Thursday 13 August 2015

***** star reviews for complete Shostakovich cycles!

We're delighted that the complete Shostakovich cycles at the Globe in London, and as part of the Cheltenham Festival have gone so well. The audience support has been amazing throughout. In fact Erica Jeal at the Guardian wrote, 'Between the later quartets it was as if the audience was cheering them around the last laps of a marathon.'! 
Thanks so much to all who came and supported us. Reviews have been great! Here's a selection of quotes and you can read full reviews here.

The Guardian *****
 'truly extraordinary stamina in a musical marathon', 'astonishing intensity', 'once in a lifetime event'.

BachTrack *****
'Utterly absorbing', 'High octane, turbo-charged playing', 'The Allegro non troppo was fabulously aggressive, full of iron pizzicatos and flying bow-hair.'

Birmingham Post *****
'truly awesome', 'skill which makes light of the huge technical demands', 'a triumph'

Seen and Heard International
'Dazzling aplomb and accuracy', 'magnificent tribute', 'electrifying'.

Friday 7 August 2015

Complete Shostakovich Quartets at the Globe

Just 2 days to go to our marathon performance at the Sam Wanamaker Theatre at Shakespeare's Globe in London. It's just been selected as a top thing to do to celebrate Shostakovich's anniversary:
http://www.classical-music.com/article/top-three-remembering-Shostakovich

Just a handful of tickets remaining here:
http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/theatre/whats-on/concerts-by-candlelight/Shostakovich

And in the mean time here's a snippet from our recent rehearsal there, including some of the 2nd quartet.
We look forward to seeing you soon!