The New Zealand String Quartet (l to r: Gillian Ansell, Monique Lapins, Helene Pohl, Rolf Gjelsten) Photo: NZSQ
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) wrote as many string quartets as symphonies – fifteen of each. His symphonies present emotional rawness and power on an immense scale, but his string quartets are a vehicle for more intimate utterances.
By 1968 Shostakovich had developed an interest in 12-tone music and chose to write his String Quartet No 12 in this language. For Shostakovich the 12-tone ideas that formed the basis of this quartet were sombrely associated with death.
Unusually this quartet has only two movements but they are substantial and complex.
Shostakovich dedicated his Quartets 11, 12, 13 and 14 to the original four members of the Beethoven Quartet who premièred all but the first and last of his quartets.
Recorded on 14 July 2019, at Hunter Council Chamber, Wellington by RNZ Concert
Producer/Sound engineer: Darryl Stack
