# Russian String Quartets



## Quartetfore

If you like this area of the String Quartet, you should try to hear The Op#35 of Anton Arensky. Rather than a viola Arensky scored it for two violins and two cellos. It is a very fine work, and very Russian sounding. I downloaded the Nash Ensemble version today, and while the recording sounds a bit old its still very fine.


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## Taneyev

Try a Marco Polo with his SQ 1&2+piano quintet. Lajhta quartet+Ilona Prunyi on piano. The op.35 is one of the finest Russian quartets I ever heard.


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## Quartetfore

The only other Chamber work that I have is the Piano Trio Op.32, this is one of my very favorite Trios. I have heard the second of the Trios, but I don`t think it is quite as good as the first.


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## jurianbai

I didn't aware or remember it is for 2 cellos. I also listen to that Lajtha quartet CD.


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## clavichorder

Taneyev man, Taneyev.


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## Taneyev

Yes, Sergei Taneyev. His 9 quartets and string quintet are the best chamber corpus produced in Russian in the 19Th.century. But not be confused by their numbers, that are arbitrary. Chronologically, this is their order:
7-8-9-3-6-4-1-2-5.


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## jurianbai

Taneyev,Myaskovsky,Shebalin are my top cycle list.
Then Gliere,Glazunov,Arensky, Kabalevsky, Prokofiev, A.Taneyev, A.Rubinstein, Tischenko and Grecthaninov.
And of course the mainstream Shosta,Borodin and Tchaikovsky.
I dunno about Khachaturian and Cui


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## Taneyev

jurianbai said:


> Taneyev,Myaskovsky,Shebalin are my top cycle list.
> Then Gliere,Glazunov,Arensky, Kabalevsky, Prokofiev, A.Taneyev, A.Rubinstein, Tischenko and Grecthaninov.
> And of course the mainstream Shosta,Borodin and Tchaikovsky.
> I dunno about Khachaturian and Cui


We are kindred souls, my friend. I've nearly all from the guys you named. Not Tischenko (I don't like him) And i don't know if Khatchaturian and Cui had quartets. I can add Arkady Fillipenko, Catoire and Paul Juon.


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## Quartetfore

Has any one heard the Quartets of Paul Juon? I know the Piano trios, and they are very nice works.


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## Taneyev

I've 4 Juon's quartets. Very fine works.


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## elgar's ghost

It looks like Khachaturian composed a string quartet in 1931 (he wrote very little chamber music) but I can't say I've ever come across a recording of it.


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## quack

From the 20th century there is also the other Tchaikovsky, Boris, Nikolai Roslavets, Alfred Schnittke, Sofia Gubaidulina and a personal favorite Mieczysław Weinberg who was actually Polish but spent much of his time in Russia.

I really like Grecthaninov's choral works will have to look out for his music for strings.


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## Quartetfore

Are we talking about the Piano Quartets, or the String Quartets? If the String Quartets (Juon) what label, I would like to hear them myself.


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## Taneyev

String quartets. Don't know label, because I got them on trade from a friend, and it wasn't informed. Only know that the 2 CD are from Germany, and the ensamble was the NIZIOL quartet. Have also 3 violin sonatas on an ETCETERA CD, and his second violin concerto.


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## jurianbai

Reason I meantioned Khachaturian and Cui is because they had string quartet but very less informed. Taking their big names in other area , Khachaturian in violin concerto and Cui in opera. And I like Khachaturian style I am curious to know his sq. Cesar Cui composed three sq.

Most of the names I also learn from this forum. Just like the name Paul Juon you guys are now talking.

This looks like a new release, Salmanov string quartet release by the infamous Northern Flower label:









amazon link > http://amzn.to/JeDBq0

and don't forget Alyabiev 








http://amzn.to/JfRjHc


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## Taneyev

Yes indeed!. Have Salmanov 1, 3&4 by the Taneyev, but on a Russian Disc CD (surelly Northern it's a copy from it). And Alabyev 1&3 by the Rimsky Korsakov quartet.


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## Quartetfore

i discovered that there is a another complete recording of the Juon Quartets on the Musiques Suisses label played by the Niziol Quartet--a new name to me.


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## Head_case

...and the Salmanov Quartet Cycle nears completion as Northern Flowers promises to release Volume 2....!!










Now all they need to do, is finally bring the complete set of Gliere string quartets out to illuminate our narrow little modern consciousnesses


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## principe

After Shostakovich' s striking opus in this field, anything else pales in comparison.
Tchaikovsky' s String Quartets have some of the indelible features of the great composer. Likewise, Borodin' s.
Glazunov' s are also significant, as well as Taneyev' s. Weinberg' s are superb, but they betray his master' s (Shostakovich) influence). Prokofiev' s are fascinating works too, but small output.
Among the rarities, there is some String Quartet work in the amazing Rimsky-Korsakov' s opus!

Principe


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## Hassid

Then you've the collective works dedicated to the friend/editor/money lender/vodka provider Mitrofan Belaieff: "les Vendredis", "Jour de Fete" "Birthday" and the "B-La-F" quartet.


