Program
The genre of string quartet is one of the most difficult to perceive and understand. Initially, it was intended not for an audience, but for performers themselves. In a quartet, there is usually neither the magnificent virtuosity inherent in compositions for a solo instrument, nor the colourfulness of a large orchestra. This is an in-depth conversation about important things, in which musical phrases are used instead of words. Shostakovich’s quartets were created for concert performance, but they retained the stem property of the genre: these are heart-to-heart conversations between close friends, and some of the messages in them are encrypted. This lecture is dedicated to the art of perception of the string quartet genre and the solution of musical puzzles created by one of the greatest masters of the 20th century.