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| Shostakovich: The String Quartets | 
 enlarge | Creators: Dmitry Shostakovich, Fitzwilliam String Quartet
Label: Decca
Category: Music
List Price: $47.98
Buy New: $8.09
You Save: $39.89 (83%)
Buy New/Used from $8.09
Avg. Customer Rating:  (14 reviews)
Sales Rank: 43936
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 6
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 5.3 x 5.1 x 0.7
MPN: 455776
UPC: 028945577623
EAN: 0028945577623
ASIN: B0000042HV
Release Date: February 10, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
Disc 1
| • | String Quartet No. 3 In F Major, Op. 73: I. Allegretto - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 3 In F Major, Op. 73: II. Moderato con moto - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 3 In F Major, Op. 73: III. Allegro non troppo - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 3 In F Major, Op. 73: IV. Adagio - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 3 In F Major, Op. 73: V. Moderato - Adagio - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 4 In D Major, Op. 83: I. Allegretto - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 4 In D Major, Op. 83: II. Andantino - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 4 In D Major, Op. 83: III. Allegretto - D. Shostakovich |
Disc 2
| • | String Quartet No .5 In B flat Major, Op. 92: I. Allegro non troppo - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 5 In B Flat Major, Op. 92: II. Andante - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 5 In B Flat Major, Op. 92: III. Moderato - Allegretto - Andante - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 6 In G Major, Op. 101: I. Allegretto - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 6 In G Major, Op. 101: II. Moderato con moto - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 6 In G Major, Op. 101: III. Lento - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No.6 in G Major, Op. 101: IV. Allegretto - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 7 In F Sharp Minor, Op. 108: I. Allegretto - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 7 zIn F Sharp Minor, Op. 108: II. Lento - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 7 In F Sharp Minor, Op. 108: III. Allegro - Allegretto - D. Shostakovich |
Disc 3
| • | String Quartet No. 8 In C Minor, Op. 110: I. Largo - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 8 In C Minor, Op. 110: II. Allegro molto - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 8 In C Minor, Op. 110: III. Allegretto - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 8 In C Minor, Op. 110: IV. Largo - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 8 In C Minor, Op. 110: V. Largo - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 9 In E Flat Major, Op. 117: I. Moderato con moto - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 9 In E Flat Major, Op. 117: II. Adagio - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 9 In E Flat Major, Op. 117: III. Allegretto - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 9 In E Flat Major, Op. 117: IV. Adagio - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 9 In E Flat Major, Op. 117: V. Allegro - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 10 In A Flat Major, Op. 118: I. Andante - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 10 In A Flat Major, Op. 118: II. Allegretto furioso - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 10 In A Flat Major, Op. 118: III. Adagio - - D. Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 10 In A Flat Major, Op. 118: IV. Allegretto - Andante - D. Shostakovich |
Disc 4
| • | String Quartet No. 11 In F Minor, Op. 122: I. Introduction: Andantino - Dmitri Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 11 In F Minor, Op. 122: II. Scherzo: Allegretto - Dmitri Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 11 In F Minor, Op. 122: III. Recitative: Adagio - Dmitri Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 11 In F Minor, Op. 122: IV. Etude: Allegro - Dmitri Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 11 In F Minor, Op. 122: V. Humoresque: Allegro - Dmitri Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 11 In F Minor, Op. 122: VI. Elegy: Adagio - Dmitri Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 11 In F Minor, Op. 122: I. Finale: Moderato - Dmitri Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 12 In D Flat Major, Op. 133: II. Moderato - Allegreto - Dmitri Shostakovich | | • | Allegretto - Adagio - Moderato - Allegreto - Dmitri Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 13 In B Flat Minor, Op. 138: Adagio - Doppio movimento - Tempo primo - Dmitri Shostakovich |
Disc 5
| • | String Quartet No. 14 In F Major, Op. 142: I. Allegretto - Dmitri Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 14 In F Major, Op. 142: II. Adagio - Dmitri Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 14 In F Major, Op. 142: III. Allegretto - Adagio - Dmitri Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 15 E-Flat Minor, Op. 144: I. Elegy. Adagio - Dmitri Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 15 E-Flat Minor, Op. 144: II. Serenade. Adagio - Dmitri Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 15 E-Flat Minor, Op. 144: III. Intermezzo. Adagio - Dmitri Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 15 E-Flat Minor, Op. 144: IV. Nocturne. Adagio - Dmitri Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 15 E-Flat Minor, Op. 144: V. Funeral March. Adagio molto - Dmitri Shostakovich | | • | String Quartet No. 15 E-Flat Minor, Op. 144: VI. Epilogue. Adagio - Dmitri Shostakovich |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
The Fitzwilliam Quartet is English by birth but shows a lot of Russian soul in these works, which were recorded in consultation with the composer. Their technique is flawless, their immersion in the music total, their interaction with one another and with the music spontaneous and intense. Priced competitively with the Borodin Quartet, they do not have any added attraction to match the Piano Quintet in that set, but this close-up stereo recording is significantly better. Highlights of the set include the relaxed, folk-flavored No. 1; the tense, autobiographical No. 8, which recalls the terrors of World War II, quotes a lot of Shostakovich's earlier works, and mourns for the "victims of fascism and war"; the contrasts of quiet beauty and fierce intensity in No. 10; and the bold structure of No. 15, Shostakovich's last quartet, in which he looks at death, steadily and without blinking. --Joe McLellan
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 So-so September 27, 2007
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
The first ones are warm and human (as much so as anything written since the 19th century ever gets except Rachmaninov or Sibelius). But as they progress, they become more dissonant and strident and unpleasant. Well-performed. I suppose all editions of them are. I doubt I'll listen to them much. But I'll haul them out occasionally and listen until I can't take it any more. The price was right. A bargain.
