A candle for Shostakovich: the Carducci Quartet’s marathon

By Mark Pullinger, 10 August 2015

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“The Allegro non troppo... was fabulously aggressive, full of iron pizzicatos and flying bow-hair”

Reviewed at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London on 9 August 2015

Shostakovich, String Quartet no. 1 in C major, Op.49

Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op.68

Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 3 in F major, Op.73

Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 4 in D major, Op.83

Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 5 in B flat major, Op.92

Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 6 in G major, Op.101

Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 7 in F sharp minor, Op.108

Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 8 in C minor "Malinconia", Op.110

Shostakovich, String Quartet no. 9 in E flat major, Op.117

Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 10 in A flat major, Op.118

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

Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 12 in D flat major, Op.133

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

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

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

Carducci String Quartet

A Shostakovich tasting menu with the Carducci Quartet

David Truslove, 10th March

A tasting menu of string quartet movements interspersed with readings made for an absorbing afternoon.

****1

Ian Bostridge and Dame Sarah Connolly at the Barbican

Edward Sava-Segal, 1st November

Song cycles by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Ernest Chausson are paired at the Barbican.

****1

Raskatov's Monk's Music in Drogheda

Gavin Dixon, 3rd May

Russian composer Alexander Raskatov visits Ireland for a concert of his own works, including the epic string quartet cycle Monk's Music. A fascinating cross-section of the composer's work, well played to a sizeable and enthusiastic local audience.

****1

The Carducci Quartet over coffee in Oxford

Katy Wright, 10th November

The Carducci Quartet’s appearance in the Holywell Music Room marked the halfway point in the Oxford Coffee Concert’s Autumn series. This late-morning concert saw the ensemble pair two D major quartets, from 1781 and 1949. It was the latter which received the more convincing performance, with the quartet clearly more engaged with Shostakovich’s troubled utterance than Haydn’s lean textures.

***11

Britten's Noye's Fludde at Tewkesbury Abbey as part of the Cheltenham Music Festival

Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres, 3rd July

The Benjamin Britten centenary has inspired many groups into performing his works. The opera Noye’s Fludde was written to give amateur children a chance to perform and engage in operatic music alongside a smaller group of adult professional soloists. This performance was part of the Cheltenham Music Festival as their nod to Britten in the composer’s special year.

**111

El Cuarteto Carducci cierra el ciclo Shostakovich en Bogotá

Julián Montaña, 23rd August

La celebración en Colombia de los 40 años de muerte del compositor ruso estuvo marcada por interpretaciones en las que la planeación de las ideas musicales era tan clara que cada nuevo pasaje redactaba en su avance una historia.

*****

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

A candle for Shostakovich: the Carducci Quartet’s Globe marathon