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## BurningDesire

Lately I have a particular fondness for the third movement of Borodin's second quartet. The things he does with harmony and melody... its just amazing. It kinda pisses me off that he and Tchaikovsky get so little mention in the world of academia, in lieu of Wagner and Brahms, when they made some pretty spectacular advances from my POV. *sigh* Germans always getting more credit than anybody else, regardless of others' merits. Thankfully that's kinda died out with contemporary composers.


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## principe

Unfortunately, BD, the "Germans" reached a much higher level of compositional achievements than their Russian peers in the 18th, 19th and early 20th century. The greatest, most significant composers (Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Weber, Schumann, Wagner, Brahms, Bruckner and so on) offer a much wider scope of Music, in every field (particularly, in the very demanding and refined Chamber Music) that the Russians (or any other) could hardly match. 
Tchaikovsky wrote some quite interesting String Quartets, Borodin only two! Few Piano Trios or Piano Music to. One String Quintet from Borodin, but far away from the sublime and superb op.111 (in G major) by Brahms or the one with two Celli, in C major, by Schubert.
However, in the course of 20th century, the Russians, primarily with Shostakovich, took over the world scene of Classical Music. The Germans started dealing with the...economy and restructuring their country and society.

Principe


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## Head_case

principe said:


> Unfortunately, BD, the "Germans" reached a much higher level of compositional achievements than their Russian peers in the 18th, 19th and early 20th century. The greatest, most significant composers (Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Weber, Schumann, Wagner, Brahms, Bruckner and so on) offer a much wider scope of Music, in every field (particularly, in the very demanding and refined Chamber Music) that the Russians (or any other) could hardly match.
> Principe


Actually, apart from the German Beethoven and the "Austrian" Schubert (and there is no reason to subsume him under the totalitarian pan "German" label, anymore than there is, to assume every English speaking composer is 'English', the contributions of all the German composers' to the field of the string quartet which you've mentioned....is very thin.

Mendelsohn; Bruckner - especially Wagner - are especially irrelevant and trivial in the field of the string quartet. Brahms has some affinity with the Russian Taneyev, or perhaps its the other way round. Mendelssohn has at least a contribution, which is played brilliantly by a Soviet string quartet (The Taneyev Quartet). Whereas broad sweeping generalisations may apply to broad sweeping genres, like orchestral works, this generalisation doesn't hold for the intimate art of the string quartet genre. There are many works from both countries I like, although the Soviet history and experience of repression and forced interiority for the art of the composer, is one which seems to bring out a character in Soviet music, which Germanic music struggles to express so lucidly.

We should also dissuade from thinking that 'more is quality'. With Borodin's two string quartets, 'more is less'. His language; his style is so succinctly put into those two string quartets, such that they have become performance regulars. Thinking of French famous quartets by Debussy and Ravel - one one string quartet was required, to map the composers in the field of chamber music. Compared to other writers, like Milhaud's 18 string quartets ...none of which are particularly memorable, faced with a square off with a single quartet by Debussy; Ravel.....this much is apparent.

Schubert's writing was distinctly genius with respect to his compositional language and form for a man of his time (and at such a young age too). He certainly didn't draw on German or Austrian folk music, in any way which would make his work 'distinctly German'. Nor did he fit into the German academic models of the string quartet then. In that respect - he is as much an outlier, as Ernest Toch, the German Jew; or others who incidentally happen to be born into a nationality, yet whose music is not shaped by it. These are examples of incidental German nationality; however composers like Toch; Haas; Krenek; Hartmann; Eisler .... have a different identity which transcends pure geography: that of their religious identity.

Nationalism does not mean trite of course: the case for Borodin's String Quartet No.2; nor for Glazunov "The Slavonic Quartet"; and for Myaskovsky's complete string quartet cycle; Shebalin's complete string quartet cycle; and Salmanov's complete string quartet cycle.....all have a distinctly Soviet identity for unfamiliar listeners, who can identify something Soviet in the stylistics of the music. Maybe this is the nationalism? Shostakovich was the one who was first marketed to the west successfully for many reasons; however in his day, it was the string quartets of Shebalin which were played to the Soviet audiences widespread in his own country. Much of what we came to discover in the west about Soviet music, depended on the record labels and marketing devices. In the English/Latin/Romance language countries, we are more allied to Germany anyway, and have an easier barrier-free access to the cultural idioms of our European neighbours (even Americans and Australians are still culturally viewed as being 'closer' than Soviets vis a vis Germans).

In some respects, our tastes are always bound by culture and biases. I know mine are; perhaps however, I can detect a vein of Soviet influence, in the thoughts and writings of Soviet composers - a vein which makes Soviet chamber quartet writing very exhilarating. Anyway - we don't need to comment about Germans in a Russian string quartet thread.....

This nationalistic characteristic is absent in the the majority of the German composers you've mentioned - in the string quartet genre.

PS - as much as Beethoven is revered, I still don't understand his string quartets. Still trying with the Vegh Quartet Cycle .....


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## Huilunsoittaja

I like Glazunov's 5 Novelettes for string quartet, and over all his other stuff is very good. But you know me, even with my favorite composer, I tend not to prefer chamber.


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## violadude

Here's a hipster Russian string quartet that I happen to know.


