String Quartet No. 3, etc.

Classical albums often have unimaginative and unwieldy titles merely listing the pieces they contain. This one labours under the title String Quartet No. 3, Two Pieces For String Octet, Piano Quintet, these all being compositions by Dmitri Shostakvich, performed here by the Borodin Quartet, who are joined by the Prokofiev Quartet for the 'Two Pieces' and by pianist Sviatoslav Richter for the Quintet. I had heard this version of the Quintet via a download some time ago, and had subsequently bought a different performance of it on CD which hadn't quite hit the spot in the same way, hence my eventually buying this disc.

I'd been slightly reluctant to acquire it as I already owned a performace of the String Quartet No. 3 by The Borodin Quartet, and, shelf-space being limited, I prefer not to have duplicates. On the other hand, the perfomance I already had was recorded in the '60s by the Quartet's original line-up, whereas this one dates from 1983, by which time Mikhail Kopelman had replaced Rosislav Dubinsky as first violinist and Andrei Abramenkov had taken over from Yarolsav Alexandrov as the second. As it happens, the original line-up also feature on this disc in the 'Two Pieces for String Octet'.

It didn't work out badly as I'd not really given Quartet No. 3 a proper hearing before, typically favouring Nos. 4, 8 and 10 when listening that the other, earlier recording. Having it on this CD has enhanced my appreciation of it considerably. Meanwhile I love this performance of the Quintet as much as ever. It's a riveting live recording made in the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire in December '83.

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