Pacifica Quartet
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THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE VOLUME II ALSO WITH THE PACIFICA QUARTET ON CEDILLE RECORDS THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE VOL I STRING QUARTETS BY CDR 90000 127 DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH “This is a marvelous beginning to what promises to be a AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES terrific Shostakovich cycle ...The Cedille engineers have outdone themselves with strikingly vivid sound quality.” SHOSTAKOVICH: QUARTETS NOS. 1- 4 —Ariama.com PROKOFIEV: QUARTET NO. 2 DECLARATIONS: MUSIC BETWEEN THE WARS CDR 90000 092 Music by Leoš Janáček, Ruth Crawford Seeger, & Paul Hindemith “This is not only a very fine demonstration of [the Pacifica’s] abilities but a winning recital on all counts.” —Fanfare MENDELSSOHN: THE COMPLETE STRING QUARTETS CDR 90000 082 “This box sets a new gold standard for performances of Mendelssohn’s string quartets.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch DVOŘÁK: QUARTET OP. 106, QUINTET OP. 97 CDR 90000 059 “This is simply a lovely recording, warm in tone, sensitive, artfully played, and yet tastefully rambunctious when such bounce is appropriate.” —Fanfare PACIFICA QUARTET Producer & Engineer Judith Sherman THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE VOLUME II PACIFICA QUARTET Assistant Engineer & Digital Editing Bill Maylone Shostakovich Quartet No. 2 Editing James Ginsburg STRING QUARTETS BY SHOSTAKOVICH: QUARTETS NOS. 1-4 Editing Assistance Jeanne Velonis DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH PROKOFIEV: QUARTET NO. 2 Recorded Shostakovich Quartets Nos. 1 & 2: November 18–20, 2011; Shostakovich Quartet No. AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 3: July 23–24, 2010; Shostakovich Quartet No. 4 & Prokofiev: August 29–31, 2011— Foellinger Great Hall, Krannert Center, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana DISC ONE DISC TWO Microphones Sonodore RCM-402 & DPA 4006-TL DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906–1975) DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Front Cover Design Sue Cottrill String Quartet No. 1 in C major, Op. 49 (14:43) String Quartet No. 3 in F major, Op. 73 (31:17) Inside Booklet & Inlay Card Nancy Bieschke 1 I. Moderato (4:16) 1 I. Allegretto (6:58) 2 II. Moderato (4:45) 2 II. Andante (5:01) Front Cover Art The Red Army Broom Will Completely Sweep Away the Scum 3 III. Allegro molto (2:13) 3 III. Moderato—Allegretto—Andante (4:00) From the Ne boltai! Collection — Viktor Nikolaevich Deni; October 12, 1943 4 IV. Allegro (3:17) 4 IV. Adagio— (6:14) 5 V. Moderato—Adagio (8:53) At bottom left corner of image, torn order signed by Hitler with Nazi seal reads: Terror and Slavery String Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 68 (35:18) for the People. On the bayonet-broom are the names of liberated Soviet cities, from left to right: 5 I. Overture: Moderato con moto (8:23) SERGEI PROKOFIEV (1891–1953) Bryansk, Smolensk, Orylo, Kharkov, Stalino, Novorossisk, Poltava, Chernigov, Nevel, Taman, 6 II. Recitative and Romance: Adagio (10:29) String Quartet No. 2 in F major, Op. 92 (22:10) Melitopol. 7 III. Valse: Allegro (5:24) 6 I. Allegro sostenuto (6:25) 8 IV. Theme with Variations (10:49) 7 II. Adagio (7:28) Cedille Records is a trademark of The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation devoted 8 III. Allegro—Andante molto—Allegro I (8:09) to promoting the finest musicians and ensembles in the Chicago area. The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation’s String Quartet No. 4 in D major, Op. 83 (25:18) 9 I. Allegretto (4:11) activities are supported in part by contributions and grants from individuals, foundations, corporations, and TT: (53:40) government agencies including the Alphawood Foundation, Irving Harris Foundation, Kirkland & Ellis Foundation, bk II. Andantino (6:44) bl III. Allegretto— (4:17) NIB Foundation, Negaunee Foundation, Sage Foundation, and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. This project bm IV. Allegretto (9:58) Pacifica Quartet is partially supported by a CityArts grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Simin Ganatra, violin TT: (75:37) CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CHICAGO CLASSICAL RECORDING FOUNDATION Sibbi Bernhardsson, violin Masumi Per Rostad, viola MAY BE MADE AT WWW.CEDILLERECORDS.ORG OR 773-989-2515. Brandon Vamos, cello CEDILLE RECORDS trademark of The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation All works published by G. Schirmer Inc. 1205 W Balmoral Ave., Chicago IL 60640, USA Shostakovich String Quartet No. 1, Op. 49 ©1935; String Quartet No. 2, Op. 68 ©1944; 773.989.2515 tel - 773.989.2517 fax WWW.CEDILLERECORDS.ORG String Quartet No. 3, Op. 73 ©1946; String Quartet No. 4, Op. 83 ©1949 CDR 90000 130 P & C 2012 Cedille Records All Rights Reserved. Made in U.S.A Prokofiev String Quartet No. 2, Op. 92 ©1941 2 3 Dmitri Shostakovich and The former brilliantly and wittily The four years between the Cello expression within an ideologically Sergei Prokofiev exploits pizzicato (plucked) and Sonata and the First String Quartet approved musical language. That Quartets 1938–1949 grotesque arco (bowed) effects, while were fraught with problems: Just