GLAZUNOV FOR STRING QUARTET

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

The Music of Glazunov played by the Shostakovich String Quartet in a new ALTO release (ALC1444) is delightful in every aspect, from the clean engineering to the informative accompanying booklet.

The Shostakovich Quartet plays music by Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936), a Russian composer, and conductor, director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory between 1905 and 1928 and a key figure in Russian music during the last two decades of the 19th century and the first three of the 20th century, even after the onset of the Bolshevik Revolution and his leaving the Soviet Union in 1938. 

Glazunov’s music is profoundly Romantic and Russian at its core, melodic, harmonically traditional though rich and now and then inspired by the folk melodies of his native country. His String Quartet No.3, “Slavonic” is structured in four movements: an opening Allegro, a quiet Lento, an Allegretto, and a finale featuring a lively Mazurka.

The CD also includes the String Quartet, No. 5 and music from “The Fridays

The estimable Shostakovich String Quartet draws out the Russian flavor in every bar of the charming compositions of this neglected figure.

Rafael de Acha     ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”