Peter Goldstein asks:

>Does anyone have an opinion on the Kronos Quartet recording of the
>Schnittke String Quartets? Any other recordings you'd recommend?

Having a great love of modern music I wish I could give more decisive and
informed advice on this one.  To my great shame I haven't heard this set
by the Kronos Quartet.  Part of the excuse is; lame though it may be, given
that this is the only complete cycle of quartets I am aware of; is that I
do not always find the Kronos Quartet the most powerful interpreters of
music.  Their Webern for example sounds a bit too dry for my taste.  Still
all credit to them for recording this set.

If you are a fellow modern music lover who is receptive to this sort of
release then by all means go ahead and buy it, as there is no competition,
if it is indeed a complete cycle you are after.  Also the fact that you are
enquiring about it suggests that it is readily available to you.  That is
a plus because a good many releases of contemporary music come from very
obscure sources.  Many of these publishers only barely make ends meet or
consider an enterprise a success if they recoup their loses.  That's why
I think its important to support this sort of thing.

However if you are just curious about Schnittke's chamber music, and you
are only a brief visitor to such shores then I would like to recommend a
different release from the Borodin SQ is much more highly recommended.
I see it is available in the US:

   http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000025TVH/classicalnetA/

This contains a beautifully communicative performance of the 3rd Quartet.
The Piano Quintet that comes coupled with it is also excellent.  The filler
is a really fascinating unfinished Quartet Movement by Mahler.  As with
Shostakovich the Borodins do a brilliant job of advocacy.  They really make
this music 'theirs' and play it with an 'authenticity' I doubt that other
quartets will readily match.  Then there is the sheer musical prowess of
this awesome quartet.  I once heard the Borodins play the 3rd Quartet live
together with die Grosse Fuge and Shostakovich 8th, and I can reassure you
they were remarkable.  Interestingly, the opening 4 notes of die Grosse
Fuge are D-Eb-C-B natural: in German DSCh, for D SCHostakovich.
Shostakovich's name is invoked in the Schnittke work.  It is only
appropriate that the Borodins were close to both these key Russian
composers.

The other highly recommended top notch performance of a Schnittke string
quartet is that of the 4th from its dedicatees, the Alban Berg SQ.
Unfortunately at the moment it appears to be only available as part of
a (otherwise fascinating) 4 CD set of 20th century string quartets:

   http://www.towerrecords.com/product.asp?pfid=1169798

This performance has a reputation for being much closer to being
'definitive' than the Kronos recording.  Compared to the Kronos the
ABSQ are just in a different league when it comes to music making.

I sincerely hope I have been of some help.  Are there any avid Schnittke
fans out there with strong views...? If so I am 'all ears'!  I would be
particularly appreciative myself if I could be directed to some really
worthwhile music by this composer I haven't heard yet.

Satoshi Akima
Sydney, Australia
[log in to unmask]