Shostakovich Quartets 8 & 9
Aviv String Quartet

Dalia Classics DCD 001 [49 mins]

These live recordings from 2002 & 2003 fully confirm the excellent impression these Israeli players made recently at Wigmore Hall - please click onto my report about the Aviv String Quartet at http://www.musicalpointers.co.uk/reviews/liveevents/AVIV_QUARTET.htm.

The 8th quartet is a key work and often considered as a secret autobiographical document about his life and feelings as 'a prisoner under the Soviet system'. It is a cryptic 'suicide note' (1960) by a composer who did not kill himself. In the five movements of No 9 (1964), played without a break, Shostakovich responded affirmatively to a diagnosis of incurable illness. You won't need another recording of them; I expect you already have one of the 8th, but the 9th is heard less often.

A fine CD which reinforces a hope to hear the Aviv Quartet live again very soon.
(The record number needed use of a high powered magnifying glass! Are all record presentation people young and with perfect vision?)