Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 2 was premiered by the Beethoven Quartet, to whom it was written, at The Philharmonic Hall in Leningrad on November 14, 1944.
Performer Biography
The Kopelman Quartet members all graduated from the Moscow Conservatoire in the 1970s, a period considered its 'golden age' where students worked with figures like Shostakovich and Rostropovich.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 2 incorporates style elements of the sacred and klezmer music of Eastern European Jewry, possibly to express sympathy for persecuted Jewish people or oppose anti-Semitism.
Composer Biography
Dmitri Shostakovich, the composer of the String Quartet No. 2, Op. 68, was a relatively late starter in the string quartet genre, with his first quartet appearing in 1938.
Composition History
Shostakovich composed his String Quartet No. 2 in A major Op. 68 in just nineteen days during the summer of 1944 at a 'House of Rest and Creativity' in Ivanovo.
Composer Biography
Evgeny Kissin, a renowned virtuoso pianist, has also composed works for piano, voice and piano, cello and piano, and this string quartet, and wishes to develop his compositional voice further.
Compositional Technique
Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 2 is his only string quartet to begin in a major key and end in a minor key, creating an overall modal conflict.
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