Hyperion Records | Shostakovich: String Quartets Nos. 11, 13 & 15

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CDA67157
Summer Sale 2008

Buy? £6.99

Recording details: January 2001
St Petersburg Recording Studio, Russia
Produced by Alexander Gerutsky
Engineered by Gerhard Tses
Release date: August 2002
Total duration: 70 minutes 52 seconds
Available for download on iTunes: Yes

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'These are estimable performances, full of meaningful details and engaging atmosphere ... a safe and rewarding continuation of the cycle' (Fanfare, USA)

'This is a superb disc' (American Record Guide)

'Stunningly characterised' (The Strad)

'The St Petersburg Quartet employs the widest possible range of colour and articulation in its performances' (BBC Music Magazine)

'These are thoughtful and articulate performances ... they will substantially increase your appreciation of Shostakovich's craftsmanship' (International Record Review)

'The recording is produced to the usual, exceptional Hyperion standards but the playing is something else again. This group obviously has this music in its collective soul and it shows ... A superb achievement that makes me want to hear the rest of the cycle as a priority' (www.musicweb)

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)

String Quartets Nos. 11, 13 & 15

St Petersburg Quartet

		String Quartet No 11 in F minor, Op 122
1		Movement 1: Introduction. Andantino [2:13]
2		Movement 2: Scherzo. Allegretto [2:55]
3		Movement 3: Recitative. Adagio [1:05]
4		Movement 4: Etude. Allegro [1:19]
5		Movement 5: Humoresque. Adagio [1:10]
6		Movement 6: Elegy. Adagio [4:27]
7		Movement 7: Finale. Moderato [3:56]
8		String Quartet No 13 in B flat minor, Op 138 [18:47]
		String Quartet No 15 in E flat minor, Op 144
9		Movement 1: Elegy. Adagio [10:54]
10		Movement 2: Serenade. Adagio [5:38]
11		Movement 3: Intermezzo. Adagio [2:02]
12		Movement 4: Nocturne. Adagio [4:39]
13		Movement 5: Funeral March. Molto adagio [4:56]
14		Movement 6: Epilogue. Adagio [6:51]

The Eleventh Quartet breaks from the more traditional four-movement structure, and comprises seven separate short movements more comparable with a partita or divertimento. The movements are thematically unified by a sequence of phrases introduced at the beginning of the first movement. The Thirteenth Quartet, on the other hand, forms the only single-movement quartet in Shostakovich's output, and adopts the serial thematicism he introduced to the genre in his previous Twelfth Quartet. It opens with a twelve-note row on unaccompanied viola which is developed melodically and rhythmically throughout the work.

The Fifteenth Quartet was written in 1974, the year before Shostakovich's death. In 1965 he had been diagnosed with a heart condition, and by the time he wrote this, his last quartet, he was very frail. The music seemingly reflects his state of health and mind in that it is a consistently starker, more directly tragic utterance, producing perhaps the most intimate and moving of all his compositions.