Shostakovich / Fitzwilliam String Quartet: Last Three String Quartets - COMPACT DISCS

Shostakovich / Fitzwilliam String Quartet: Last Three String Quartets - COMPACT DISCSTitle: Last Three String Quartets Artist: Shostakovich Fitzwilliam String Quartet Label: Linn Records Product Type: COMPACT DISCS UPC: 691062061223 Genre: Classical Release Date: 2019 10 25 Number of Discs: 2 Additional Details: 2 PACK The Fitzwilliam String Quartet celebrates a remarkable milestone with this special fiftieth anniversary recording of Shostakovich's last three string quartets. Fittingly, this landmark recording will look back to the

Title: Last Three String Quartets
Artist: Shostakovich / Fitzwilliam String Quartet
Label: Linn Records
Product Type: COMPACT DISCS
UPC: 691062061223
Genre: Classical
Release Date: 2019-10-25
Number of Discs: 2
Additional Details: 2 PACK

The Fitzwilliam String Quartet celebrates a remarkable milestone with this special fiftieth anniversary recording of Shostakovich's last three string quartets. Fittingly, this landmark recording will look back to the music which first propelled the Fitzwilliam to international prominence. Shostakovich entrusted the Fitzwilliam with the western premieres of his last three quartets (Nos. 13, 14, 15), and before long they had become the first ever group to perform and record all fifteen, winning many international awards along the way. The highly innovative String Quartet No.13 is notable for it's unique single-movement form and the virtuosic viola writing, which shines a spotlight on founding member Alan George. No.14, despite it's twelve-tone structure, is perhaps the most accessible of Shostakovich's late quartets with a wealth of identifiable melodies. The six movements of No.15 are profoundly melancholic and intimate, with the composer's obsession with death a clear influence. The Fitzwilliam's pre-eminence in the interpretation of these works has persisted: Benjamin Britten reported after Shostakovich's death in 1975 that the composer had told him the Fitzwilliam were his 'preferred performers of my quartets'.

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