Shostakovich: String Quartets Nos. 3, 5, 7

Release Date: 23rd Oct 2015
Catalogue No: CGC007-2
Label: CuGate Classics
Length: 73 minutes

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Excerpt, Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 3 in F major, Op. 73

Work length6:46

St Petersburg String Quartet

Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 3 in F major, Op. 73

Work length25:03

St Petersburg String Quartet

II. Moderato Con Moto

Track length4:44

III. Allegro Non Troppo

Track length3:59

IV. Adagio – Attacca:

Track length5:43

V. Moderato

Track length10:37

Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 5 in B flat major, Op. 92

Work length28:51

St Petersburg String Quartet

I. Allegro Non Troppo – Attacca:

Track length10:25

II. Andante – Andantino – Attacca:

Track length8:17

III. Moderato – Allegretto – Andante

Track length10:09

Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 7 in F sharp minor, Op. 108

Work length12:57

St Petersburg String Quartet

I. Allegretto – Attacca:

Track length3:09

II. Lento – Attacca:

Track length3:55

III. Allegro – Allegretto

Track length5:53

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The three quartets on this album provide insight into the conflict Russian composers had with the doctrine of Socialist Realism. They display how a crisis due to political circumstances can achieve – per aspera ad astrum – new art forms on high levels.

Shostakovich had always regarded himself as a socialist composer. He had delivered so far what was expected from a political artist by the regime: to write easily accessible operas with crowd scenes and huge choirs, preferably on revolutionary subjects, eventually with happy endings and of course instrumental pieces which should convey the spirit of socialism. And suddenly he fell from grace, over night and adamantly. The regime had recognized violations against the doctrine of Soviet aesthetics in his Opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District and banned it from stage. Until then the opera was hailed after its premiere in 1934 as the first great masterpiece of Socialist Realism.

In this light one has to look at his string quartets. The whole cyle was composed after the Lady Macbeth and from there one can recognize a central watershed in Shostakovich’s compositions. They became a private affair from the beginning. Shostakovich had recognized the controllers’ ears of the artistic day-to-day-business were highly focussed on great public works such as operas and symphonies reflecting contemporary issues, free from Formalism, whereas neglecting at the same time the introspective, intimate approach of the chamber music genre. This prevailing intimate mood is shaping the entire cycle of Shostakovich’s 15 quartets revealing a deep insight into his sensitivities.

Shostakovich: String Quartets Nos. 3, 5, 7

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