Pacifica Quartet [Sunday Concert]

The Pacifica Quartet in the first of two concerts of Shostakovich's late String Quartets recorded at London's Wigmore Hall last month. Written in the late 1960s and early 70s during the deadening greyness of the Brezhnev years, these quartets are at turns dark and heartfelt, they contain some of Shostakovich's most intimate and inner music. The Pacifica Quartet has gained rave reviews for its complete Shotakovich cycle in the United States where they are based, and for its performances of the early quartets at Wigmore Hall last year. Today you can hear them perform the 11th, 12th and 13th quartets and next Sunday the 14th and 15th to round off the cycle.

Shostakovich - String Quartet No. 11 in F minor Op. 122

Shostakovich - String Quartet No. 12 in D flat Op. 133

Shostakovich - String Quartet No. 13 in B flat minor Op. 138

Pacifica String Quartet.

The Pacifica Quartet performs Shostakovich's String Quartets Nos 11, 12 and 13.

Series of concert recordings

The Pacifica Quartet in the second of two concerts of Shostakovich's late String Quartets recorded at London's Wigmore Hall last month. Written in the 1970s during the deadening greyness of the Brezhnev years, these quartets are at turns dark and heartfelt, they contain some of Shostakovich's most intimate and inner music. The 14th Quartet was written just after the composer had been diagnosed with lung cancer while 15th Quartet was written in the last year of the composer's life and it's hard not to see the piece as a sustained farewell to the world.

Shostakovich - String Quartet no.14 in F sharp, Op.142

Shostakovich: String Quartet no.15 in E flat minor, Op.144

Pacifica String Quartet.

The Pacifica Quartet performs Shostakovich's String Quartets Nos 14 and 15.

Series of concert recordings