Source: The Edmonton Journal
by Bill Rankin
CD: Shostakovich String Quartets No. 3, 7 & 8
Artists: St. Lawrence String Quartet
Label: EMI Classics
Rating 5 (out of five)
Those of you who couldn't make it to the memorable St. Lawrence String Quartet's benefit engagement at Robertson Wesley United Church in the spring now have a chance to hear the Canadian group play Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8, one of his harshest and gloomiest, on an outstandingly well-recorded EMI disc. The engineers got the balance and vivid string sound absolutely right. The mix is forward and all the musical lines are impeccably in synch with one another. The textures are as vivid as they could be. The St. Lawrence Quartet renders both nuance and brash coloration with authority and theatrical musicality.
The jaunty opening movement of No. 3 is crisp and sardonically playful, but when the mood turns dark in the sombre adagio and following passacaglia in movement three, anger gives way to a throbbing melancholy, revealing a less known lyrical side to Shostakovich.
These string quartets have been recorded by numerous ensembles. The St. Petersburg String Quartet released all 15 on Hyperion a few years back, and they do a marvellous job as well. What I like about the St. Lawrence Quartet's take on these three is the way the performances capture Shostakovich's full palette of string colour and emotional depth.
The bitter is balanced dramatically with the mellower and occasional playful mood to perfection. The group doesn't just play, they enthusiastically perform, sometimes with breathless intensity, as in the driven second movement of Quartet No. 8, said to be Shoskakovich's most personal statement in the genre.
This will likely be the last recording featuring second violinist and co-founding member Barry Shiffman, who takes over the music program at the Banff Centre next month and the Banff String Quartet Competition, which the St. Lawrence Quartet won in 1992.
The world will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of Shostakovich's birth on Sept. 25, in a more modest way than Mozart's 250th has been feted this year, needless to say. Shostakovich's notion of a little night music was more nightmare than ballroom.
