Shostakovich: String Quartets 1-15 *****
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, 9th August 2015
“It’s been a journey,” is an empty expression, often quoted by celebrities as they’re booted off the latest reality TV programme. Yet it accurately summed up the experience of hearing all fifteen Shostakovich string quartets in a single day. What the experience was like for the Carducci Quartet, performers of this marathon feat on the 40th anniversary of the composer’s death, is anyone’s guess. Performed chronologically in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, The Globe’s candlelit Jacobean theatre, they made an astonishing impression in such concentrated form. Almost autobiographical, they chart an intensely personal journey through Shostakovich’s output.
The Carducci Quartet
© Tom Barnes
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