Repertoire
Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 4 in D major, Op. 83 (1949)
Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 5 in B-flat major, Op. 92 (1952)
ARTISTS
Vera Martínez, violin
Abel Tomàs, violin
Jonathan Brown, viola
Arnau Tomàs, cello
Programme
During his life, Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) wrote fifteen string quartets. The first (1938) was conceived a year before the outbreak of World War II and the last (1974) a year before his death. The fifteen works – curiously, Shostakovich also wrote fifteen symphonies – reveal this Russian composer’s more intimate, personal side. One of the twentieth century’s most consistently brilliant composers, he lived during the Soviet period, enduring all the weight of existential suffering and terror that the power of the state apparatus could unleash. Indeed, his work was often publicly censured. His instinct for rebellion is revealed throughout his chamber music, defying the totalitarian Soviet regime’s directives. This season the Cuarteto Casals will be performing them all, a treat no music lover should miss.