Search - Shostakovich, Beethoven Quartet :: Shostakovich: String Quartets Nos. 1, 2, and 4: The Beethoven Quartet, Volume One

The Beethoven Quartet was founded in Moscow in 1923 and played with the same four members for 42 years. The original first violinist played with the group for 55 years! It was Russia's single outstanding chamber group for most of that period, and many quartets by Soviet composers were written for it, including most of Shostakovich's quartets. The performers in these 1956-61 mono recordings may have been old men, but they certainly knew how these pieces were supposed to go (having been coached by the composer) and they could still play very well. This disc is the first of a complete series, one of the outstanding historical sets in the current catalogs. --Leslie Gerber