Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich, Alfred Schnittke
Performer: Pacifica Quartet, Simin Ganatra, Sibbi Bernhardsson, Masumi Per Rostad, Brandon Vamos
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Cedille
Release: 2013
Size: 1.78 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
CD 01
Dmitri Shostakovich:
String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat minor, Op. 138
01. Adagio—Doppio movimento—Tempo primo
String Quartet No. 14 in F-sharp major, Op. 142
02. Allegretto
03. Adagio
04. Allegretto
CD 02
Dmitri Shostakovich:
String Quartet No. 15 in E-flat minor, Op. 144
01. Elegy: Adagio
02. Serenade: Adagio
03. Intermezzo: Adagio
04. Nocturne: Adagio
05. Funeral March: Adagio molto
06. Epilogue: Adagio
Alfred Schnittke:
String Quartet No. 3
07. Andante
08. Agitato
09. Pesante
This is the final installment in the Pacifica Quartet’s highly anticipated, and already highly acclaimed four-volume CD survey of the complete Shostakovich string quartets: The Soviet Experience: String Quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich and his Contemporaries.
The Soviet Experience Volume IV features Shostakovich’s String Quartets Nos. 13–15 from the 1970s. The Thirteenth Quartet’s one and only movement featuring extensive solo viola uses extended techniques uncommon for Russian composers at that time. The Fourteenth, composed in 1973 is a surprisingly upbeat work of 3 movements prominently featuring the cello. The Fifteenth is a meditation on mortality and one of Shostakovich’s longest quartets. These three quartets are paired with Schnittke’s allusive homage, String Quartet No. 3, written in 1983. It’s a work full of quotation including a 12-tone row transposed from a theme by Shostakovich, whose influence was felt throughout Schnittke’s career.