CXXXV. SHOSTAKOVICH, Dmitri: String Quartet #2 in A Major, Op. 68

CXXXV. SHOSTAKOVICH, Dmitri (1906-1975)

String Quartet #2 in A Major, Op. 68 (1944)
1. Overture
2. Rezitativ und Romanze
3. Walzer
4. Thema mit Variationen
Jerusalem Quartet
(35:43)

Shostakovich had already completed eight of his 15 symphonies in 1944, when he wrote this second of 15 string quartets in 19 days.

First Movement

A rugged first violin plays a brutal melody against an accompaniment of stacked fifths:

Second Movement

A slow 3/4 Romance is sandwiched between a bravura recitative for the first violin:

Third Movement

And a faster waltz in E-Flat Minor, featuring the cello:

Fourth Movement

The theme is stated by the solo viola:

The variations are taken up, and DS concludes in the parallel A Minor!