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Review by JJ June 27, 2010 (4 of 5 found this review helpful)
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In the String Quartet N°7 in F flat minor Op.108 in three movements, played without stop in a musical flow of about twelve minutes, one can only appreciate its simplicity touched with beauty, whose sonorous colors are the perfect traits of a composition that is both lyrical and deep. The String Quartet N°8 Op.110, which is probably the Russian composer’s best known, is a work in five continuous movements, it too, that Chostakovitch spoke of as such: “I composed the Quartet for nothing and for no one, and it misses its target insofar as ideas. I said to myself that after my death surely no one would compose a work in my memory, so I resolved to compose one myself. One could thus write on the cover: “In memory of the composer of this quartet.” Its first theme is made up of the notes DSCH, that is my initials. In this quartet, I quote themes from other personal works, as well as the revolutionary song “Tortured to death in a cruel captivity.” The pseudo-tragic character of this quartet comes from the fact that in composing it I shed as many tears as I did urine after a half a dozen beers.” The Quintet for Piano and Strings en G minor Op.57 was commissioned by the Beethoven Quartet, a musical group that was very close to the composer and which first performed many of his works. From beginning to end, this magisterial recording is a miracle, most notably in the Quintet where the interpreters offer us the most enchanting of musical discourses since the legendary Richter. Without any doubt, this is certainly one of best Chostakovitch discs of the past ten years, in an ideal sound recording in DSD stereo or multicanal.
Jean-Jacques Millo
Translation Lawrence Schulman
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