# That Which Cannot Be Taught -- The Lyrical Shostakovich



## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

The second movement of Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 4 in D major, _Andantino_ -- a brilliant interpretation played with utter conviction:






A labyrinthine journey, gradations of tension finely calculated to support vast arches of melody. A single unbroken span of 1:20 is spun by the 1st violin; an answer comes in dark reflection from the cello (this cellist is a brilliant interpreter) - two breaths and the movement is a third over. The whole quartet is in this mode of deep, lyrical intensity.

Oh, by the way, that rising motive in the 1st violin, from the last minute on? - I know I have heard it, or close variants, in other works by Shostakovich. And when I heard those variants in other works, I began to think this motive functions something like a leitmotif of hope. Problem is, I've forgotten where else I have heard it. So, Shostakovich fans, any help in locating these lost relatives and uniting them to test the "hope hypothesis" would be greatly appreciated.


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