Search - Dmitry Shostakovich, Kim Kashkashian, Daniel Phillips :: Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 15, Op. 144 / Sofia Gubaidulina: Rejoice! for Violin & Cello - Gidon Kremer / Daniel Phillips / Kim Kashkashian / Yo-Yo Ma

Coming to Terms with Death

R Cleghorn | Vienna , Austria | 06/29/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Shostakovich's 15th Quartet is haunted by his awareness of his approaching death ,and his attempt to come to terms with a life that was surrounded and submerged in tragedy . He paints a bleak picture of reality : a life that seeks no solace in an afterlife that he wasn't expecting . Kremer and his companions tackle the immense task of interpreting this morbid , but exquisite work ,with huge intensity -necessary ,in order to hold the listener's attention through this limp towards death . Not once did I experience a slight breather of my concentration , especially in the minimalistic 2nd movement ,that achieves huge impact through the sheer sinew of sound conjoured up by the quartet . It's especially Kremer who tears one apart with his unrelentless and uncompromising sound . The Gubaidalina is a fascinating work , not for the faint hearted and it took me a while to get into the work . It's not what one would normally associate with joy , but the work has an ecstatic quality -but ecstasy born through pain or a bad experience . Perhaps unlike Schostakovich , she sees the light at the other end of the tunnel of death . What a joy it is to have a musician like Kremer , who is prepared to put his reputation on the line , in order to expose these great works to a a larger public ."