Presented by Leo Samama.
For Nikolay Roslavets, Alexander Tcherepnin and Dmitri Kabalevsky, the 1920s in the new Soviet Union must have been as exciting as it was frightening. Towards the end of that decade, the strings were pulled tighter and tighter.
In those years, the rules were laid down for what eventually came to be known as ‘social realism’: the Soviet composer must focus his attention above all on the victorious progressive aims of reality, on all that is heroic, bright and beautiful.
In 1920, however, Roslavets could still more or less go his own way. And so was Alexander Tcherepnin, who by now was in France. Dmitri Kabalevsky, however, was cut from a different cloth, and joined in with pleasant, playable yet not dated music.
- Nikolai Roslavets (1880-1944) – String Quartet No.3 (1920)
Moderato
Performers: Leipziger Streichquartett - Alexander Tcherepnin (1899-1977) – String Quartet No.2, opus 40 (1926)
Moderato, 2. Larghetto, 3. Allegro moderato
Performers: Groupe Instrumental de Paris - Dmitri Kabalevsky (1904-1987) – String Quartet No.1, in A-flat major, opus 8 (1928)
Andante – Allegro moderato, 2. Vivace, 3. Andantino, 4. Allegro assai
Performers: Stenhammar Quartet