 Hum a little Shostakovich February 19, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I enjoyed these performances and would have purchased this album, but there is a persistent hum on some of these CDs and, once noticed, it became impossible for me not to notice it.
 Not just a bargain--a must-have February 5, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
There are perhaps several complete Shostakovich cycles one would like to own for these amazing pieces, and this is one of them. Not every single quartet is perfect, but that is to be expected. What these players excel in is an emotional depth that is perhaps left behind in the sheer brilliance of the Emerson SQ's playing.
Their tempi are excellent: fast when necessary, and painfully slow where Shostakovich asks for it. Perhaps my favorite point of their playing is the articulation, which is broader than most recordings I hear. Typically, they only play short when asked to in the score, and I think this sounds better than, for instance, if the opening of the Fifth Quartet, a work of enormous gravity and passion, is taken lightly.
Get this one. Highly recommended.
lusterless November 4, 2006
2 out of 8 found this review helpful
The only qualm I have with this set is that the String Quartet No. 9 is a lusterless endeavor when compared to other renditions. The intensity and suffering just isnt there.
Rating this bargain set against the Emersons at full price March 9, 2006
35 out of 42 found this review helpful
For many buyers the choice for a complete cycle of the Shostakovich quartets will come down to three: the Borodin, Emerson, and Fitzwilliam quartets. I own the latter two and can offer a comparison.
Fitzwilliam: This set, made between 1975-77 in a church in Surrey, has the advantage of price. Although the 15 quartets are spread out over 6 CDs as compared to 5 for the Emersons, Decca offers this cycle at roughly half the cost of the DG cycle (it's much cheaper than that, even, on the used market). The performances eschew Russian soul, grit, and emotional extremes such as one hears from the Borodin Quartet. The Fitzwilliam Quartet sounds soulful but stops short of impassioned. As much as it is possible, they make this music friendly and easy to listen to without sacrificing all of its bite and sarcasm. They are not a virtuoso group (English critics actually praise them for this lack, as if the Emersons' technical mastery was a sign of glibness), so individual solo lines, of which there are many in these quartets, sound medium well played, not dazzling. Decca's sound as transferred to CD can be a bit shrill and congested but is certainly good enough. One large missing ingredient is tonal variation--the Fitzwilliam doesn't search out the peculiar tonalities that are implied in Shostakovich's string writing, which can be eerie, ghostly, brutal, and caustic by turns.
Emerson: Recorded in Aspen at intervals between 1994 and 1999, these are live performances from the music festival and are thus not ideal sonically. What's most lacking is solidity and body. Even so, the recorded sound is considerably more detailed than in the Fitzwilliam set, or any other of the four I listened to. When this cycle was first issued in 1999 it swept the field for good reason. The Emersons are head and shoulders above any other quartet for sheer virtuosity in this music. Not that virtuosity is required very often, but the many solo lines are rendered with exquisite technique, and the Emersons pay very close attention to changes in tonality. As a result, these performances are more varied and interesting to listen to than any competitor that I sampled (including the Fitzwilliam, Brodsky, Borodin, St. Petersburg, and Shostakovich quartets on various labels).
The drawbacks are price (it's hard to find even a used set for under $70) and the prevalent accusation, from some quarters, that the Emersons lack Russian soul--they are supposedly too cool, detached, and efficient. Yet this charge can be turned around to say that the Emersons make Shostakovich sound more modern by removing a layer of sentiment. It's really up to the listener to decide, yet I found that cool detachment is not prevalent here--not by any means--and the reviewer below who thinks that the tempos are uniformly too fast is not aware of the field; the Emersons are not extreme in their allegros, at least not very often, and when they play a movement for virtuosic speed, it's almost alwaays to good effect.
I bbught this set because I heard the Emersons play Shostakovich in concert on two occasions, and I was deeply struck by how much better these quartets sound when they are given superlative musicianship. I am not one to believe that Shostakovich was a great master of quartet writing compared to Bartok, Schoenberg, and Janacek among moderns. But he found an idiom, often spare and therefore one-dimenisonal, that is easy to absorb. The Emersons go a step further and give that spare idiom all kinds of shading and colors that often make it sound better than it is.
In sum, I did what many collectors befoe me have done. I gave away the Fitzwilliam set, which was a good stop gap for many years, and relish the Emerson set as a great achievement, especially for a non-Russian ensemble.
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