DSCH-Shostakovich Ensemble SHOSTAKOVICH Complete Chamber Music for Piano and Strings

While underlining Dmitri Shostakovich’s importance in the history of music, the musicologist Lev Mazel wrote: ‘if human culture does not die out, the life and personality of Dmitri Shostakovich will be studied in depth for centuries and centuries. Just as every detail concerning Beethoven attracts the attention not only of specialists, but a great number of layman, every detail of the life and work of Shostakovich will be of interest to posterity’. So, what do we know of the life of Shostakovich? That it was full, agitated, under constant public judgement and without any slowing of creative output until the end. A few friends and family members could experience an image of him as an engaged citizen assuming his civic responsibilities but also, most importantly, an image of a citizen engaged with and devoted to his art like few others. This image began to be modified after his death as soon as his memoires, journals and diaries started to be published, a process which increased and developed during the post-Soviet era. This contributed to a re-evaluation of Shostakovich during the period following the Cold War and, more generally, of the whole phenomenon of Soviet culture. The posthumous reception of Shostakovich and his music, beyond expanded recognition of his artistic value, became the object of unflagging fascination on the part of musicians, musicologists, journalists and the general public. Even today, we witness great debates on the extra-musical content of his work, particularly the autobiographical fingerprint that Shostakovich explicitly inscribed in certain pieces –for example, his eighth String Quartet, the tenth Symphony, the first Concertos for Violin and Cello and the Sonata for Violin and Piano–, by imposing an occult musical signature. The famous musical motif DSCH which corresponds to the first letters of his first and last names, which correspond to musical note names in German: Dmitri (S)CHostakovitch = DSCH = D, E flat, C, B. On 5 January 1944, Dmitri Shostakovich wrote in a letter to Antal Molnár: ‘Chamber music requires of the composer the most perfect technique and the greatest depth of thought. I would not be too far from the truth if I affirmed that, sometimes, behind the “sparkle” of the orchestral sound is hidden a lack of imagination. Composing chamber music pieces is, for me, significantly more difficult than composing orchestral works…a lack of depth in the thought process in chamber music is simply intolerable’. [….] (Filipe Pinto-Ribeiro)

The Heath Quartet BÉLA BARTÓK Complete String Quartets

Bartók’s six string quartets are arguably the most important contribution to the medium after Beethoven, and they plot his evolution as a composer more completely than any other group of his works. Of course, there’s already a generous choice of outstanding cycles available on disc, ranging from recordings from the LP era, such as those by the Fine Arts and Végh quartets, to digital versions by the Takács (itself almost 20 years old) and the Alban Berg. Given such a pedigree, it’s hardly damning the Heath Quartet’s new cycle with faint praise to say that their performances deserve to be considered alongside the best of these existing sets, and although they may not displace any of the current recommendations, they are fine accounts. 

To fit all six quartets on to two CDs, the odd-numbered works occupy one disc, and the even-numbered the other. There are things to admire in all six of the Heath performances, but hearing them in that order emphasises their strengths and occasional weaknesses. The careful balancing of textures and clarity of the part writing are regularly impressive. The unfolding of the counterpoint in the first two quartets, and whirlwind delicacy and transparency of the final section of the Third, are spellbinding. And their treatment of the deeply tragic finale of the Sixth, which never becomes lachrymose, could hardly be bettered. 

But what sometimes seems to be missing is a collective willingness to really take the music by the scruff of its neck and impose an interpretation on it. In the Fourth and Fifth quartets especially the playing becomes too passive and tactful, though the finale of the Fifth generates real momentum. The more expressionist moments of the Second and Third are perhaps a bit underplayed, too. But the totality of the set is undeniably convincing. (Andrew Clements / The Guardian)