COMPOSERS: Shostakovich
LABELS: DG
ALBUM TITLE: Shostakovich
WORKS: String Quartet No. 3; String Quartet No. 7; String Quartet No. 8
PERFORMER: Hagen Quartet
CATALOGUE NO: 477 6146
As with their earlier disc of
Shostakovich quartets, the Hagen
Quartet take nothing for granted
in this repertory. Every movement
seems to have been put under
the interpretative microscope,
bringing very different emotional
and textural perspectives to these
works than some of the approaches
that are familiar, particularly from
Russian chamber groups.
The results are bound to divide
opinion. For example, in opting
to play the opening passage of the
Eighth Quartet with the minimum
of vibrato the Hagens may sound
far more disengaged from music
that conveys a mood of utter despair
than the Borodin or St Petersburg
Quartets. Yet the long-term impact
of holding back both here and in the
equivalent movement of the Seventh
(where the final reluctant resolution
to a major chord is almost inaudible)
actually serves to make the outbursts
of anger in the second movement
of the Eighth and the fugato of the
Seventh sound all the more powerful.
There are many other striking
details: the unexpectedly slow
glissandos in the second movement
of No. 3 and the heavy thud of the
repeated three-note patterns in the
fourth movement of No. 8 spring to
mind. As always, balance, intonation
and ensemble are impeccable, and
the Hagens demonstrate a masterly
control of large-scale structure,
nowhere more impressively than
in the rise and fall of tension in the
massive Finale of the Third. Although the highly charged St Petersburg
Quartet on Hyperion still remains my
first choice for modern recordings of
these works, this warmly engineered
release offers a highly stimulating and
provocative alternative. Erik Levi.
