Ensemble 360: Shostakovich. String Quartet No.10; String Quartet No.12
This was a short concert which was part of a whole set of concerts and symposia on Shostakovich’s chamber music over the weekend in Sheffield – sadly this was the only event I could actually make…..My knowledge of which Shostakovich Quartet is which is sometimes a bit vague – the only one I know as a number that I can immediately remember themes and movements from is no 8. Otherwise sometimes I recognise them and sometimes I don’t. As soon as no 10 began, I realised I had heard it several times before. It has a melancholy ruminating first movement, a ferocious scherzo, a most beautiful slow movement, and a final movement, which is based on an Armenian lively folk song that can appear both jolly and sinister, relaxed and militarised, and which draws to a ghostly end, repeating themes from the first and slow movements. It’s a product of the 1960s, not a happy time for Shostakovich, who was in declining health, not helped by excessive consumption of cigarettes and vodka. Ensemble 360 played it magnificently, really digging in to the strings in the scherzo and with a lovely warm tone in the slow movement.
No 12 I am not sure I have ever consciously sat down and listened to before, so I’m more impressionistic in my comments here. I liked the first movement, which seemed to move forward in long melancholy waves, surging and withdrawing. and apparently based on an atonal theme that sort of resolves itself at the end of its twelve notes.. the fast second movement was spikier and tougher, also more difficult to keep track of, than the 10th equivalent. There was an extraordinarily violent solo violin pizzicato passage towards the end. The final section like the 10th is bitter-sweet and insouciant,
I think these are the most impressive performances I’ve heard from the string quartet part of Ensemble 360 -I wish I could have heard more of the weekend……….
A photo below of Shostakovich partying in happier times….
John's musical journey 