Amazon.co.uk Review
This well-chosen trio of quartets by Shostakovich continues the St Petersburg Quartet's cycle (already issued are
Nos.2 and 3 and
4, 6 and 8), which has firmly established the pedigree of this young group. The four have daringly entered a field dominated by the
Borodin Quartet, and it is a measure of their success that they are able to bring their own stamp to these works. The Seventh Quartet, Op.108 is the shortest of the entire cycle, but nevertheless acts as much more than an interlude between Nos.5 and 9. Although close in some ways to the
Fitzwilliam Quartet's interpretation, the Hyperion performance is easily the more convincing, highlighting the otherworldly effects and daring sound world. The immediate recording captures the nervous excitement of the first movement of the Fifth Quartet, and the ensemble display a depth of interpretation that highlights the desolate, spare textures of that quartet's Andante. They have the measure of the Ninth Quartet also. Perhaps most impressive here is their sensitivity to harmonic changes (best heard in the Adagio second movement), although this is not to imply that they are afraid to bring out the more progressive, almost orchestral, scoring of the finale. --
Colin Clarke
