Shostakovich String Quartets

[Beef Oven!]

Update:

I've been listening to a number of DSCH string quartets over the last 2/3 hours and with many thanks for the steer from all good forumites, I have a tentative list: 3, 7, 8, 9, &15. I'm being ruthless and cutting it down to five. Listening to these works off and on over the last few days has been a wonderful listen and I've been surprised as to how little I know about them, compared to how familiar I thought they were!

I am now going to turn my attention to the Bartok quartets and choose 3 to load on my music player for my holiday listening. :big grin:

[EdgeleyRob]

I may do that! Plus the Bartok and Schoenberg quartets!

Where are you going in September?

Lanzarote.

Don't forget to take some quartets by Vagn Holmboe and Sir John Blackwood McEwen too

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Don't forget to take some quartets by Vagn Holmboe and Sir John Blackwood McEwen too

Well ... now you mention it, there are five or six S4tets by another composer which would brighten up the rainiest fortnight in Skegness (or even Skegness up a damp fortnight in Brighton):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00I3LDETW?

[Beef Oven!]

Lanzarote.

Don't forget to take some quartets by Vagn Holmboe and Sir John Blackwood McEwen too

Very nice (Lanzarote). I think I may take some more string quartets, possibly one from Holmboe and one from Langgaard and one from.........

[Roehre]

Well ... now you mention it, there are five or six S4tets by another composer which would brighten up the rainiest fortnight in Skegness (or even Skegness up a damp fortnight in Brighton):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00I3LDETW?

[ahinton]

Plus the Bartok and Schoenberg quartets!

Notwithstanding a plethora of more than merely worthy SQ composers' works including several already mentioned here, I suspect that the former's fifth and the latter's first (numbered one) alone should keep you well and truly occupied for what might come to feel like a disproportionate amount of your vacation time!

[Beef Oven!]

Notwithstanding a plethora of more than merely worthy SQ composers' works including several already mentioned here, I suspect that the former's fifth and the latter's first (numbered one) alone should keep you well and truly occupied for what might come to feel like a disproportionate amount of your vacation time!

Yes, Bartok's 5th is a must and although I am keen on Schoenberg's 1st quartet., I'm not sure which one I'll transfer to my portable music player.

[bluestateprommer]

A great day at the Sam Wanamaker Theatre yesterday for the Carducci quartetathon.
A feat for the players and a feast for the audience, most of which stayed for the whole day.
There was a long and very well deserved standing ovation at the end.

Interesting to read the 'Grauniad' review of this concert:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/aug/10/carducci-quartet-shostakovich-15-review

The opening of the review almost sounds "American" in tone :

"Most ensembles gung-ho enough to attempt a complete cycle of the 15 Shostakovich quartets - including, on other occasions, the Carducci Quartet – might spread them across a weekend, and still call it intensive. But that’s for wimps."

[richardfinegold]

Why don't you get an SD Card, increase the capacity of your portable player, and take everything?

[Beef Oven!]

Why don't you get an SD Card, increase the capacity of your portable player, and take everything?

I have plenty of larger SD cards, but I'm trying to get my music down to sensible levels - a bit of discipline! And a bit if a hair shirt!

[richardfinegold]

I have plenty of larger SD cards, but I'm trying to get my music down to sensible levels - a bit of discipline! And a bit if a hair shirt!

I find that when I am traveling and relying upon what I have put on my player, I immediately want to listen to what I didn't put on it. Now I use Spotify, but of course if you are somewhere without a reliable ISP, like climbing Mt. Everest...

[ahinton]

I find that when I am traveling and relying upon what I have put on my player, I immediately want to listen to what I didn't put on it. Now I use Spotify, but of course if you are somewhere without a reliable ISP, like climbing Mt. Everest...

Some people might perceive going through all of Shostakovich's quartets in one go (as did the Carduccis and their audience on the recent 40th anniversary of the composer's death) as being a bit "like climbing Mt Everest". For the record, I am not one of them.

[Beef Oven!]

I find that when I am traveling and relying upon what I have put on my player, I immediately want to listen to what I didn't put on it. Now I use Spotify, but of course if you are somewhere without a reliable ISP, like climbing Mt. Everest...

Yes, that is exactly what will happen to me! (I will still have access to Apple Music. :big grin:)

But when I'm spoilt for choice, I tend to flit around too much. In the past, when I had a much smaller collection and there was less options for listening, I tended to listen to works more often and deeply. I want to experience that again. On holiday!

[Beef Oven!]

Some people might perceive going through all of Shostakovich's quartets in one go as being a bit "like climbing Mt Everest".... For the record, I am not one of them.

I was wondering about that, thanks for clearing it up, hinty.

[kea]

No. 9 is probably my favourite. I know of no other Shostakovich work that is so cataclysmic, except No. 13, which is also my favourite.

(Recommend Taneyev or Sorrel Quartets in No. 9 and St. Petersburg or Kremer-Zehetmair-Imai-Pergamenschikow Quartets in No. 13)

Tbh though I find that extended/repeated listening to Shostakovich's quartets has a numbing effect and can make the music seem like less than the sum of its parts, which may seem paradoxical. Depends entirely on how much listening you plan to do. Were I in your position I'd probably choose the ones I know least well.