Dmitri Kabalevsky (1904-1987)
String Quartet No.1 in A Minor, Op.8 (1928)
String Quartet No.2 in G Minor, Op.44 (1945)
Glazunov Quartet
rec. 1993, Studio 5, Moscow Radio, Moscow, Russia
Alto ALC1714 [67]
Older readers who studied the piano may remember the various easy pieces Dmitri Kabalevsky wrote for students. Like Zoltán Kodály, Kabalevsky was committed to writing good music for the young. Unlike Kodály, he was also interested in writing music that glorified Communism. That made him one of the most honored of Soviet composers, and perhaps saved him from the serious censure of the Zhdanov Committee in 1948, unlike his contemporaries Shostakovich and Prokofiev. In between these two extremes, Kabalevsky wrote some very popular music for orchestra, but is also known for works in other genres, including chamber music, such as the two string quartets recorded here.
The String Quartet No.1 shows the influence of Kabalevsky’s venerated teacher Nikolai Miaskovsky but there is plenty of Kabalevsky’s own lyricism and sense of energy in the music. The main theme of the opening Andante-Allegro is very winning, and the development already shows off the composer’s great contrapuntal skill. The Vivace movement demonstrates another of the composer’s well-known attributes – his interest in folk song. The slow movement, the most substantial of the four, is impressive in its development. Counterpoint is to the fore in the final Allegro assai.
The composer was well-established by the time he wrote String Quartet No.2, one of his most substantial works. It can take its place among the string of great works Soviet composers wrote in reaction to World War II. Kabalevsky jumps right in, as it were, with a very energetic opening theme, followed by a more reflective second. But the war is not far away: he quickly combines the two themes into an almost ferocious whole. The following Andante non troppo begins with a sad cello theme, eventually taken up by the other strings; Kabalevsky develops it vigorously before it dies away.
The hollow-sounding Scherzando leggiero has a frantic coda. The tragic main slow movement Adagio molto sostenuto may remind listeners of the contemporaneous quartets of Shostakovich and Miaskovsky. Here Kabalevsky’s understanding of quartet form adds to the overall effect. The final movement Vivace giocoso, which follows without a break, consists of good-humored variations on the main theme of the fourth movement. The jollity, likely deriving from the end of the war, may seem a little forced to some listeners, but the composer does not neglect reminders of the quartet’s more serious moments.
These recordings, first released on Olympia in 1994, have been – like so many forgotten recordings – resurrected by Alto. Unfortunately, there is little information about the players. From the accompanying booklet, I found that violinists Elena Kharitonova and Natalia Likhopol, violist Inna Peskova and cellist Elena Erofeyeva came together in 1977 as the Moscow Conservatoire Quartet, and later changed their name to Glazunov Quartet. They seem to have had some success but disbanded in the late 1990s after having recorded four of the string quartets of Boris Tishchenko. Be that as it may, they give fine performances of Kabalevsky’s quartets. It is perhaps not surprising that they play completely idiomatically, but their playing is also full of energy, and their joint sound is full and rich. There is a more recent version of the Kabalevsky quartets (review) but if recording quality is not a major concern, this disc, at a lower price, is a fine choice.
William Kreindler
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