound is not nearly as full as this set. there is not one complaint that i have with this set and the price is superb also. get this set right now and go for one of the most eye-opening rides of your life.

Although I haven't heard the 2nd and 3rd quartets from this cycle (my local library lacks these two), it's safe to say that this set has an emotional depth and feeling for the music that can't be matched by the Emerson or Fitzwilliam SQ. I hate saying that, because the latter two are both excellent in their own way (the Fitzwilliam SQ certainly doesn't lack soul, and the Emerson especially shines when the music calls for violence and fireworks), but there is something about the Borodin complete set that seems to capture this music perfectly and gets the subtleties just right.

A couple of examples: the very eerie beginning of the second movement of the 15th - the Borodin SQ is right on the money with how it seems the music should sound. One instrument picks up from the other perfectly. The second example is the wild conclusion of the 12th. This is music that seems to be lashing out against something in a life or death struggle (against the old Soviet system, perhaps?), and the Borodin SQ jumps on it with a ferocity that brings a smile to my face. It's as if the Borodin SQ were playing the music for the first time, but having the fantastic luck of nailing every note exactly as it should be played.

For now this set is barely available, and for $99 at that. I did some research on the Internet, however, and it appears that Melodiya (the Russian label that released this originally, apparently in partnership with EMI) has re-issued this set complete with new packaging. It appears to have been released abroad, but not in the U.S. yet. When this set reappears in the states, I'm definately buying it.

I discovered this music recently out of curiosity. Now I'm hooked. If music from the 20th Century is a little bit too biting or obscure for your tastes (if pressed, I'd have to say that I enjoy chamber music from the Romantic Era most of all), I think that these quartets will be a pleasant surprise. They are definately modern, but they retain enough elements of music of the past to make them very accessible.

I can't believe I'm the first person to write a "review" for this CD set. This is the greatest recording of the greatest musical cycle of all time (apologies to Der Ring lovers). Even if you aren't familiar with 20th century (or even classical) music in general, do yourself a favor and shell out the [money] for these 6 CDs (! ). It's well worth it.

The Borodin tone is simply gorgeous: warm and spine-tingling at once, perfectly suited to Shostakovich. The 7th might be my favorite. Rarely is Shostakovich so concise and powerful at the same time as in this piece. It gets a perfect reading here, as does everything.

Only complaints: 1) The notes by Dr. Sigrid Neef, while detailed, could benefit from removing the overly philosophical parts. E.g.: "This sequence of Adagios is full of inner strength and purity, music not just of suffering but of the ability to come to terms with that suffering, music of purification, the distillation of one man's life and of the century as a whole: music of and for the 20th century." Uh huh, whatever. I sympathize with Neef, it's hard not to get goosebumps talking about this music, but the blabbing should have been edited.

2) The recording of the Piano Quintet with Richter that joins the 3rd quartet on the 2nd CD is not quite as good as the original recording I have with the same players (that included the 7th and 8th quartets). Not a big deal, there are plenty of great recordings of the quintet. Get this set for the quartets.