Customer Reviews

Shostakovich: The String Quartets

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It's hard to assign stars to this set because it's just a different approach from the three other sets I own (Borodin, Fitzwilliam, Brodsky]. Whereas the others tend to emphasize the dramatic, soulful, and sarcastic elements of the Shostakovich, the Emerson Quartet, to some extent, downplays these while moving through the music at a noticeably brisker tempo.

The result is that some features of the music are newly revealed and others are obscured. The biggest difference is in tempo (the Emersons are without a doubt the speediest). After this, one notices the difference in virtuosity (the Emersons have technique to burn, not that there are glaring deficiencies in any of the other groups).

The Emerson's don't make this music sound like Haydn by any stretch, but they do make it sound less anguished and spiritual. The flip side of this is that the music will seem less weird to listeners who don't crave anguished sounding string quartets.

In the end, I keep going back to the readings that are starker and that highlight the perverse aspects of the music (at times it even reminds me of Carl Stalling's comic scores for the classic Warner Bros. cartoons). Shostakovich put a lot of humor into these pieces, and the mood often shifts rapidly between silly-sounding runs and heart-breaking, almost operatic melodies underpinned by beautiful, slow-moving harmonies. I like the readings that point up these contrasts; others may think the Emersons wisely avoid the temptation to over-dramatize the music and walk a more tasteful line.

Also, my very favorite interpretations benefit from very careful studio engineering and a touch of reverb. Somehow, these works almost demand good sound and perfect balances to show what they are about; that's not alway the case (I'm often happy listening to historical piano recordings from the 1930s and 1940s, for example). The Emerson set is of course live, and while the sound is great for a concert recording, the instrumental voices are not as balanced as I'd like.

While I wouldn't recommend this set to someone looking to experience this music for the first time, I'm glad it's available.

This is a re-release of the Emerson String Quartet's live performances of the Shostakovich String Quartets. For Shostakovich lovers this is a must buy.

Note that Amazon does offer the original as well. This re-release, however, is priced at about half of the original. There is nothing left out in this one, so if you want the original artwork and so on, pay the double price. If you want the music to enjoy, buy this one -- at least until someone realizes that the two are competing with each other. (Note that many people, after viewing this album, purchased the more expensive one!)

That being said, many reviewers of this and other editions have compared Emerson's against Borodin String Quartet among others. The Emerson String Quartet is as perfect as one can get during this lifetime. It may lack "Soul," as some reviewers put it, but if it does, then I don't know what "soul" means. Different interpretations? Yes. Lack of soul? No. Americans can perform Russian works with dexterity. Incidentally, I also enjoy these same works produced on a budget label by an relatively unknown string quartet. I love them, too, and I'm keeping them both.

Dmitri Shostakovich, my favorite 20th century composer, wrote a series of fifteen string quartets that span his entire career. These are alternately searing, violent, brooding, fiery, introspective works that run the gamut of human emotion and experience -- hardly beautiful, and often quite depressing. But man, do they pack a wallop! They're often considered the greatest creations in the string quartet genre since Beethoven, and it's easy to see why.

These were recorded in live performance in three separate years ('94, '98, and '99) at the summer Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. The playing is not only passionate and precise, but imbued with a palpable intensity. There's no audible hint of an audience, but applause is included judiciously at the conclusion of several of the works. The recording is close-up and very vivid, though not quite in-your-face; there's adequate space around the instruments to make listening comfortable. Any closer and you'd be hurled against the back wall!

This re-issued box set retails at less than half that of the original release. Even though I already have the quartets on separate older discs by various other groups, the Emersons give them that slap of American modernism quite apart from the Slavic flavor of a native Russian group like the Borodin Quartet. Yes, if one is familiar with these works, one can actually hear and feel the difference. I've read some reviewers here, as well as professional critics, write of the Emersons' lack of a "Russian soul"; I have no idea what that means. I suppose if one has to ask....

This re-issue at bargain price of the Emerson's complete Shostakovich quartet cycle is a reminder that their breakthrough readings are roughly a decade old now (the set was taped in concert from Aspen 1994-99). Instead of Russian soul we get clean, often faster interpretations that brought out Shostakovich's modernist side, aided by the ultra virtuosity of the playing. In the meantime, however, other groups like the St. Lawrence and Hagen Quartets have made even more severe, biting, stark, haunted, and tragic recordings of selected works from the fifteen quartets. This doesn't mean the Emersons have been eclipsed, only that they started a trend that shows no sign of ending.

