BaL 21.01.23 - Shostakovich: String Quartet no.8

[Bryn]

Re the Chandos remastered set of 1-13, from the Discogs site:

This incomplete cycle of quartets is recorded by the original Borodin Quartet (1953-74).
First issued in Russia on Melodiya LPs, quartets 1-11 (1967-1971) and later: (Dmitri Shostakovich, Borodin String Quartet - The Complete String Quartets (Vol. 2 Nos. 6-11) & Dmitri Shostakovich, Borodin String Quartet - The Complete String Quartets, Vol. 1 (Nos. 1-5).

Not to be confused with Melodyia-EMI edition recorded in the 80´s Dmitri Shostakovich, Borodin String Quartet - Complete Quartets and including String Quartets No. 14 & 15 not included here. Violinists Rostislav Dubinsky and Yaroslav Alexandrov left the group before they could record Shostakovich's then-recent, final two quartets and were replaced by Mikhail Kopelman and Andrei Abramenkov.

[Mal]

I have the recording by the Shostakovich Quartet...!

They have recorded the complete cycle, it was available in a bargain box set twenty years ago, not sure of the situation now. I sold it after I heard Borodin I! To my ears, the latter provide much more fire and brimstone. (I regret selling it though, it's quite a nice, restrained, alternative...)

[LeMartinPecheur]

I've been very, very impressed by live performances of Shostakovich by the Carducci Quartet (7th, 8th and 9th), and picked up their CD of the 8th

Any other takers?

More Carducci Shoster locally soon https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats...s-iii/e-avomaa I do hope it includes at least one complete quartet!

[richardfinegold]

"Third Ear" says there are 6 recordings of 8, including those in the 2 complete cycles

Individual recordings:

1962(i) "smoothly recorded" after Aldeburgh festival performance... faster but less intense than cycles, "knocks on the door aren't as brutal as they would become". (Decca 425 541)

1962(ii): Moscow LP, paired with 4, "even faster, wildish more devilish" than (i). (Mercury 90309)

1990: some intensity traded for more inward expression & polish (Virgin "two-fer" with 2,3,7,8,12)

1995:added maturity & warmth & lyricism "but not without moments of the old passion" (Teldec 98417)

Personally, I have the "original members" "Borodin 1" recording in the Chandos historical set (CHAN 100064(4)). The booklet doesn't say exacatly when or where it was recorded, or from what sources the 2003 re-mastering was performed. "Third ear" summary makes me think the Chandos set is probably based on the first cycle recorded on Melodiya/Seraphim 6034/35 6 LP in USA, and in 1974 British EMI released it on Melodiya/HMV 879, 6LP. The set, to me, certainly fits the description: "fresh, high-strung, abrasive,... brutally honest... rustic, tripping motion... the burning edges of the violins often lacerates the ear-putting these works out there as challenging Russian contemporary music."

Can anyone confirm that this is the orgin of the Chandos historical set?

"Third ear" suggests in the second set "the old abrasiveness is largely gone" but it is "more technically assured, warmer, and more refined in tone...without losing one iota of their former intensity and drive... slower tempo... dynamic range increased dramatically...they play far more expressively; the brooding passages are bleaker than before... decent sound."

"Third ear" eventually plumps for the second set. But, personally, I want those thumps at the door to be as abrasive as possible! So I'll probably stick with my current set... might supplement if the BBC reviewer is convincing enough!

I believe the quote that Bryn referenced from Discogs is the correct one, as I had posted upthread. The 1990 cycle was better recorded and is pretty intense, but the earlier cycle seems more idiomatic to me.
The Fitzwilliams still strike me as the best non Russian Quartet.

[Mal]

I believe the quote that Bryn referenced from Discogs is the correct one, as I had posted upthread.

I don't think Bryn's quote contradicts mine!

I think I quoted correctly from "Third Ear", and I've seen nothing that makes me think they are wrong. For instance, I think the 1990 "cycle" is not a full cycle it is just 2,3,7,8,12 on the Virgin "two-fer".

"Third ear" does state clearly that there are "six Borodin recordings of 8 alone" available - and Alpie's list quotes them six times!

Bryn does state that the Borodin second cycle is "Melodyia-EMI edition recorded in the 80´s" so it is in no way the "1990 cycle" - no such thing exists. (Third ear suggests that Bryn has it slightly wrong/inexact - it says the second cycle was recorded 1979-84.)

[Bryn]

I don't think Bryn's quote contradicts mine!

I think I quoted correctly from "Third Ear", and I've seen nothing that makes me think they are wrong. For instance, I think the 1990 "cycle" is not a full cycle it is just 2,3,7,8,12 on the Virgin "two-fer".

