Customer Reviews

Shostakovich: The String Quartets

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With the Borodin cycles and the Emerson cycle out on CD this very good set tends to get overlooked. There are a lot of things I like about this set better than either the Borodin or Emerson set.

I prefer this set to the Borodin set because the engineering is more satisfying. You get a more intimate sound with this set. For those who are curious, the other selling point is that Fitzwilliam gave the Western premiere of the Fifteenth quartet and were one of the last groups to work with the composer before his death. And while the sound isn't as crisp as what you'll find on the Emerson set I prefer their handling of the large-scale structure and emotional content of the 3rd and 7th quartets (not that this is anything other than personal preference).

But the most pragmatic reason was price. I got this set when I could only afford one and this was the only one I could afford. Only after listening to it a lot and researching the history of the quartet did I learn they had worked with the composer. If you can only afford one box set of Shostakovich and have a tight budget this is the one you want.

I considered buying the complete String Quartets of Shostakovich for some time, unable to decide if the Emerson or Borodin (minus the 14th and 15th) would be the one I wanted. The playing of the Emerson was certainly in their favor but I settled on the Fitzwilliam String Quartet after reading a review of this set. The Fitzwilliam may not play as well as the Emerson or have the Russian advantage of the Borodin but they have captured the emotion behind the music as no other quartet. The Fitzwilliam also worked with Shostakovich and were given the honor of the Western premiere of the 15th Quartet, so there is an element of authority to their playing. Throughout the set, I was impressed with the playing and depths of feeling expressed.

The quartets appear in composition order on the 6 discs allowing the listener to follow how Shostakovich developed the form. Each CD is in a paper envelop inside a box. The accompanying booklet described each quartet and provides insight into their composition. The recordings are clear and nicely balanced, perhaps not as refined as the sound of the Emerson but certainly excellent. I knew only three of the quartets well before I got this set, and I recommend taking the plunge and buying all of the quartets if possible. In sum, this is a rewarding complete set that will be of interest to the listener who wants to follow Shostakovich's development of the string quartet.

It is extremely difficult for a westerner, living in today's modern democracies, to have the full grasp of the extent of censorship and control of the Stalinist regime. During most of his creative life, Shostakovich was under surveillance, and some of his works were publicly censored by the self-intitled followers of the "Socialist Realism". The tension of censorship is reflected in his body of symphonies. The uneveness and limitations of some of his symphonies are a reflection of his limitations under Stalin. His string quartets, however, are mostly free from these limitations. For one, it is extremely difficult to establish what is "socialist realism" in a string quartet. Since Shostakovich was not a follower of serialism, he could afford to translate into the string quartet medium most of his tortured inner self. These quartets are filled with humanism. They are not easy listening in the sense of Hadyn and Mozart. They are rather deep, touching pieces, like the late Beethoven, Schummann, or Bartok. These recordings by the Fitzwilliam Quartet have an immense authority at a reasonable price. Lovers of string quartet cannot afford to be without the entire Shostakovich set, and anynone buying this collection will enjoy a lifetime of rewarding listening.

To those of you like me, bred off the strictly diatonic classical and romantic periods, when melody and counterpoint were fitted nicely within keys, the twentieth century can be a frightening place. I have a hard time making sense of atonal music (much of Bartok's quartets, for example). But Shostakovich's quartets make sense to me, even though he sometimes wanders through the chromatic scales and forsakes a set key. This package is a wonderful offer, and a good introduction to the composer's later work. They are quite different from his early symphonies. Much of the music is so emotive its palpable, and the emotions range from burlesque, to grotesque, to deeply wounded and plaintive. I love the largo from quartet six, a surprisingly diatonic and elated quartet in comparison with the others.
When you get this set, wander off by yourself for a day and listen to each quartet. I can't guarantee you'll like them all, but I hope you have the sense to appreciate these for what they are.

I can't compare this to the Emerson quartet's package, as I have not heard it, but the sound here is crisp. I certainly can't tell that it's twenty-years old.

Shostakovich wrote most of his 15 string quartets late in life; the second quartet was written after the 8th symphony. The quartets chronicle the excruciatingly bitter victim of totalitarianism gradually paring down his style to the simplest essentials. Mostly dark and anguished in tone, the quartets nonetheless cover a wide stylistic range, from the symphonic drama of nos. 2 & 3, to the deceptive banality of nos. 4 & 6, to sophisticated masterpieces such as nos. 5 & 9, the celebrated, self-quoting no. 8, and the atonal hints of nos. 12 & 13. These recordings by the Fitzwilliam Quartet date from the late seventies, but both the performances and the recordings are sparkling and focused. The performances are impeccable, rendering nearly palpable the horrors of life under the Soviet system, as described by the composer in his autobiography, "Testimony". The recordings are better than most later attempts, although rather heavy on (artificial?) reverbration; but the production suits the performances, which are bent on bringing out the demonic and the tragic in Shostakovich's music. The Fitzwilliam quartet premiered quartet no. 15 in the west, and their recording, made only a few years after the premiere (1975), brings out the bleak contours of a musical language simplified down to the barest of bare bones. The incalculable tragedy these compositions speak of has happened not long ago. Their arch-conservative style (for pieces dating from the same time-period as, say, Stockhausen's early career) is also a direct result of the tyrannical Soviet regime's rabid probing into each and every aspect of life, as well as of art. If we let mindless capitalism rule our lives for much longer, it might turn out to be not very different from mindless communism. The Shostakovich quartets are memorials, but we should also take them as warnings.

For many buyers the choice for a complete cycle of the Shostakovich quartets will come down to three: the Borodin, Emerson, and Fitzwilliam quartets. I own the latter two and can offer a comparison.

