Both Shostakovich’s 1st String Quartet and Anton Webern’s last complete chamber music work were composed in 1938. A fascinating juxtaposition of two musical languages is rounded off in the second half by Shostakovich’s brilliant Piano Quintet.

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This program showcases the influences of the Russian school of composition on Shostakovich’s works. Among all of Shostakovich’s quartets, the 2nd Quartet in particular exhibits distinctly Russian sound colours.

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Shostakovich’s 3rd String Quartet, which contains many elements reminiscent of Viennese Classicism, is presented alongside Mozart’s 3rd Prussian Quartet. The program is complemented by Shostakovich’s introspective 4th Quartet.

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Shostakovich’s “symphonic” 5th String Quartet is framed by two significant works from early and late romanticism.

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Shostakovich’s 6^th String Quartet hints at the composer’s deep respect for the father of the genre, Joseph Haydn. Consisting of works by Shostakovich and Haydn, this program, explores various facets of humour and the grotesque in music.

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Folklore plays a central role in Shostakovich’s work. His 2^nd piano trio, which is filled with Jewish melodies, is juxtaposed with quartets by Prokofiev and Ravel, which are strongly influenced by folklore. Prokofiev uses themes from the music of the Kabardinians, a tribe from the Caucasus Mountains, and Ravel draws on Basque folk rhythms.

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In this program, two of Shostakovich’s most well-known quartets are presented together with one of his most important sources of inspiration: the musical world of J.S. Bach.

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In addition to his impressive 9th String Quartet, this program features music of Soviet composers from the next generation after Shostakovich. Their music was strongly influenced by Shostakovich, as they only later developed their own musical languages.

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Shostakovich dedicated his 10th String Quartet to his colleague and friend Mieczysław Weinberg, whose Aria op. 9 is presented just before the 10^th quartet. Shostakovich’s 11^th String Quartet preceeds the highly expressive 6^th String Quartet by Krzysztof Meyer, who was close friends with Weinberg and Shostakovich.

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In writing his two-movement 12th String Quartet, Shostakovich employs the twelve-tone technique, an exceptionally unusual approach for the composer. In this program, two groundbreaking milestones of the history of music are presented alongside this unique work: Beethoven’s “Grosse Fuge” and Lutosławski’s String Quartet which was composed four years before Shostakovich’s 12th Quartet and also structured in two movements.

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Shostakovich dedicated his 13th String Quartet to the violist and his 14th String Quartet to the cellist of the Beethoven Quartet, an ensemble with which Shostakovich had a close and longstanding connection. The lower strings also feature very prominently in Brahms´ Quartet op. 67. 

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Op. 131 is considered by many to be Beethoven’s most innovative and at the same time, most personal, of his works. The 7 movements, which are played without any breaks, can be interpreted as a cross-section of an entire human life, ending with a triumphant call to discover new musical worlds. Shostakovich’s 15th String Quartet, also composed without a break between any of its 6 movements, is equally as personal as Beethoven’s op. 131 despite being marked by the premonition of his imminent death and presenting a much darker, melancholy outlook on the end of life.

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