Customer Reviews

Shostakovich: String Quartets 3, 7 & 8

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Before the Emerson Qt. brought out their acclaimed set of the complete Shostakovich quartets, this music belonged to Russian ensembles, whose style was generally lush and romantic. Without disregarding Shostakovich's bleak, spare idiom, they pulled him into the mainstream with Tchaikovsky and Borodin. Now the Hagen Qt. pulls him even further than the Emersons did in the opposite direction. These are clean, spare readings with modernist edges and angles.

You can hear how effective their approach is in the brief Qt. #7, which skitters and twitters like Webern. At times the string tone turns aggressively metallic, and the Hagens follow the Emersons in keeping the line very tense. However, they ease off considerably in the outer movements of Qt. #3, which is more genial and sweet-toned. I found their reading of the Third a little faceless--this CD doesn't take off until the last two items.

In Qt. #8, Shostakovich's most famous, the Hagens run into extensive competition. Groups like the Kronos Qt. who have recorded no other Shostakovich have recorded the Eighth. What sets the Hagens apart is that their reading is biting, often fast, and tension is screwed up to the point of hysteria. We get sound effects in the fourth movement, for example, that would suit a slasher movie. To amplify the eerie mood, DG has recorded the instruments up close--there's some reverberance to the acoustic but no breathing room.

In all, I would rate the Seventh and Eighth performances as a must-listen, but the Third falls below that level.