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## elgar's ghost

I would gently disagree with Head_case when considering Mendelssohn's contribution to the SQ repertoire. OK, they weren't stunningly ground-breaking but how many were in the immediate post-Beethoven/Schubert period that roughly coincided with the flowering of Mendelssohn's own maturity? The first three are quite outstanding in their own way if we take on board the fact that Mendelssohn composed them between the ages of c. 14-20 and the final one is a very powerful and taut work, triggered emotionally by the death of his sister and composed not long before his own premature death. The 'middle period' three that he wrote and grouped together as his op. 44 yield little or nothing to the three written by Schumann barely three years later - at least to these ears.


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## tdc

^ Mendelssohn's SQ's are all quite outstanding regardless of what age he composed them ~imo. 

For the record Bartok, Schubert and Ravel wrote the best SQ's to my ears, so I don't think I have too much cultural bias here.

But I think its not too surprising Austrians and Germans get most credit across the board (in most genres) up until the 20th century - deservedly so. Tchaikovsky could hardly be called under-rated, and how much higher rated should a composer like Borodin really be? In the 20th century and on there seem to be great composers from all over the place without any one country dominating too much and this seems to be generally acknowledged.


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## principe

If I could be allowed for a reply, Head_case, I would love to give the following clarifications:
My response was to BD mentioning that there is too much praise to the Germans, like Wagner and Brahms, instead of the likes of Tchaikovsky. So, in my post I referred to the "much higher level of compositional achievements (of the Germans) than their Russian peers". So, the composers I mentioned (mostly in random) had achieved a much higher (actually the highest) of the compositional achievements. Of course, in Chamber Music, not all the ones I mentioned contributed in the same way or at all.
Mendelsssohn' s String Quartets are all superb works in the medium. Not easily accessible to anyone, but marvels of craftsmanship, musicianship, great form, some quite inspiring melodies and complex rhythms. 
Schumann' s String Quartets are also great works of the genre. Utterly Romantic, but, musically speaking, splendid compositional works. 
Brahms' are even better. True Classics for the genre. Three great, very Romantic but with firm, solid Classic roots. All the above three contributed a substantive amount of superb Chamber Music too. Particularly, Brahms.
Bruckner wrote a very individual String Quartet and a more ambitious String Quintet. Unfortunately for him, his glorious Symphonies covered his small but quite interesting production of Chamber Music.
If we add the huge production of the Austrians too, which fall in the general German tradition of composing music (sometimes referred as the Austro-German tradition), then we have the immense production of the most significant Quartets of Haydn, Mozart and Schubert. 
On top of all that, Beethoven comes with what is considered (in every professional circle) as the pinnacle of the medium: his 16 unique String Quartets, where the Late ones remain unparalleled, unrivaled and top-ranking.
In general, what I wanted to underscore, Head_case, was that the German (or Austro-German) tradition reached such a level of perfection in the eras from Bach's time till early 20th century (with the second school of Vienna and R. Strauss), where we observe its definite decline.
I believe the Russians till the time of Shostakovich contributed to the genre of Chamber Music and to the medium of String Quartet rather modestly: Tchailovsky' s three and Borodin' s two along with some rather less interesting from Glazunov and some others in 19th century are too little to compare. Taneyev' s greater production along with Weinberg' s as well as the two quite good ones by Prokofiev give a better perspective of the Russian contribution in 20th century. However, Shostakovich and Bartok are the ones who mark the 20th century with String Quartets that some musicians, experts, musicologists considered as the equivalent of Beethoven's late ones. I cannot possibly share this view, but I find both composers' output in this field as the most formidable in the past century.
My observations above have nothing to do with Nationalism in music.

Principe


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## Jord

Shostakovich's String Quartet No.8 in C minor is the first string quartet i've properly listened too, it's inspired me too write a string quartet for my Music AS composition


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## jurianbai

Cesar Cui wrote three string quartets, 
String Quartet No. 1, Op. 45 (1890)
String Quartet No. 2, Op. 68 (1907)
String Quartet No. 3, Op. 91 (1913)

I wonder how it sounds and why nobody seems to remember these pieces, not to say do a recording on it?


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## Head_case

violadude said:


> Here's a hipster Russian string quartet that I happen to know.


Some rather difficult music here!

I listened to it once through and found it slowly drawing me into curiosity about it. Need to listen to it with a better sound output than the computer soon.

It's's a very interesting piece; not sure why it reminds me (fleetingly, only) of the Polish composer Zbigniew Bargielski at 3am.


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## Head_case

jurianbai said:


> Cesar Cui wrote three string quartets,
> String Quartet No. 1, Op. 45 (1890)
> String Quartet No. 2, Op. 68 (1907)
> String Quartet No. 3, Op. 91 (1913)
> 
> I wonder how it sounds and why nobody seems to remember these pieces, not to say do a recording on it?


Hmmm...marketing issues perhaps. I've never heard any of the Cui string quartets. When I started hunting for the Big Five, it was Borodin who stood out mostly although that led on to other discoveries. Like you - I'm a huge fan of Gliere's three string quartets, although rather upset that I have each quartet on different formats so I can't play them consecutively without a break. Glinka's works are enjoyable on a Sunday lite as are Anton Arensky's and Alexander Taneyev.

