Description

The Live Classics label was founded to provide CD recordings of the work of the remarkable violinist Oleg Kagan, who during his tragically short life, left scant legacy of studio recordings. This label assembles collections taken from live performances featuring Kagan and friends. The quartet in this recording is an ensemble consisting of Kagan, Grigory Zhislin, Yuri Bashmet, and Kagan’s wife, Natalya Gutman. The programme notes provide a fascinating historical insight into the “first performance” of this work, linking it to Kagan and Gutman. Shostakovich was very keen to hear his new quartet played as soon as possible after completion, so he asked Kagan and Gutman to organise a performance with friends after a few days of studying the score. Thus Kagan duly played at the first performance in Shostakovich’s apartment. However, Natalya Gutman recalls that this had to be kept secret so as not to hurt the feelings of the Beethoven Quartet, who were supposed to play the premiere. The performance on this disc dates from 1982. The ensemble playing is good; one does not get the sense of four soloists thrown together, but of an instinctive understanding between the players as in a regular quartet. Though the volume is from the Oleg Kagan Edition, Kagan by no means overshadows the other players (as indeed one should not in a quartet). The quartet is coupled with a performance of the First Piano Trio. This student work, some ten minutes long, is very enjoyable, giving few hints of the composer’s characteristic “voice”. Some of the music is reminiscent of 19th century French music, and this alternates with more spiky music, perhaps influenced by Prokofiev or Stravinsky. There is a truly beautiful central romantic theme, reminding us that this work was written for the composer’s girlfriend, Tatyana Glivenko.

Iain Strachan, Dsch Journal 01/2005