St. Petersburg Quartet plays Nadarejshvili & Prokofiev

1st Prize, All Soviet Union Competition, Moscow 

“…powerful and atmospheric… somewhat reminiscent of Estonian Arvo Part’s music. Its three movements are framed by pensive, sublime sections in which haunting drone tones blend with broken shards of Georgian folk themes.” – Los Angeles Times 

Delos is proud to introduce the recording premiere of the Georgian composer Zurab Nadarejshvili’s String Quartet. It is a glaring oversight that Nadarejshvili is not more well-known in the United States, but that will soon be rectified when music lovers hear this magnetic performance by the superb St. Petersburg String Quartet. This chamber work – an atmospheric, modernistic piece rooted in Georgian folk styles – took 1st Prize in the Young Composer’s Competition of Moscow in 1987. The St. Petersburg String Quartet has performed this piece extensively during its recent international tour, and that intimate knowledge of this music, coupled with their technical brilliance, has created an entrancing musical experience. And, what could be a better complement to the accessible modernism of Nadarejshvili than the String Quartets of Sergei Prokofiev. Certainly many works of Prokofiev can be labeled as “accessible modernism,” and it is interesting to juxtapose the two very different string quartets of 1930 (No. 1) and 1941 (No. 2) with the 1985 work of Nadarejshvili. The St. Petersburg String Quartet approaches the works of Prokofiev with all of the fire and mastery they exhibit with Nadarejshvili’s music.