For the Russian quartet sceptics - Mendelssohn isn't terrible at all; his works are at least as good as Tchernov's strinq quartets, with which it has been famously coupled. Mendelssohn gets enough marketing as it is, and Germanophilia is as latently rife as much as Sovietphobia. Svetlanov's string quartets have an aching classical beauty and a sonorism which precedes (and surpasses ) that of Kabalevskys' two string quartets which were famous in their day, Composers Union in accord too. The Ciurlionis string quartet (more naturalistic, perhaps not as evocative as the symphonic arrangement of La Mer by Debussy'.

There is nothing in German music which compares to this body of string quartet literature for the same era. Moving into the early modernity, Knipper, Mosolov and Roslavets probably gave Russians a terrible image problem for making jarringly ugly futuristic music - much like the ugliness revered in the Second Viennese School which is what had become of much of German music (not the Jewish outlyers, given in a previous post). Although even ugliness has its own internal aesthetics, which is to say that in extreme ugliness, there is indeed...beauty in motif, or in the agony of trying to become music beautiful, ugly is, as ugly does. In the post-modern era, we have no absolute grasp of what is ugly and can define it into becoming beautiful.

This is different, than the arts of the beautiful. So back to the beautiful: Filipenko's long neglected three string quartets deserve to be heard by a new generation of Germanophliics 

Nasidze; Tsindsatdze, although Georgian by today's standards, still are Russian, if the Austrian Schubert is German, rather than Austrian. Still - it's the string quartet cycles by Vissarion Shebalin (9 quartets) and his tutor, Nikolai Myaskovsky (13) and his predecessor, Glazunov (7, of whose the middle 2-5 are the most Russian in colour, along with the Novelettes and The Fridays work) which all conform to that extension of the tradition set by Borodin. Contemporaneous with Shostakovich comes along, Salmanov; Falik, Peiko, Levitin whose works are only just coming back into print (starting with Salmanov!). Falik's works are very attractive.

It's not that there isn't any Russian chamber string quartet of the 20th century: it just hasn't been openly marketed as aggressively as their better known German counterparts. That in itself, is a huge bias and blindspot into overlooking the gems in Russian string quartet repertoire, before we even move into the contemporary era of living Russian composers like Firsova, Smirnov, Gubaidulina The modern guys who break from it - like Elena Firsova and her husband, Smirnov and Edison Denissov are miles away into the avant garde 21st century.


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## Quartetfore

Add to the list of Russian works for string quartet the op.2 quartet of Alexander Grechaninov. though perhaps a cut below the Borodin second it is a prime example of the Romantic Russian style. 
And don`t forget the beautiful Octet of Gliere. I think that it is second only to the Borodin second Quartet for shear beauty.


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## Head_case

Which recording of the Gliere are you listening to? Berlin Philharmonic players?

If you're adding in non-quartets, then the string sextets by Borodin & Lyapunov & Gliere are a must too 

I do wish Gliere's music was better serviced. It's awful the way most of us only come to know Gliere those awful 'Rousing Russian Romantics - Best of' albums or ABRSM piano grade examination stuff.

The legendary Bolshoi Theatre Quartet recording of his string quartet No.III is back in print.


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## Quartetfore

The Berlin Phil. it is--I "love" that recording. There is a recording of the Grechaninov 3rd played by the Dante Quartet. The Cd also includes the Lyapunov Sextet.


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## Head_case

That's an amazing recording. The Dante Quartet are superb - possibly the best recording of the Grechaninov IIIrd in recording? My Moyzes Quartet of the No.II & IV on Marco Polo is serviceable. The Kabalevsky string quartets recorded by the Glazunov Quartet renders them much more attractive to me, even if I can detect the beauty of the Grechaninov Quartets. Perhaps it's time to update to the Utrecht String Quartet for the complete Grechaninov Quartets.....?


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## Quartetfore

The Utrecht Quartet is a good group, and they make a strong case for the quartets. The sound is very good as it most often is on MD&G recordings. Did I miss something in this very interesting give and take? Correct me if I am wrong as I am often, but did the Tchaikovsky quartets get a mention? I think that the first is one with the Borodin second as the best to come out of Russia during the 19th century. I`m not covinced about his second and third. they might have made good a good Symphony or two, and at least in my recording there seems to me to have a touch of hysteria about them (Brodsky Quartet). If the String Quartet is four people talking to each other, these four are a bit over the top.


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## Head_case

I liked the Utrecht Quartet - what I heard of them. They have some very interesting repertoire beyond the popular quartet literature. It's just the way their albums are packaged which makes me coy about them. Their Glazunov Quartet Cycle is probably the best on the market, although individual ones (like the St Petersburg Quartet or the Glazunov Quartet recording) yield more insights. 

Ooops - I think most of us bypassed Tchaikovsky accidentally (on purpose). He isn't on my radar much, after I heard the Borodin Quartet's cycle recordings of the Tchaikovsky. I settled on the Taneyev Quartet's recordings of the Tchaikovsky quartets...oddly I didn't find the No I which might explain why I tended to leave Tchaikovsky out. I'll have to dig out that no. I and listen to it again. 

