Shostakovich String Quartet No. 10

A Brilliant Classics debut for one of today’s most accomplished Italian string quartets, in 20th-century masterpieces which make a compelling introduction to the troubled private world of Shostakovich’s chamber music.

The Pacifica Quartet address the more intimate side of Dimitri Shostakovich, particularly his quartets composed in the fateful years in the Soviet Union, 1952-1960. In 1948, Shostakovich, along with Prokofiev and Miaskovsky, had been excoriated as “formalists” incapable of direct communication with “the people.” Shostakovich, however, employed the string quartet medium as means of personal expression relatively unhampered by “political correctness.”……

Gary Lemco @ Audiophile Audition

With this latest volume in their ongoing cycle, recorded in 2023, the Quartetto Noûs passes the halfway mark of Shostakovich’s 15 quartets. The previous instalments have been recognised and praised for their full-blooded intensity and uncompromising address to the detail of these absorbing scores.

With this latest volume in their ongoing cycle, recorded in 2023, the Quartetto Noûs passes the halfway mark of Shostakovich’s 15 quartets. The previous instalments have been recognised and praised for their full-blooded intensity and uncompromising address to the detail of these absorbing scores.

This is the second volume of what is presumably a series covering the complete Shostakovich string quartets along with some selected Russian miscellaneous quartets as well from the Soviet period. The Soviet Experience is a 16-month exposition of arts showcase from those who labored under the Politburo of the Soviet Union, being presented in Chicago under the auspices of the University of Chicago, starting back in 2010 and ending this year, and was inspired by the Pacifica Quartet’s plan to give all of Shostakovich’s quartets in 2010-2011, a city premiere. Cedille decided to capture some of the magic, and the results could very well be close to definitive, or at least in the top three or four……..

Steven Ritter @ Audiophile Audition