Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Dmitri Shostakovich
Performer: Danish String Quartet
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: ECM
Catalogue: 4817267
Release: 2018
Size: 1.25 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2
01. Fugue in E-Flat Major, BWV 876
Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 15 In E Flat Minor, Op. 144
02. 1. Elegy. Adagio
03. 2. Serenade. Adagio
04. 3. Intermezzo. Adagio
05. 4. Nocturne. Adagio
06. 5. Funeral March. Adagio molto
07. 6. Epilogue. Adagio
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 12 in E flat major, Op. 127
08. 1. Maestoso – Allegro
09. 2. Adagio ma non troppo e molto cantabile
10. 3. Scherzo. Vivace
11. 4. Finale
Programs containing a Baroque or Classical work, a Romantic work, and a 20th century work used to be standard, and with its Prism series the Danish String Quartet, of which this release is the first, seems poised to bring new rigor to the concept. They intend not only to combine works from these eras but to pass from “a Bach fugue through one of the late Beethoven quartets to the music of a subsequent composer” and to draw “lines of connection” among them. On the latter count the quartet might have chosen more direct lines: the String Quartet No. 12 in E flat, Op. 127, is perhaps the least contrapuntal of the late Beethoven quartets, and it seems less connected to the agonized, irregular String Quartet No. 15 in E flat major of the dying Shostakovich than would one of the other late quartets, perhaps the String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132, with its intense depiction of illness and recovery in its formally shocking central movement.
Leaving these qualms aside, however, the performances are beautiful, with the quartet shifting effortlessly from smooth, almost glassy textures to violent paroxysms. The Bach fugue that opens the program (Mozart’s arrangement is used, which works well with the overall concept) sets a meditative space, and the Shostakovich, edgy and violent, and the Beethoven, mysteriously lyrical, form a compelling pair. Sample the Beethoven slow movement to hear the silent, spacious acoustic treatment given the Reitstadel Neumarkt by the ECM engineering staff, who have outdone themselves here. One awaits with pleasure future releases in the series.