Romantic literature isn't my forte; I suppose the Brodsky's reading of the Tchaikovsky overplays the emotions, much like most of their work. Their readings of the Shostakovich Quartet Cycle had me apostatized in an Edward Munch cringe until the CD finished. Like a horror movie, I had to plough through each CD of the XV quartets, recoiling in shock at the way they completely raped and demolished these sensitively wrought string quartets into four instruments simultaneously recorded in complete monologue.


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## Head_case

...and this one slipped past me. I saw the name Tchaikovsky and skipped it when it came out.

Just last week I realised...oh. This is not Peter and the Wolf.

http://home.wanadoo.nl/ovar/tchaikb.htm

His teachers are Myaskovsky, Shebalin and Shostakovich! With a triumvirate such as this, his string quartet cycle is on my to get list (NOW!).


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## Quartetfore

What do you think about Northern Flowers recordings as to sound quality? I have been holding off buying (downloads) as I will give up a bit of performance quality for sound quality. 
QF.


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## Head_case

I don't know about this Northern Flowers release specifically - haven't got it yet. 

Depends on the vintage recording perhaps? Much of the Northern Flowers releases are from the St Petersburg Archives - dating back to the 1970's, 80's heyday of Soviet recordings, already released on Melodiya and the western Olympia recordings. The transfers are very well done, but as fans of the Taneyev Quartet will know - some more successful than others, and overall, have a lean and aggressive sound, compared to EMI recordings (Borodins) which have a tubby romantic preraphaelite love handle type approach to recordings. 

The best of the Northern Flowers transfers: like the complete Tischenko String Quartet Cycles, or the Taneyev Quartet Cycles are superb. Some of the Myaskovsky Quartet Cycles are great, but some are just serviceable (like the recordings for No.IV/I). If you have a very transparent CD player, then you will need a warm tube amp and speakers to get the best of it. If you're going for downloads, I find digital downloads all sound 'thin', 'shrill' or metallic, but that's because I'm set up for an analogue/tube sound from CDs/vinyl LPs. This is the one thing that grates me about digital downloads: the shrill fatigue on moderate volumes over a longer period. Decent recordings on a good system don't contribute to as much hearing fatigue over time. The Northern Flowers ones are good though - you might find the digital sound acceptable if you upsampled. 

Not sure if that's what you're hoping to hear. If you're just wanting to discover the sound, I guess digital downloads are okay, but take a look at the price that the Vissarion Shebalin string quartet cycles now command: they were only ever released by Olympia Records in their complete cycle before their demise. Hopefully Northern Flowers will bring the complete cycle back to life again.


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## Hassid

Have all 9 Shebalin's on Olympia, by the wonderful Krasni quartet. Very fine version and great works.


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## Head_case

That's the only complete version I know of...is there another? 

I've seen the solitary Shebalin No. V recorded by the Borodins, but I (vary from the majority) and don't really care for their overly effusive romanticism. I can't remember if it was the No.V or No. VI which won the Stalin prize, before the rest of his works were denounced as formalist and he died writing his last quartet from ill health. His humanity in his masterpieces require excavation and patience: the insights however are unrivalled. I bought the CD set as soon as it came out, and I can remember thinking: "Mortal Mosolov - this music really is crud!~!" It just seemed to whine on and whinge on! No great developments; no stunned angry transformation of bitter pizzicati and furious glissandi predicting the end of the world. The whole cycle seemed rather bland, and I was really disappointed and shelved it.

Somehow, a few years later, his music just fell into place in my life. The quietly beautiful sinously wound threads of tapestry weave around the listener whose patience is rewarded with the arts of the hidden ... beauty, revealed slowly, as silk sewn into linen. 

I really can't say how beautiful his music is, now that it has touched me: the lyrical thread from his tutor Myaskovsky is there; none of Shostakovich's petulant naughtiness and virtuously bad temperament which crafts brilliant angst ridden soviet music - it's like Shebalin crafted music for the arkangels with his left hand as he lay dying; lower than humans, yet touching above us all the same.


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## quack

Wow that's some review, I need to hear those Shebalin's now, although I do like petulant naughtiness.

I am no audiophile but those Boris Tchaikovsky discs sound good to me, they were only recorded in 2008, not some old 70s transfer.


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## Head_case

Yes - I love Shostakovich's string quartets too, but perhaps they are overrated and populist: they are too popular. Not that this is a bad thing, except insofar, as it numbs or blinds people to discovering the other great string quartet cycles out there. It is not that his string quartets are poor. Far from it - they are certainly one of the finest cycles, and make a great impression. But they have nothing of the dimension of Shebalin's sinewy at at times symphonic textures, which wistfully and gracefully wrap around the listener's consciousness, embedding him in timeless aural landscape. 

Listening to Shostakovich and being somewhat of a Shostakovich string quartet fanatic, I initially found the Shebalin cycle rather boring and mundane. It has taken me years, to grow into appreciating it. We're lucky though: when Shebalin was at the height of his fame in the Soviet Union, even Soviet listeners were never graced with the complete cycle recordings by the Krasni Quartet. The new Boris Tchaikovsky recordings are by a quartet who have no name! This is not going to help their sales. Firstly - messing being eclipsed and confused by Peter Tchaikovsky,and then marketed by a nameless group :/

I don't recognise the players except for Ioff. I wonder where they come from musically. At first I thought they might be splintered from the Glazunov Quartet members in disguise, but the names are definitely different.


