Shostakovich's fifteen string quartets probably represent the most important corpus of string quartets of the 20th-century. His most innovative work, and perhaps his most important quartet, is the String Quartet No. 12 (1968) where the composer makes systematic but not dogmatic use of dodecaphonic methods for the first time. String Quartet No. 14 (1973), on the other hand, was written during his final period when Shostakovich increasingly composed slow movements and intoned laments. String Quartet No. 10 (1964) where the goose-step of the rulers can be heard, as well as the will of the individual to survive, sets the tone. Here the Mandelring Quartet present the fourth volume in an already acclaimed cycle.

This year the Mandelring Quartet will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its concert debut and since 2001 has issued its recordings on the Audite label.These CD and SACD recordings illustrate its outstanding quality and wide-ranging repertoire, including a Schubert string quartet cycle, piano quintets by Brahms and Franck and chamber works by the French early romantic composer Georges Onslow.The series 'Brahms and his Contemporaries' is devoted to the quartets of Brahms and less well-known composers such as Friedrich Gernsheim and Heinrich von Herzogenberg.