Carducci Quartet
Shostakovich String Quartets 1, 2 & 7
- Type CD
- Label Signum Classics
- UPC 0635212055922
- Catalog number SIGCD 559
- Release date 22 March 2019
About the album
This disc contrasts Shostakovich’s first two string quartets with the seventh – composed in memory of his late wife Nina. In composing his quartets prior to No. 7, Shostakovich had scrupulously followed a predetermined sequence of keys: according to this, the work should have been in E flat major.
However Shostakovich, significantly, chose to break this pattern by writing his new quartet in F sharp minor, the key associated with such anguished music as Peter’s remorse in Bach’s St John Passion, and – particularly close to Shostakovich’s heart – Mahler’s unfinished Tenth Symphony.
This CD marks the second release of the Carducci’s Shostakovich 15 project, which includes performances of the complete cycles of the Shostakovich Quartets in cities including Washington DC, London, Oxford, Cardiff, Bogota and concerts throughout the UK to mark the 40th anniversary of the composer’s death.
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11String Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 68 I. Overture: Moderato con moto
07:56 -
12String Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 68 II. Recitative and Romance: Adagio
10:11 -
13String Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 68 III. Valse: Allegro
05:30 -
14String Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 68 IV. Theme with Variations: Adagio
10:08 -
15String Quartet No. 1 in C Major, Op. 49 I. Moderato
04:07 -
16String Quartet No. 1 in C Major, Op. 49 II. Moderato
04:09 -
17String Quartet No. 1 in C Major, Op. 49 III. Allegro molto
02:08 -
18String Quartet No. 1 in C Major, Op. 49 IV. Allegro
03:05 -
19String Quartet No. 7 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 108 I. Allegretto
03:35 -
110String Quartet No. 7 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 108 II. Lento
03:04 -
111String Quartet No. 7 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 108 III. Allegro - Allegretto
05:34