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## Hassid

From B.T. have only the 6th. by an unknown ensamble:Andrey Korsakoff-Margaret Peletsisva-Alexander Petrov-Andrei Demin.

BTW: Korsakoff, a relative of Nicolai, was a super-virtuoso, with a superior technique, a fantastic sound and a hot temperament. He was one of the best Russian violinists of his generation, but he sadly died very young, in his 40s. His young daughter is a very fine violinist.


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## Head_case

That's the album with his string sextet and trio?

I can't wait to hear it still - ordered it now.

Currently listening to the three Gliere string quartets:










Incredible romantic Russian music - straight from Borodin's string quartet No.2 stylistically.

Can't believe how hard this album is to get now, but it is available on digital download for those who warne't averse.

Why music like this is under-recorded and underperformed.....undermarketed..... :/


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## jurianbai

That is the Gliere I've been listening. The other Russians I like to re-mentioning are: Gretchaninov, Anton Rubinstein, Tischenko, Mossolov, Roslavets, Kabalevsky, Alex Taneyev. Then more well known composers like Arensky and Glazunov.

On those, Kabalevsky is my most memorable. 
http://amzn.to/SAZMvL









for modernist, here is something interesting.
http://amzn.to/TgIv9y









http://amzn.to/SCWnOa


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## Head_case

Haha ..you (and I) would say that. After all, Kabalevsky was one of Myaskovsky's great students.

The Kabalevsky quartets are definitely the ones to have out of that collection 

They are actually contemporaneous with Myaskovskys' own string quartets. Kabalevsky;s string quartet No. I, more sprightly and full of vigour written around the early Myaskovsky ones; and No. II, similarly contemporaneous around the period of Myaskovsky's own string quartet No. IX - a work which is in stark contrast to the folkloric sunny weaving charms of his No. VII in forced exile & even elegiac dedication of No. VIII to the memory of a friend. No. IX - written during the Great Patriotic war. Strongly agitated and tensile themes, searching and broodingly dark. I suppose it's always dubious to imply authorial biography, however his own PTSD experience in World War I, prior to the Great Patriotic War, did much to shape that very expressivity of the personally introverted Myaskovskian worldview according to his biographers.

Shame the Kabalevsky, like the Shebalin quartets, remain in relative obscurity (as did Myaskovsky's own string quartet cycle). Perhaps the next generation will be redsicovering it 50 years from now, thinking WOW! How on earth did all those old fools before us fail to appreciate the beauty of these works?! 

About those other two emmm...futuristic and 'avant garde' discs. The Mosolov is attractive in a slow drawn out motoric way, if you like neo-classicism and futurism. It doesn't appeal for its personal textures or microlanguage - mostly its appeal likes for its focus on the larger canvas.....which can be problematic aurally, for a listener of the chamber music form (perhaps symphonically, it would work better?).

The Roslavets ...well Roslavets is Roslavets. He's the kind of composer which made Americans think Russians were really cold blooded iguanas, zipped up in disguise as furry hatted neighbours 

The Denisov (husband) and Firsova (wife) couplings are almost interesting, and for a female composer who has penned over 10 string quartets, it doesn't really do enough justice to her works, to screw it up with Stravinsky's rather irritatingly over-recorded 3 pieces. They are exactly that: 'pieces', which has gained his string quartet illiteracy, more listeners, than better string quartet composers, such as Schnittke, who isn't well serviced in recordings. The fact that he has made his stamp on the string quartet genre, when Kabalevsky is virtually esoteric in comparison, is just shockingly revelatory of the kind of musical blindness we live in.

Anyway, enough of the rant (yes..Stravinsky does suck at the string quartet genre!) The Kronos Quartet and Borodin Quartet set are probably the best recordings from the previous two decades of the Schnittke. Of the recent recordings, it is the Canadian Molinari Quatuor who gain my preference. They are incredible exponents of his works, and they also have premiered Roy Schafer's works too.

But he isn't Russian. He's across the Bering strait in Canada 

Here's another one you (and romantic buffs) might like:










Afanasiev is better known outside the Soviet countries for his choral works. I can't say I care for Rachaninov's 'string quartet' nor for Rimsky Korsakov. The Belyaev Friday Group have created some interesting cameo music for short pieces to introduce children to the string quartet genre haha










There is a better performed version of this music by the awesome Dante Quartet. I've got the disc, but can't find an image of it. You can hear it here (thanks Aramis):

http://chomikuj.pl/MAFIAmix/Muzyka+...*27The+Fridays*27*2c+dedicated+to+M.P.Belyaev


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## jurianbai

Already listen to Rachmaninov and Rimsky Korsakov. The Afanasiev is really the stuff! Just listen to it. Luckily there is youtube.





and so on...

Aram Khachaturian, write one string quartet also but I never listen that, no recording I think. And how about the other Armenians Ghazaros (Lazar) Saryan , composed two string quartet 1949 and 1986.


