MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: MDT AmazonUK AmazonUS
Sound Samples & Downloads

Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975)
String Quartet. No. 1 in C major, Op.49 (1938) [14.43]
String Quartet. No. 2 in A major, Op.68 (1944) [35.18]
String Quartet. No. 3 in F major, Op.73 (1946) [31.17]
String Quartet. No. 4 in D major, Op.83 (1949) [25.18]
Sergei PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)
String Quartet No. 2 in F major, Op.92 (1941) [22.10]
Pacifica Quartet (Simin Ganastra and Sibbi Bernhardsson (violins); Per Rostad (viola); Brandon Vamos (cello))
rec. Foelinger Great Hall, Krannert Center, University of Illinois, 18-20 November 2011 (Nos 1 & 2), 23-24 July 2010 (No. 3) and 29-31 August 2011 (No. 4, Prokofiev)
CEDILLE CDR 90000 130 [75.37 + 53.40]

Experience Classicsonline



 
The Pacifica Quartet has received rave reviews for its performances of the Shostakovich string quartets in the concert hall. This two-disc set comprises the second instalment of their recordings of these works. The first volume, issued last year, included the Quartets Nos. 5-8 (see review). Presumably the remainder are to follow in due course.
 
The players start the First Quartet at quite a brisk pace, considerably faster than either the Shostakovich Quartet or the Brodsky Quartet in their complete cycles. Their speed has more in common with that adopted by the Emerson Quartet in theirs. At their faster speed they make less of the dynamic extremes that their competitors find. This is a more light-hearted reading, reflecting the innocence of the young composer’s first essay in the medium. It is a valid and well-considered approach, but it lacks a degree of involvement. The influences of the classical style are given precedence over any more personal statements in the work. However their playing of the Second Quartet finds much more depth, and is superbly heartfelt especially in the beautiful Recitative and Romance slow movement. They launch themselves headlong into the following Valse. In the final movement they give plenty of weight to the statement of the opening theme of the variations. That said, the Emerson gives even more, anticipating the more anguished works that were to come and helped by the richer and more resonant DG recording.
 
The Third Quartet, which begins the second disc, is given a beautiful sense of mischief by the Pacifica players. This suits the music very well. The Emerson players are more straightforward here, and some of the humour is missing. The performance here makes the tragedy which ensues more unexpected, and gives it greater emotional impact. The attack on the stinging chords which open the third movement are forceful without moving outside the realms of chamber music. The Emersons sound almost orchestral in the weight they give to the music here. The Fourth Quartet - included with the First andSecond on the first disc - is given a marvellous performance. There’s a nice line in sly irony for the finale which the Emersons do not match.
 
As with the first volume in this cycle, the second comes coupled with a quartet by one of Shostakovich’s contemporaries. This serves to set the whole oeuvre in its historical context - hence presumably the CD subtitle The Soviet Experience. Unlike Shostakovich, whose fifteen quartets enshrine a wealth of personal experience, Prokofiev’s two essays in the genre are largely peripheral to his output. The Second Quartet, written at the same time as the composer was working on War and Peace, employs a number of traditional Kabardinian melodies - from the region to which Prokofiev was evacuated during the German invasion. In fact there are certainly deeper elements here. These are fully realised by the players with some extremely agitated passages delivered with all the required panache.

The booklet notes by Elizabeth Wilson are extremely comprehensive - twenty pages of text. They give great amounts of detail on the construction of each of the works here along with plentiful information on the genesis of the pieces themselves. Incidentally these notes correctly state that Shostakovich started writing the First Quartet in May 1938 ready for its first performance in October of that year. The copyright date on the Schirmer edition of the score is given in the booklet as 1935 - I can find no authority for this. Perhaps it is a simple misprint. 

The playing is excellent throughout, with no sense of strain and perfect tuning between the various members of the quartet. They can well withstand the close balance of the recorded sound to which they are subjected. Reviewers of the concert performances by the Pacifica players have hailed them as some of the best ever given. One can well understand their reasoning. Even the understated delivery of the earlier quartets is clearly designed to highlight the development of Shostakovich’s style throughout the cycle. It falls into a deliberate pattern. On a personal note I find the greater involvement of the Emerson Quartet - and their more reverberant recording - more satisfying. Others may react differently. Certainly there is much to admire in these excellent, civilised and deeply considered performances. The Shostakovich quartets can well tolerate a variety of different interpretations, as is the nature of all great music.  

Paul Corfield Godfrey 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Error processing SSI file