| Label: Zig-Zag Territoires
Catalog: ZZT080702
Format: CD Atrium Quartet
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) String Quartet No.10 Op.74 "Harps"
Dmitry Shostakovich (1906-1975) String Quartet No.5 Op.92 Gramophone Editor's Choice - November 2008
"For the Atrium Quartet, to couple Beethoven and Shostakovich seemed self-evident: in the realm of the string quartet, these composers dominated their respective eras, and both made an indelible mark on the history of the genre. They left a number of works with similar features; both men juxtapose strongly contrasted moods, shifting rapidly from violence to meditative inwardness, from insouciance to melancholy. Moreover, it is well known that thirteen of Shostakovich's fifteen quartets were premiered by the Beethoven Quartet, founded in Moscow in 1923. This formation had made a name for itself by performing the complete cycle of Beethoven quartets in 1927, for the commemoration of the centenary of the composer's death. Because of the demise of its cellist, Sergey Shirinsky, it was unable to give the premiere of Shostakovich's String Quarte3t No.15, which was entrusted to gthe Taneyev Quartet - whose cellist Joseph Levinson subsequently became the mentor of the Atrium Quartet.
So, a Beethoven-Shostakovich coupling? Self-evident, no doubt about it." - Hélène CAO
 Price: $27.98 |
)
