Search - Igor Stravinsky, Alfred Schnittke, Nikolai Andreyevich Roslavets :: Russian String Quartets

The reissue of a 1995 Conifer CD, with an intelligently conc

Discophage | France | 02/17/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is the reissue of a Conifer CD which was originally published in 1995, which I have reviewed at length, and I refer you to that review for more details. It affords an interesting and intelligently conceived program of Russian compositions for string quartet, but promises slightly more than it delivers. It starts with Stravinsky's complete output for the medium, which the Chilingirian Quartet plays perhaps with a tad too much elegance. Roslavets, along with Mosolov, was one of the most interesting figures of the modernist trend in early Soviet Union, until both were suppressed and rejected into near oblivion by the new Stalinist academism, so hearing any of his compositions will be of interest. That said, his short (12') 3rd quartet from 1920 is couched in a rather impersonal modernist idiom reminiscent of Berg, Hindemith and Bloch.



Dmitri Smirov (b. 1948) and Elena Firsova (b. 1950) happen to be husband and wife and maybe that's why both their quartets - Smirnov's 2nd dates from 1985 and Firsova's 4th, "Amoroso", was written in 1989, and both are short works, each timing under 15' - share many common aspects, including a passionate but thorny and angular utterance reminiscent of Berg's and Schoenberg's quartets, and a fascination with high-pitched violin melismas. Smirnov's is dedicated to the couple's newborn son and each of its two movements is a lullaby, but I feel that the composer doesn't always succeed in transcending the almost kitschy simplicity of some of his base material. As for Firsova, her 3rd quartet, "Misterioso", played by the Lydian Quartet (to whom the 4th is dedicated) on an MCA CD released in 1990 seems to me more original and a better introduction to this composer.



Ultimately, Schnittke's short Canon In Memoriam Igor Stravinsky is I think the best piece on this disc. With its simple gestures of searing intensity, it could have been written by the recently deceased, arch-maverick of Soviet music: Galina Ustvolskaya. All in all, there are probably better introductions to contemporary Soviet/Russian string quartets (those of Schnittke and Gubaidulina are masterpieces), but this disc is still a welcome addition for anyone seriously interested in contemporary Russian/Soviet music.

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