# Glinka - String Quartet 1 (SQ review)



## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Glinka is often regarded as the founder of Russian nationalism in music and his influence on composers such as Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin and Mussorgsky was considerable but he's not known for his string quartets. He started work on his 1st String Quartet in 1823 (at the tender age of 19) and it took a year to finish. It has huge importance in Russian music as it's believed its the first quartet composed by a Russian composer, however it remained unloved and unedited by the composer until the 1940’s when Myaskovsky and Shirinsky finished the job that Glinka started. It's in a standard 4 movements, opening with a huge, sprawling and far, far too long Allegro. Like the 2nd quartet it has an undeniably vocal quality to the melodies throughout and the 2nd movement, Larghetto, is a theme and set of three variations, where the final variation is lovely. The 3rd movement is a Haydenesque Menuetto and trio before the heavily edited Rondo finale, my favourite movement. Its a pleasant enough piece that is heavily influenced by the classical era quartets of Haydn and Mozart. Only 3 recordings (that I know of) are in existence so here's my thoughts on them...

Like the recording of the 2nd quartet the Quatuor Anton aren't really up to the task in hand in a rather dry and anaemic recording but they do play this one better. Far more successful are the more renowned and capable Taneyev and Shostakovich quartets. The *Taneyev Quartet *play really finely and bring a singing quality to their performance but they're much too broad in the opening Allegro (their 17 minutes almost feels like a lifetime). The *Shostakovich Quartet* are much more concise in the opening 2 movements, shaving a full 4 minutes off the recommendable Taneyev, plus they play with more drama, better phrasing and greater articulation. Under their tutelage the Rondo is fresher and more alert and theirs is a highly recommendable and superior account.


----------

