Jerusalem Quartet

The 'Compliments Quartet' is without doubt the most light-hearted of Beethoven's quartets, with elegant themes developed imaginatively, after the manner of Haydn, in a lively exchange between the four players. Shostakovich in turn saucily availed himself of Beethoven's musical vocabulary. His Third Quartet is a gripping personal account of the Second World War, which had ended only the year before the work was written. In the insouciant and cheerful opening section, nothing clouds the horizon. Gradually, however, sarcasm begins to creep in and the jollity becomes painfully restrained. Dark intimations descend into a bitter climate of military madness. As the work ends, only deep sorrow and bewilderment remain. In an amazing spiritual journey, Shostakovich plumbs the moral depths to which man has sunk. Confounded, he perceives how closely this connects with the most innocent amusement. The Sixth Quartet, composed ten years later, strikes an entirely different note. It is an uncommonly tranquil and engaging work, which he wrote while on honeymoon with his second wife. A few years ago, the Jerusalem Quartet blazed a glorious trail with Shostakovich's Second Quartet, so expectations are particularly high now.