Shostakovich's fifteen string quartets reveal aspects of his character, from wild humor to black despair, with an underlying nervous tension.
Historical Context
Shostakovich's chamber music became more prominent after 1936, a period when official disapproval in Stalin's Russia could be a matter of life or death.
Performer Biography
The Jerusalem Quartet, an Israeli string quartet founded in 1993, has received numerous awards, including the Diapason d'Or and the BBC Music Magazine Award.
Composer Biography
The String Quartet No. 7 is dedicated to the memory of Shostakovich's first wife, Nina, who died in 1954, and was composed during one of his increasingly frequent hospital stays.
Compositional Technique
Ten of Shostakovich's fifteen string quartets end with the direction 'morendo' (dying away), indicating a sense of resignation.
Compositional Technique
Shostakovich frequently used the direction 'con sordino' (muted) in his quartet writing, not to reduce volume, but for structural and formal contrast of sonorities.
Instruments
The cellist of the Jerusalem Quartet, Kyril Zlotnikov, plays a cello made by the Amati Brothers around 1610, on loan from a Charitable Trust.