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## Head_case

I see you found it. Like much of Armenia's history, it has a painfully elegiac quality about the music. Witness the slow 2nd movement unfold after the disarmingly piquant initial sul ponticelli. His string quartet was one of the first submitted by an ethnic Russian composer to the Russian Music Society and won first prize - it was that good, but its recording seems to be sparse and few :/


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## Quartetfore

This from the "Grove" (1954?)
"In Russia several composers have bee prolific in their output of string quartets though generally in idiom less advanced thant that of Bartok. Myaskovsky`s 13 quartets, like his symphonies, have made little impact outside of th USSR, nor indeed has the chamber music of better-known figures such as Kabalevsky and Khachaturian".
I must agree, in a lifetime of Concert going I have never heard this music "live". The Russian recording industry at least is keeping this music alive.
Just a note on Micheak Tillmouth who wrote this entry on the String Quartet, It seems to me, that the String Quartet went into a decline after Beethoven and Schubert according to Mr. Tillmouth/


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## Head_case

[Rant On]
Wow...that is one rather archaic and fascinating capsule viewpoint from the Tovey professor (actually, I disagree with just about every single point of view he ever espoused lol).

In his obituary, no doubt he had it pre-written, that future reviewers after him, would also go into decline, much in the way that Beethoven and Schubert's string quartets, were never equalled (within their own idiomatic compositional style and form). Such is his own confidence in the narrowness of his worldview.

He was eminently respected by those who were prone to quote encyclopaedias like the Rainman however at times came a cropper as a complete 'stuckist', who argued for the stuckness of the high era of absolutes within music, vaunting the most obvious highpoints, unnervingly failing to look beyond his own nose's satifaction with handed down truths, forever closed to the new world or that obscured, by political destruction, repression, or hidden from his own view. This attitude - his - of offering a stalwart dry opinion, which became authoritative as many haplings sought solace in his title as a professor who therefore was better than the layperson, unqualified to comment or open his mouth, and also inscribed and immortalised in the encyclopaedia of music made him emminently suitable for the task of being a lexicographer or someone who catalogued and filed reviews, without contesting anything.

Perhaps this isn't unusual for reviewers..especially qualified one of his era, who were heading into the post-modern era (not by choice), but without a foundation to understand what post-modern meant. Worse yet - even less insight, to anticipate, that the world to come, would be measured in ways, which was not searching a replication of the originality of Beethoven or Schubert....nor the centuries of hindsight to inform them. As a man of his time, he couldn't even grasp the importance of Szymanowski's contributions to the importance of the development of the Polish string quartet; the 'old Europe' of the west was his particular area of interest (but then, maybe that's because Soviet critics just got shot? )

Thankfully, the world has opened up in ways, which Tilmouth could never have grasped. The Cold War, and its end, revealed that Soviet Russians, were very like us in the West, if not, uncannily....no better. They liked loud symphonic crashing whoops and hollers of the symphony. Extroverted symphonic mass effect from numbers and volume made more of an impact than the quiet drawn strings of a chamber room - intrinsically a 'bourgeois' activity. The 70's brought a swathe of Marxist thinkers, who proclaimed "Space is capitalist!" and vilified land ownership along with introspective symphonic forms (unless used for rousing national anthems or military marches) and desecrated the 'private' space of the 'chamber music', which is the intimate room, where the string quartet belonged and took root. Well, I suppose Schubert's Death of the Maiden, wasn't even published until after his death: it took 3 years before it became 'read' or even played'. Its roots were personal; borne from organising his own emotions, towards his own finite lifespan. Then again, Janacek's string quartets (celebration of love and loss), is similar to the themes of Beethoven (celebrating the lack of love, and hearing loss), and Dvorak, and other famous string quartets.

Thankfully the era of the internet has ushered in. We are much better informed than Tilmouth. We know better, than to measure the worth of music, by its commercial impact, even if this requires...waiting...beyond our own lifetimes....to hear music. That is the nature of posthumous works. Not everything can be published in our lifetimes.

The other irritating aspect of Tilmouth's thinking, is his usual prejudice, in vaunting 'progress' or the 'avant garde', which itself, is contingent, not on timelessness (the stuff classics are made of), but on 'progress'. He whinges that Myaskovsky's work is not as advanced in idiom as Bartok's; for a reviewer, or a critic, perhaps innovation (away from tradition) is attractive, however for a listener who has access to several hundred centuries of string quartet literature, we are less inclined to praise 'progress', since no matter, anything written in the past 300 years, is still out of date, and not 'innovative' anymore. The bias for 'avant garde', might do more than blind a reviewer into failing to see the qualities and merits of music. We are not interested in the latest rhythm and blues chart topping pop song.

