# Shostakovich - String Quartet 8 op. 110 (SQ review)



## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

I have listened to a huge number of Shosty 8s this year and have been impressed at the strength and high quality of most recordings. This really has been a quartet very well served on disc. To sum up my listening here's what I think. Tbh, my conclusions, for once aren't that far off Trout's list.

I would heartiy recommend all of the recordings below and there's not that much that kept these outta the top tier. They just needed that little bit more.

Rubio
Chilingirian
Eder
Altius
Carducci
Brodsky (studio)
Manhattan
Orava
Valentin-Berlinsky
Danel
Byron
Skampa (Wigmore live)
Dragon
Aris
St Lawrence
Talich
Aviv
Debussy
Shostakovich
Borodin (1980s)
Borodin (2014)
Nous

*Better

Emerson* - wonderful bravura account
*Taneyev* - this one surprised me. Very effective performance.
*Yggdrasil* - another that came outta nowhere but what a fantastic surprise.
*Jerusalem* - low on vibrato but a wildly expressive and passionate reading.
*Pavel Haas *- visceral power and their bleaker approach works well here. Beautiful recorded sound.

However, there were quite a few that were just top of the shop. I could hardly put a flea's chest hair between this lot. All of these are special for different reasons and it really depends what you like / what mood you're in which of these you really rate. So here's some very *special ones* in no particular order.

*Borodin (1962) *- still amazing nearly 60 years after it was released.
*Hagen* - stunning ensemble playing
*Mandelring* - I knew of this one but hadn't heard it. I'm going to be getting the full cycle on the strength of this.
*Alexander* - great recording. Meticulously played.
*Fitzwilliam* - still a killer performance and I love the sound of it.
*Sorrel* - this has had mixed reviews when it came out but I don't know why. It's wonderful and many people rate this as highly as me. Further plays make it even better.
*Pacifica* - wonderfully recorded, top account from my go-to cycle.

I suppose some people will say "come on Merl, pin your colours to one mast" but I really couldn't. I love all 10 of these equally for different reasons. If you forced me at gunpoint to give a favourite I might say a different one each day. Some here are classics and deserve such status (Fitzwilliam, Borodin) but the others are just as impressive to me (others will, no doubt, disagree). The one I return to most is the Pacifica but that was before I found some of these. I look forward to living with all of these (thanks Spotify) over the coming years.


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