Fitzwilliam: This set, made between 1975-77 in a church in Surrey, has the advantage of price. Although the 15 quartets are spread out over 6 CDs as compared to 5 for the Emersons, Decca offers this cycle at roughly half the cost of the DG cycle (it's much cheaper than that, even, on the used market). The performances eschew Russian soul, grit, and emotional extremes such as one hears from the Borodin Quartet. The Fitzwilliam Quartet sounds soulful but stops short of impassioned. As much as it is possible, they make this music friendly and easy to listen to without sacrificing all of its bite and sarcasm. They are not a virtuoso group (English critics actually praise them for this lack, as if the Emersons' technical mastery was a sign of glibness), so individual solo lines, of which there are many in these quartets, sound medium well played, not dazzling. Decca's sound as transferred to CD can be a bit shrill and congested but is certainly good enough. One large missing ingredient is tonal variation--the Fitzwilliam doesn't search out the peculiar tonalities that are implied in Shostakovich's string writing, which can be eerie, ghostly, brutal, and caustic by turns.

Emerson: Recorded in Aspen at intervals between 1994 and 1999, these are live performances from the music festival and are thus not ideal sonically. What's most lacking is solidity and body. Even so, the recorded sound is considerably more detailed than in the Fitzwilliam set, or any other of the four I listened to. When this cycle was first issued in 1999 it swept the field for good reason. The Emersons are head and shoulders above any other quartet for sheer virtuosity in this music. Not that virtuosity is required very often, but the many solo lines are rendered with exquisite technique, and the Emersons pay very close attention to changes in tonality. As a result, these performances are more varied and interesting to listen to than any competitor that I sampled (including the Fitzwilliam, Brodsky, Borodin, St. Petersburg, and Shostakovich quartets on various labels).

The drawbacks are price (it's hard to find even a used set for under $70) and the prevalent accusation, from some quarters, that the Emersons lack Russian soul--they are supposedly too cool, detached, and efficient. Yet this charge can be turned around to say that the Emersons make Shostakovich sound more modern by removing a layer of sentiment. It's really up to the listener to decide, yet I found that cool detachment is not prevalent here--not by any means--and the reviewer below who thinks that the tempos are uniformly too fast is not aware of the field; the Emersons are not extreme in their allegros, at least not very often, and when they play a movement for virtuosic speed, it's almost alwaays to good effect.

I bbught this set because I heard the Emersons play Shostakovich in concert on two occasions, and I was deeply struck by how much better these quartets sound when they are given superlative musicianship. I am not one to believe that Shostakovich was a great master of quartet writing compared to Bartok, Schoenberg, and Janacek among moderns. But he found an idiom, often spare and therefore one-dimenisonal, that is easy to absorb. The Emersons go a step further and give that spare idiom all kinds of shading and colors that often make it sound better than it is.

In sum, I did what many collectors befoe me have done. I gave away the Fitzwilliam set, which was a good stop gap for many years, and relish the Emerson set as a great achievement, especially for a non-Russian ensemble.

P.S. 20011 - The price of the Emerson set has come down considerably, so they are now competitive with other mid-price sets. Thee will always be listeners who want a Russian ensemble's perspective, and the best of those groups include the Borodin as well as the Shostakovich Qt., if we are talking about modern sound. Although they never completed their cycle, the Hagen Qt. on DG offers probing and original performances of the works they did manage to record.

Shostakovich's string quartets are as much the supreme masterworks of 20th Century music as Beethoven's were of the classical period. I hardly dare say more about them; they are profound on every level, and like Beethoven's, they grow more profound with every listening.

Shostakovich, in a sense, discovered the Fitzwilliam String Quartet when its members were undergrads at Cambridge. He entrusted the first western performances of his last three quartets to them for premiere, and they in turn made the first western recording of his full quartet cycle.

Many full cycles have been recorded since, and people have different favorites. I have three sets; this one by the Fitzwilliams is my own choice for the most insightful and incisive. But here's the important part of this review. Although $46.00 more or less is the standard price, I've just happened to notice that there are several sets available used for less than $10.00! Some used-CD dealer in Outer Slobbovia is gonna say a prayer on my behalf tonight!

If you're looking for: - the complete string quartets; - good sound quality; - an interpretation that is not cold or analytical, but with a nice balance between technique and emotion, this is the box to get, for a very nice price !

While studying to perform the 8th Shostakovich quartet, I borrowed several recordings. On the basis of the reviews at this site I purchased the Fitzwilliam recording. In my opinion it is far and above superior to the others recordings available, with Kronos also worth a mention. Comparing this recording to some of the other popular suggestions found at this site, I was happy to find that the Fitzwilliam does not "edit" Shotsakovich's score-- no added dynamics or articulations. Tempo markings are true. Technically they are wonderful, the blend and voicing is exceptional. The interpretation is austere but remains powerful and hauntingly memorable because of it. Many recordings are credible, but this recording has me wanting to listen over and over. I think the Fitzwilliam is on a different plane from all the rest. Highly reccomended.

There are perhaps several complete Shostakovich cycles one would like to own for these amazing pieces, and this is one of them. Not every single quartet is perfect, but that is to be expected. What these players excel in is an emotional depth that is perhaps left behind in the sheer brilliance of the Emerson SQ's playing.

Their tempi are excellent: fast when necessary, and painfully slow where Shostakovich asks for it. Perhaps my favorite point of their playing is the articulation, which is broader than most recordings I hear. Typically, they only play short when asked to in the score, and I think this sounds better than, for instance, if the opening of the Fifth Quartet, a work of enormous gravity and passion, is taken lightly.

Get this one. Highly recommended.