Shostakovich 25th Anniversary Edition
String Quartet No. 5 in Bb major, op. 92[a]; String Quartet No. 6 in G major, op. 101[b]; String Quartet No. 7 in F# minor, op. 108[c].
Taneyev Quartet[a,c]: Vladimir Ovcharek, Grigori Lutski (violins), Vissarion Solovyov (viola), Iosif Levinzon (cello); Beethoven Quartet[b]: Dmitri Tsyganov, Nikolai Zabavnikov (violins), Fyodor Druzhinin (viola), Yevgeny Altman (cello).
Praga PR 7250077. ADD stereo[a,c]; mono[b]. TT 68:20.
Listed as Czech Radio Broadcasts, 1 September 1977[a]; 22 August 1977[b]; 9 September 1976[c].

NOTE: Since this review was written, I have identified the recordings on this CD of the String Quartet No. 5 played by the Taneyev Quartet and the String Quartet No. 6 by the Beethoven Quartet as being reproductions of original recordings made in Russia, not Prague. For reference purposes, my review is reproduced unedited, but the recording venue and date data above, as listed by Praga, are incorrect. Full details are contained in my report in DSCH No. 15 on misattributed recordings on the Praga label. WMR.

The provenance of the Fifth Quartet on this issue is dubious, as the documentation speaks only of broadcast and gives no recording venue. Pops, regularly repeating clicks, and what sounds like spinning-platter swish convince me that it is transferred from an LP. The Hulme Catalogue lists a Melodiya LP set of the Taneyev Quartet in this opus, but issued in 1980, after the broadcast date given in Praga's notes. I don't detect the presence of an audience, so it remains possible that this was originally a commercial studio recording.

This uncertainty is not grounds for automatic disqualification, but the signal here is prone to overloading, making listening tough going. The Taneyevs are rather hectoring in their Fifth Quartet, and I found myself wishing for more expressive variety. My ears were tired by the end of the first movement, and in the second the Taneyevs' strings never create the ethereal shimmer that is necessary for its eerie meditation. The sauntering first subject of the third movement could also benefit from a lighter touch.

The Beethoven Quartet's Sixth Quartet recital is rather dour, shunning opportunities to lighten the mood. Some may appreciate it as an expertly-performed, straightforward reading of the text, but to me it sounds like a rehash of material whose familiarity has bred ennui. For the live concert that it seems to be, the players sound surprisingly stand-offish.

Happily, the Seventh Quartet is more engaging right from its impetuous opening gestures. The first movement is whipped off with abandon. Of even greater interest is the Taneyev Quartet's striking use of rubato in the middle Lento, where application of the brakes results in the listener sinking into cloying quicksand.

As with the Fifth Quartet, there is audible evidence that the Seventh Quartet recording is transferred from an LP, and perhaps the same LP set; both have very similar acoustics. Detective work is in order. Even were its paternity known with assurance, however, this issue would not win too enthusiastic a thumbs-up.

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