Although this and programmes like it are extremely useful for introducing newcomers to the genre of chamber music, I can’t help wishing that some other Shostakovich quartet had been selected in place of the Eighth. There are 15 masterpieces to choose from, none of which is either ‘early’ or musically insubstantial; but because the Eighth has historical-political connotations – it does, I suppose, tell a story – the others tend to get ignored, at least outside of recorded or live cycles. Having said that, the Duke Quartet ‘go for the jugular’, especially in the three Largos: the second in particular yields a handsome body of tone while the sudden ray of light at 3'44'' has real pathos. My one reservation concerns the Allegretto, which sounds just a mite too cheerful for the ghostly, cynical statement that it is.
Placing Schnittke’s Second Quartet directly after Shostakovich’s Eighth was a stroke of genius, especially as its opening harmonies seem to echo the D-S-C-H motif that closed the earlier work. Schnittke’s piece incorporates a frenzied Agitato (with wild arpeggios to the fore), a prayer-like Mesto and an intense Moderato finale that retreats among ethereal harmonics. It is a powerful piece, though not one that I would want to hear too often, whereas the programme ends – rather inappropriately, in my view – with Tchaikovsky’s classically proportioned First Quartet (and again, why always play this Tchaikovsky quartet?). Here I found the Duke’s phrasing somewhat fussy, especially in the first movement (which is played minus its repeat), and there are also some uncomfortable tempo relations. Still, the last two movements are sprightly enough, the recordings are good and the whole adds up to a programme that, if it appeals on paper, is certainly worth hearing – especially for the sake of the Schnittke.
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