Shostakovich 1906-2006
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In 2006 the centennial of composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) was celebrated around the world. Shostakovich continues to fascinate, both through the compelling communicative power of his music and because of debate over the connections between that music and his life, which was deeply affected by the historic twists and turns of Soviet Russia.
Two cycles of Shostakovich's work offer a particularly rich opportunity to experience his musical life from start to finish, and both share the number 15. In 2006, the complete cycle of 15 symphonies was performed worldwide by renowned Russian conductor Valeriy Gergiev. And here at NEC, there was the unique opportunity to hear the cycle of 15 string quartets--all of them--each performed by a different group of talented chamber musicians.
Performers included groups coached by members of NEC's Quartet-in-Residence, the Borromeo String Quartet and other distinguished NEC chamber music faculty; students enrolled in an intensive quartet seminar taught by Paul Katz, founding cellist of the Cleveland Quartet; and participants in NEC's Professional String Quartet Training Program. Other performances at NEC of Shostakovich's music supplemented this project.
Follow links below to read descriptions of NEC Shostakovich concerts from the Shostakovich year and early 2007. As a visitor to NEC's Firestone Library of audio materials, you may listen to recordings of unique NEC performances, including most of these concerts.
January 22, 2006: Symphony No. 5
February 18, 2006: Shostakovich Centennial Celebration
April 3, 2006: Quartet No. 8
April 4, 2006: Quartet No. 7
June 4, 2006: Cello Concerto No. 1
October 14, 2006: Eighth Quartet with Borromeo String Quartet
October 28, 2006: Shostakovich Quartets: All of Them, Part 1
November 21, 2006: Third Quartet with Borromeo String Quartet
December 4, 2006: Piano Quintet with Alexander Korsantia and the Borromeo String Quartet
December 14, 2006: Shostakovich Quartets: All of Them, Part 2
January 26, 2007: Three preludes from Op. 34
February 11, 2007: Piano Trio
February 20, 2007: Second Quartet with Borromeo String Quartet
March 14, 2007: Symphony No. 10
About the quartets
Dmitri Shostakovich´s 15 string quartets have often been regarded as a private musical diary that the composer kept between 1938 – the pre-War, Stalinist era and 1974 – the year of his death. Whether or not Shostakovich felt freer to express his innermost feelings in these works, they certainly served as a vehicle for wide-ranging experimentation with form, duration, color, harmonic language, and idiom. The pieces vary in length from 16 to 35 minutes. The number and arrangement of movements is highly variable. Some works are overtly theatrical, even operatic, while others explore more purely musical procedures such as fugue and passacaglia. Like Mahler, with whom he is often compared, Shostakovich frequently introduces clashing folk and vernacular idioms into more strictly classical discourse. Like many other composers during the 1960s, he tried his hand at 12-tone writing in some of the later quartets. Typically for Shostakovich, the mood veers from deepest gloom to sardonic humor to feverish high spirits.