Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Quartet No.14 in F sharp major, Op 142 (1972-3)
Quartet No.15 in E flat minor, Op 144 (1974)
Asasello-Quartett
rec. 2025, Deutschlandfunk Kammermusiksaal Köln, Germany
Genuin GEN25937 [59]
As with my previous review of Shostakovich string quartets (Quartetto Noûs), the Asasello here gives us the composer’s last two in the series. Comparisons between those groups – whilst fascinating in their highly contrasting approaches to late Shostakovich – are barely relevant, given their different backgrounds, nationalities, overall repertoire, although both ensembles appear highly committed to contemporary music – with the Asasello, if not quite exclusively so, then it seemingly forms a major part of their work. As they have now recorded all the quartets of both Shostakovich and Schönberg – two of the 20th century’s more opposite creative forces – we can gain a more informed grasp of where they are coming from in their approach to the former.
It is an approach which can be especially appropriate, so much of their other repertoire being based as it is on a thorough and faithful realisation of the score. That is not to imply that technical perfection is necessarily the principal requirement of any music – including the most recent! Nevertheless, these performances are as flawless an exposition of what is notated on the page as anyone could reasonably expect. This also embraces tempi/metronome marks and I can report that they are consistently faithful to these as well, having sampled many of their other Shostakovich recordings. I have found examples of exceptional virtuosity, such that at times (for example, the finale of No.9) they play so dangerously fast that I, as a listener, can barely keep up with them – but, to their credit, it works in the other direction as well, such that the finale of No.4 comes across as the heavy-footed Jewish dance it was surely meant to be. In No.15, such diligence means that the wild explosions on the first violin (Rostislav Kozhevnikov), which open the third and sixth movements, are dispatched with notable facility – and in the latter this also applies to the cellist (Teemu Myöhänen), and eventually to the entire ensemble for the creepy pianissimo version from fig 72 (3:22 – “Holy Spirit”, we in the FSQ used to call it!).
But to begin at the beginning (that is, of this final instalment of their complete cycle): No.14 – dedicated to Sergei Shirinsky, the Beethoven Quartet cellist – gets off to a reasonably gutsy start, cleanly executed by Mr Myöhänen – reaching a fierce climax from fig 9 {1:26). There is no doubt that the Asasello players deliver a pretty exact aural rendition of what the composer wrote down; no mean feat in this challenging key, with its six sharps – except, that is, for the odd note I didn’t recognise! To be fair, some editions are frustratingly plagued with inaccuracies. Yet they can also find the right smoky hue for the strangely hypnotic passage from fig 17 (2:58). In No.14, Shostakovich offers each player a degree of freedom in recitative-like solo passages, and in these he seems privately to greet each musician in turn. The Asasello have evidently made an executive decision to present their solos “in time” – as if referring back to Beethoven’s explicit instructions to the cello/bass sections near the beginning of the finale of his Ninth: “Selon le caractère d’un Recitativ, mais in tempo” (would that more conductors might observe his entreaty). Shostakovich neither marks these passages “Recitative”, nor “in tempo”, so either approach could be deemed valid.
The unearthly fugato which opens No.15 is beautifully played by all – although I feel bound to point out a habit which seems to have become increasingly prevalent (when making comparisons I have discovered the odd example in Fitzwilliam recordings, too) of cutting long notes and rests short of their correct value – as Barbara Streil does with both her long E flats in the fugue subject itself. The other three can’t copy this, of course, since they are each bound by the ongoing pulse of their colleagues – a fundamental ingredient of this work, with its concept of a single Adagio tempo throughout (apart from the Funeral March, Adagio molto). In the passage from 4 before fig 12 (5:41) – which I have described elsewhere as “a kind of pagan-religious chant, mesmeric in effect, characteristically Russian with a faint smell of the Orthodox” – each pair of duos finds a different degree of vibrato, just enough to delineate the gravity of the part writing: much to be commended.
The nightmarish shrieks which open the decidedly grim Serenade are delivered accurately, with control, but without fear of roughness – for the sake of maximum impact – and their inherent discipline means that they avoid falling into the trap of taking the easy way out at fig. 30 (1:50), when the serenade proper is reached; in other words, they resist moving it on faster. What is certainly apparent by now is their commitment to what might be thought of as a poetic or psychological idea behind Shostakovich’s concept of attaching the same tempo heading to each section, with – for the most part – the same pulse as well. Where other groups might wish to read more deeply into the strongly contrasting characters of the individual movements, as expressed in their titles, the Asasello are single minded in their unwavering preference for overall unity, as realised through the composer’s notated adherence to a constant pulse. It is for listeners/potential purchasers to make up their own minds as to which approach they feel more attuned to, and decide to go for.
The booklet notes (by two of the Asasello players) display impressive knowledge, not only of the quartets themselves, but of the circumstances in which they came about – revealing how much they are immersed in, and devoted to, this supremely great composer and his music for all times, all places.
Alan George
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