Published on: 2026-11-05
Source: Melody – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
“Melodiya” Company, on the 120th anniversary of the birth of Dmitri Shostakovich, is reissuing digitally all the string quartets performed by the Taneyev Quartet. Dmitri Dmitrievich himself entrusted the premieres of all the quartets, except the last one, to the outstanding Soviet chamber ensemble—the Beethoven Quartet. The premiere of the last one, the Fifteenth Quartet, was performed by the State Taneyev Quartet. The recordings of Shostakovich’s quartets, released by “Melodiya” in 1991, featured the same lineup that performed the premiere of the last quartet on November 15, 1974, in the presence of Dmitri Shostakovich: Vladimir Ovcharek (first violin), Grigory Lutskiy (second violin), Vissarion Solovyov (viola), and Iosif Levinzon (cello).
Listening to all of Shostakovich’s quartets allows one to trace not only the evolution of the composer’s style but also a peculiar chronicle of the author’s life: from the bright and youthful energy-filled First Quartet, which Shostakovich himself called “spring-like,” to the philosophically focused and almost mournful monologue of the Fifteenth Quartet. These compositions reflect the experiences of wartime years, the joy of human communication, reflections on fate and time, creative quests, and artistic experiments. Almost all the quartets are dedicated to the composer’s close relatives.
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