Writing string quartets seems serious business, but if you look through the correspondence of the Polish-Russian composer Vainberg (1919-1996) and his friend Dmitri Shostakovich, you occasionally get the impression that both gentlemen are only at stake in their exercises in this prestigious genre. for a competition, where it was about who would write the most. Vainberg eventually 'won', because with
… 17 he composed two more than Shostakovich, who stuck at 15. The first work on this CD is "Quartet nr.1, op.2 / 141". The piece was composed by Vainberg in 1937, but the score was lost during the war. In 1985 Vainberg wrote down the work as best he could from memory; hence the double opus number. The "Quartet No. 10, Op.85" dates back to 1964 and is dedicated to Vainberg's second wife. Vainberg's last quartet is the 1987 "Quartet nr.17, Op.146". While Shostakovich's late works are characterized by emptiness and desolation, Vainberg's late music is still full of vitality. Overall, in Vainberg's chamber music the resemblance with Shostakovich's style is much less strong than in his orchestral music, but it is recognizable as the typically Russian moderately modern idiom. The Gothenburg Quartet will put these quartets in the spotlight. (JvG) _ Overall, in Vainberg's chamber music the resemblance with Shostakovich's style is much less strong than in his orchestral music, but it is recognizable as the typically Russian moderately modern idiom. The Gothenburg Quartet will put these quartets in the spotlight. (JvG) _ Overall, in Vainberg's chamber music the resemblance with Shostakovich's style is much less strong than in his orchestral music, but it is recognizable as the typically Russian moderately modern idiom. The Gothenburg Quartet will put these quartets in the spotlight. (JvG) _more
