Shostakovich - String Quartet No. 1, Op. 49

Shostakovich - String Quartet No. 1, Op. 49

The Borodin Quartet, consisting of Valentin Berlinsky (Cello), Andrei Abramenkov (Violin), Igor Naidin (Viola) and Ruben Aharonian (Violin) perform Dimitri Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 1, Op. 49 at the Kuhmo Festival for Chamber Music 2002. The first String Quartet was composed in only six weeks during the summer of 1938. With it the composer seemed to bring out a new form of Russian neoclassicism. The Beethoven Quartet premiered the work in November in Moscow, after which a lifelong friendship between the ensemble and Shostakovich flourished. The happy character of the first movement is contrasted by a slow second movement in A minor. The following scherzo creates a nervous mood while the closing movement brings the spring like quality back in the form of an energetic finale. Shostakovich said about his the work: "I visualized childhood scenes, somewhat naïve and bright moods associated with spring."