"Third ear" does state clearly that there are "six Borodin recordings of 8 alone" available - and Alpie's list quotes them six times!

Bryn does state that the Borodin second cycle is "Melodyia-EMI edition recorded in the 80´s" so it is in no way the "1990 cycle" - no such thing exists. (Third ear suggests that Bryn has it slightly wrong/inexact - it says the second cycle was recorded 1979-84.)

Neither I, nor Discogs, made reference to a 1990s set. The quote from Discogs that I posted is a little misleading when they refer to the "1980s" second set. Some of its recordings date from the late 1970s, rather than the 1980s. I got the set, minus the Piano Quinted which was in the EMI versions, some 15 years ago when it cost £21.99:

[richardfinegold]

I wasn’t stating that Bryn was right and you were wrong, Mal. I was just stating that Bryn had summarized it well, not that you didn’t

[Mal]

Neither I, nor Discogs, made reference to a 1990s set...

Richard made reference to a "1990 cycle", which threw me. This must be the Virgin "two fer", which (being Mr Pedantic for a moment...), I don't think can strictly be called a cycle... Can even the full sets be called cycles? They are not designed to be performed in a sequence...

"A song cycle (German: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle, of individually complete songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit." - Wikipedia

[Bryn]

Richard made reference to a "1990 cycle", which threw me. This must be the Virgin "two fer", which (being Mr Pedantic for a moment...), I don't think can strictly be called a cycle... Can even the full sets be called cycles? They are not designed to be performed in a sequence...

"A song cycle (German: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle, of individually complete songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit." - Wikipedia

I prefer "survey" to "cycle" in such casess.

[jayne lee wilson]

Any other Taneyev fans out there?
After Fitzwilliam, Danel, sundry Borodins etc., this luxurious DSD remaster changed my DSCH life a few years back.....

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/june05/Shostakovich_Quartets_AMC20551.htm

Gorgeous heavyweight blue box.... to have and to hold.....as lovely to look at as to listen to....

[Pulcinella]

I've been very, very impressed by live performances of Shostakovich by the Carducci Quartet (7th, 8th and 9th), and picked up their CD of the 8th

Any other takers?

More Carducci Shoster locally soon https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats...s-iii/e-avomaa I do hope it includes at least one complete quartet!

I don't have that Carducci Quartet CD, but I was lucky enough (though my back suffered a bit afterwards) to attend their candle-lit performance of all 15 quartets in a day at the Sam Wanamaker theatre a few years ago, and remember being very impressed. I'd previously heard all 15 over a 'study weekend' in Bromsgrove MANY years ago (I'm not at home at present so can't check, but I'm pretty sure it was Stephen Johnson who talked about them), when they were played by the Brodsky Quartet.
Apart from the EMI Borodin version memtioned above, I have the Fitzwilliam set.

[jayne lee wilson]

Incidentally, MusicWeb International has just launched its redesign.....

https://www.musicwebinternational.com

[ardcarp]

From post No 1

Emily has been listening to recordings from throughout the quartet’s life

Emily being Emily MacGregor.

[jayne lee wilson]

Peter Quantrill has an excellent piece in the 2/2023 HiFi News on the marvellous 3rd DSCH String Quartet, which he relates to the 8th and 9th structurally and so on, favouring the Brodskys, Fitzwilliam, and more recent tapings by the Albions and Quartetto Noûs. Fascinating article for anyone into this repertoire.

[LeMartinPecheur]

I don't have that Carducci Quartet CD, but I was lucky enough (though my back suffered a bit afterwards) to attend their candle-lit performance of all 15 quartets in a day at the Sam Wanamaker theatre a few years ago, and remember being very impressed. I'd previously heard all 15 over a 'study weekend' in Bromsgrove MANY years ago (I'm not at home at present so can't check, but I'm pretty sure it was Stephen Johnson who talked about them), when they were played by the Brodsky Quartet.
Apart from the EMI Borodin version memtioned above, I have the Fitzwilliam set.

Pulcinella: I have the booklet for a Bromsgrove Brodsky cycle which may well be your one, 2 to 4 Oct 1992. A late friend of mine went to it and copied to me the book of notes by Alan George, then the Brodsky's violist. I went to a similar Bromsgrove presentation 26-28 Oct 2018 when the resident quartet was the Dantes, leader Krysia Ostostowicz. But the same programme notes by Alan George were reproduced pretty much unchanged!

One severe disappointment was that the main lecturer on the quartets over my weekend had been advertised as Stephen Johnson, but alas he had to cancel on medical advice.

A small irony is that Krysia Ostostowicz is now the leader of the Brodskys, her Dante Quartet having disbanded shortly beforehand. No direct connection AFAIK.