Also, I'd like to point out that if you want the best all-around modern set from a Russian group. the Shostakovich Quartet, which recorded for Olympia, can now be found on bargain reissues from Regis (Berkshire Record Outlet offers the complete quartets for $20). The SQ play beautifully, are well recorded, and imbue Shostakovich's music with more emotional intensity than the cooler Emersons. By comparison, the old standby set from the Fitzwilliam Quartet on Decca seems dated and stodgy. The choice for me comes down to 1. Emerson complete cycle 2. Shostakovich Quartet complete cycle or 3. Pick and choose among outstanding individual readings from the St. Lawrence, Kronos, Hagen, and of course older Soviet groups like the Borodin and Beethoven Quartets. That's just a thumbnail sketch. Many die-hard fans won't give up their beloved Emerson cycle, while older aficinados would never part with their traditional Soviet favorites.

I've been through this collection three times so far and am delighted with it in every aspect. True, I haven't picked up the scores yet, which would add a great deal, but even short of that I can recommend this performance both from an acoustic and aesthetic point of view. And the music, of course, speaks for itself. Big bonus which shouldn't be is that the discs are pressed (burned?) in numerical order 1 through 15 so you don't have to keep switching discs like you do with, say, the Alban Berg Beethoven integral.

Can't think of a single complaint, and I've tried! OK, there is one. I'm afraid that the notes that accompany the recording are pretty uninformative. A little historical fact followed by vague and misleading metaphorical descriptions are about the sum of it. True, Shostakovich scholarship is just beginning so there is little to draw on, but still...

This 5-CD set was recorded in live performances in front of remarkably quiet audiences. The Emerson Quartet play with both drive and precision. Although their playing is precise and technically brilliant, I find nothing sterile about their approach to this music. They do not drag the music out, nor do they exaggerate dynamics, but they play it with consummate skill and grace, and with enough enthusiasm for the music to let it speak for itself. By comparison, even the old Fitzwilliam set, so exciting when it was first released, and still a remarkable value, seems a bit ponderous at times, a bit too calculated and measured.
One of my favorite things about the Emerson performances is that the four voices always seem to be equal, and of one mind--the very essence of superb musicianship for a string quartet, and the result in this case of excellent musicianship combined with sympathetic engineering. The recordings were made at live performances, with a really quiet audience. What I find remarkable is the way the engineers have been able to produce such a nice balance in the sound. You can hear the individual instruments, but the sound still has a blend to it, rather than sounding more clinical than life, as some studio recordings of quartets can sound. Still, the recording is rather close, and you can picture the four instruments spread across the soundstage, but for a close recording, there ins not as much extraneous noise as you might expect--bowings and scrapings and gruntings and the like. There is not too much hall sound, but yet the effect is not one of sterility. The sound is close, but not stifling. In all, this stands as an excellent recording job under what could easily have been difficult circumstances.

Yes, this is a most remarkable recording of most remarkable music. Shostakovitch's symphonies can grow tiring after a while, but his quartets have withstood the test of time and repeated listening. Those on a tight budget will get good value from the Naxos set; for about the same price, the Fitzwilliam boxed set (6 CDs) has the advantage over the Naxos of presenting the quartets in order. But for those seeking the ultimate boxed set of these remarkable quartets, this remarkable new release from DG is my first recommendation. It is a winner in every way.

I should probably start this by saying that I love Shostakovich. That being said, I would highly recommend his string quartets to anyone, especially at this price. This set is a great bargain. I have no qualms with the quality of the recording. However, I did not realize when I bought it that this was a LIVE recording. I find the fact that the applause is included to be highly annoying. However, if you do not mind, then go for it!

The complete string quartets of Shostakovich are presented here on 5 CDs by the members of the Emerson String Quartet with fiery eloquence. This music, together with the quartets by Bartok and Carter, form a body of work as significant in its way as were the 19th century string quartets by Beethoven. These Emerson performances compare well against the gold standard of the Borodin Quartet recordings. (There is more than one appropriate way to play any given piece of music, as well as many inappropriate ways.)

The clarity of sound on these CDs is superb. These were live performances before a remarkably hushed audience in a room at Aspen that was acoustically designed for chamber music. The result is a presence and excitement not often found on digital recordings. Highly recommended!

I was inspired to listen to these 15 quartets after reading - Music for Silenced Voices by Wendy Lesser. The book is a fascinating story and leads the reader through the personal, political, and professional events that shaped Shostakovich's life. The book considers each of the quartets in chronological order and in this way details the circumstances under which they were written. I wanted to hear the quartets as I knew little about Shostakovich's life and music. The music is, at times, heart-rending and you can hear both sorrow and joy in them. They are marvellous.

I heard this set of discs elsewhere. I tried to send them to my niece twice as a Christmas present in Paris, France. The delivery by U.P.S. was never accomplished owing to U.P.S. retuning the items to your warehouse too rapidly for my niece to arrainge delivery. I was nonetheless charged for one of these deliveries and just don't want to exhaust the energy to contest this charge, having tried that already. Be very sure that amazon won't spring back to life for my pocketbook.