I wonder whether Tilmouth would have suffered indigestion from eating his own words, as Svetlanov's complete Myaskovsky symphonies sold out fast in shops outside of the USSR. Clearly, as a man of his time, he did not understand time: in our generation, we are already seeing Myaskovsky's worldwide impact, albeit it 50 years late. Tilmouth's words, not only lack a grasp of the conceptual relation between art and time, but his lack of understanding of culture. 
. 
[Rant off]

what a wonderful day


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## Quartetfore

Head Case,Now my friend THAT is quite a rant, but very interesting,I wonder if the article in question is a reflection of the cultural bias of the time.
I went back to "Chamber Music" edited by Akec Robertson for Penguin Books and first published in1957. My reason being to see what was written about Russian Chamber music of the time. As expected, the bulk of the chapter was devoted to the Tchaikovsky 1st and the Borodin 2nd. Two long paragraphs about Pokofiev, and llong paragraph about Shostakovich (Piano Quintet). At the time (1957), I think only 5 of his string quartets were in circulation. The chapter and paragraph end with this sentence "There are Soviet compostions (Piano Quintet)at once so sincere, so untrivial and so musically so satisfying". This to me sounds like just plain ignorance, or true bias. The article was written by Andrew Porter.
One more thing: Among all the names listed did miss Prokofiev? His second quartet is a very fine work.
Best, QF. 
PS. The above sentence that starts "There are Soviet compostions" Should read "There are few Soviet compostions"


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## Head_case

Haha - am I being anachronistic ....perhaps reviewers comments need to be considered in the very culture in which they were situated, rather than transported out of their era, into ours.

The Penguin Books (these are the ones I grew up with when learning how to read ) and the Penguin Guide for Music had that canonical status which we used to refer to for recordings when kids hunting down good recordings. They were generally on the ball, and so far as the reviews, did not encroach into 'the Unknown' [aka "Commie Music"], they fared pretty well as a resource.

Andrew Porter's naive comments are fine, insofar as they are a reflection of his own emotions when listening to music. Tilmouth's grandiosity, in the Oxford way, professing knowledge under the sun, and plainly unaware of his own ignorance, is that hallmark of the Classical Penguin Guide and countless musical references, which make a case for them all to be abandoned (or burned in a cultural revolution lol). I suppose in the 50's, under the grip of Stalin, the western ignorance, particularly British ignorance of the effect on cultural suppression of the Soviet composers, was completely unknown to British writers of the time. Maybe back in the 50's, music 'had to be played in order to be alive'. It would be hard to smuggle out recordings of Soviet tapes and gramaphones to the West of strangely written string quartet music: who on earth would be interested in such a task, let alone be at the receiving end of such an endeavour 

When I look back at what I knew about Soviet Music, as a result of clambering in and out of every 'authoritative' musical guide I had at my disposal in college, none of it even points towards the breadth and scale, which is highlighted by the collectivity on this forum. Granted - nothing we write is authoritative. Maybe that is a good thing: that way, we do have a responsibility to think for ourselves...to decide for ourselves...and discriminate in the words we read, whether the music stands up to scrutiny. This path, is far more preferable, than taking for granted, that a reviewer's rave, is a masterpiece, without ever making that personal discovery, to arrive at the same or different conclusion.

I notice that by the 2000's, Gramaphone magazine reviews had improved somewhat. I recall a very well received review for the Krasni Quartet's recordings of some of Taneyev's string quartets, as well as the Shebalin Cycle. On a wider scale, the cultural bias of journalism is shocking. The British BBC attitudes towards China (from being scathing, accusatory and condemnatory) in 2007 prior (and even during) the British Olympics, has toned down strikingly to a more placatory; fawning, awe-struck attitude in response to the rising economic power of China. Maybe it's always easier to point out problems and injustices with far away neighbours, than it is, to look at the ones under the very nose of the country we live in. This requires courage - sadly lacking but thankfully not universally.


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## jurianbai

Myaskovsky string quartet no.13 in Am, remain the most recorded pieces.

Borodin String quartet





Capprice string quartet... 1st movement





here we go...
4th movement


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## Head_case

Yup - nice to see the Borodin Quartet recording of the Myaskovsky No. XIII. The Kopelman Quartet (of whom, Kopelman was a member of the Borodin Quartet v.2) also recorded the same number, but not as well played imho. Of course, the Renoir Quartet have recorded it (and played it with their awful Gallic interpretation which is too left of the field for Myaskovsky purists. The Gostoroskaya (or something) Radio Quartet recording of the No.XIII is splendid, and better recorded in some ways than the magisterial Taneyev Quartet's recording of No. XIII. Don't know if the Bolshoi Theatre Quartet recording of the XIII ever made it into circulation but the No. IX is available. Of the recent groups, the Pacifica Quartet reading of the No. XIII is first rate.

Jonathan Woolf's review of the Myaskovsky string quartet cycle should not be ignored: without his incisive enthusiasm, we would be less well off:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2010/June10/Miaskovsky_Quartets_NFPMA9950-3.htm


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## jurianbai

Just seen that Carpe Diem volume three of Sergey Taneyev string quartet is on the roll!








amazon link -> http://amzn.to/155FnTC


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## Vaneyes

I found Carpe Diem Qt. Taneyev (Vols. 1 - 3) to be unsuccessful re interps, playing, and sound. 

Recording venue was changed for Vol. 3. It's warmer, with more distant micing. Sloppy playing, so evident in Vols. 1 & 2, has now been swapped for cautious playing. 
For the time being, Taneyev Qt. on Northern Flowers is a better idea. :tiphat:


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