Pacifica Quartet

Please note, this concert is due to finish at approximately 9:10pm.

Performers

Pacifica Quartet

Programme

Shostakovich

• String Quartet No. 14 in F sharp Op. 142
• String Quartet No. 15 in E flat minor Op. 144

About this concert

Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 15 stands as the composer’s elegiac farewell to the genre, six slow movements grouped together in a cycle of almost unbearable emotional intensity.

A few years before completing the work in May 1974, Shostakovich suffered his second heart attack and a consequent sharp decline in health. The tragic atmosphere of his final quartet, like that of his Fourteenth Symphony, was clearly affected by the composer’s mortal illness and the death of many of his closest friends at the time. The String Quartet No. 14 is concerned with personal reminiscence and reflection, expressed in music of formal clarity and subtle contrasts.

Supported by the Season Patrons who have made a major contribution to the 2011/12 Wigmore Series

This concert is part of the Pacifica Quartet Shostakovich Cycle series.