Dmitri Shostakovich: The Soviet Experience Volume II: String Quartets
Aug 10th, 2012 by dcronin
“‘The Soviet Experience’ series continues with this set of early Shostakovich string quartets from the 15 years surrounding World War II, along with one unusual Prokofiev quartet of the same period. In addition to reflecting the situations in which he lived, Shostakovich’s quartets deal with a different kind of legacy as well: the Beethovenian tradition of the string quartet as it developed through the 19th century and became an outlet for inward emotion refined into well-crafted melody and counterpoint… The album is almost worth the purchase price for the remarkable graphics alone, a 1943 anti-Nazi propaganda poster showing a Soviet soldier with a broom whose stalks each represent cities liberated from the Nazis who are being swept away. Recommended.” –All Music Guide