Shostakovich: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 1 (nos. 1-5)
Cuarteto Casals
The Casals Quartet should certainly be commended for their attempt to rethink the Shostakovich quartets. But their beauty of sound and attention to small-scale detail seems to prevent them from...
Shostakovich: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 1 (nos. 1-5)
Cuarteto Casals
Purchase product
The Casals Quartet should certainly be commended for their attempt to rethink the Shostakovich quartets. But their beauty of sound and attention to small-scale detail seems to prevent them from...
About
After being subjected to public attacks by theSoviet regime in the mid-1930s, Shostakovich sought new avenues of self-expression by turning to chamber music, and the string quartet became for him the perfect medium for private confession.To launch their complete Shostakovich cycle, members of the Cuarteto Casals offer deeply insightful readings of the first five quartets - works that are pivotal in the composer’s oeuvre.
Contents and tracklist
Awards and reviews
January 2025
The Casals Quartet should certainly be commended for their attempt to rethink the Shostakovich quartets. But their beauty of sound and attention to small-scale detail seems to prevent them from rising to some of the challenges the music poses.
31st October 2024
All of the Cuarteto Casals’ performances are wonderfully refined, but it’s clear that they respond more vividly to the greater expressive demands of the Third and Fifth, where their playing has much more bite and intensity than it does in the other works. Though bigger challenges will come later in the cycle, this opening instalment is a very promising one.