after Shostakovich was able to do so Notes by Elizabeth Wilson in the latter, the soaring soprano recovering from a major personal without compromising the quality of melody is successfully emulated by crisis involving his divorce from and his music or limiting its all-embracing SHOSTAKOVICH the first violin (although the quartet remarriage to Nina Varzar, both in range of emotional expression, is Dmitri Shostakovich came to quartet cannot match the emotional or 1935, Shostakovich’s life was changed testimony to his fierce tenacity of writing as a fully mature composer. physical power of the full orchestra in forever by the infamous Party editorial purpose and his unparalleled ability When he embarked on his first the lead up to the culmination). of January 28, 1936, in Pravda, to innovate within the strictures of quartet, he was 32 and had behind titled “Muddle instead of Music” imposed boundaries. him a turbulent biography and large Shostakovich’s first piece of serious chamber music conceived in the — a vicious attack that reputedly As he approached his 32nd birthday, number of compositions, including represented the view and voice of five symphonies, three ballets, and classical tradition was his Cello the time had come for a respite from Sonata, Op. 40. Its structural para- Stalin himself. Shostakovich was public forms. Shostakovich’s desire to two operas, as well as much incidental ostracized and forced at the eleventh music for theatre and cinema. So his meters are worthy of Brahms, but master the string quartet stemmed the enormous gamut of emotions hour to withdraw from rehearsal his from his need for in-depth private interests lay more with large dramatic yet unperformed Fourth Symphony. forms, and also entertainment, expressed, from grotesque to tragic study, reinforced by the challenge of to ironic to sentimentally lyrical, is In trepidation, he set to work on his treading on the holy ground of the rather than with the intimacies of monumental Fifth Symphony, which chamber music. Shostakovich’s first an original and entirely characteristic great classical tradition of Haydn, feature. These and three youthful was inevitably regarded as an offering Beethoven, and Schubert. encounter with the string quartet to the shrine of “socialist realism.” medium dates from November 1931, pieces — the First Piano Trio, Op. The First Quartet (along with the 8; Three Pieces for cello and piano, After the triumphant first perform- when he produced a surprise gift ance in November 1937, the Party Seventh and 11th) is one of the Op. 9 (not extant); and Prelude and for the touring Vuillaume Quartet: authorities were ostensibly convinced shortest in Shostakovich’s output Scherzo for string octet, Op. 11 — transcriptions of two of his most of Shostakovich’s “reformation.” It for the genre. Over a mere 15 popular pieces, the Polka from his represented the composer’s entire minutes, the composer compressed chamber music output when he was a turning point in his biography, ballet The Golden Age, and Katerina’s irreversibly forcing him to turn his back the classical cycle into four tautly Aria (labelled simply “Adagio”) from decided to tackle the classical string structured movements with masterly quartet form. on avant garde experiment and seek the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. 4 5 authority. The opening Moderato noticeably lacks a slow movement.) It The apparent simplicity and charm lend themselves to all kinds of is effectively a sonatina with a comprises a set of variations written of the moderato movements stand rhythmic variation and syncopation. shortened recapitulation, where the in a “stile russe.” The variation form in contrast with the two faster The composer brilliantly exploits the extreme simplicity of the thematic almost seems an excuse for a formal movements that follow, where the instrumental possibilities of the material and transparency of the C exercise, similar to a task set in a musical language is more refined and quartet and the virtuosity of the major key emphasize the composer’s conservatory class. The modal nature elaborate, and technical demands players. The music surges with purity of expression. (In this regard, of the melody places it firmly in the on the performers are considerably uninterrupted vitality to the end it fulfils a similar function to the sound-world of Russian folk song, increased. The restless and fleeting with a triumphant reiteration of C opening Prelude of his great cycle although the theme is Shostakovich’s scherzo, in the far-off key of C-sharp major chords in the violins over the of 24 Preludes and Fugues for piano, own, not a borrowing or quotation. minor, recalls the fantastic world of lower strings’ resonating eighth- Op. 87.) The second subject theme In all, there are only three variations, Mendelssohn with its muted lightness notes. While Shostakovich’s public introduces a note of gentle humor, but the device of repeating the of touch, while its F-sharp major statements must always be taken as the viola’s repeated eighth- theme in two slightly varied phrases trio, full of wistful charm, sounds in with a grain of salt, the sunny nature note accompaniment and cello’s adds substance and instrumental a hushed pianissimo like a distant, of the finale appears to substantiate droll upward glissandi underpin diversity.