Morelia Music Festival 26: A Sock to Shostakovich

The Moscow Quartet members left for the US at the beginning of the 90s

At their press conference, one of the four women comprising the Moscow Quartet explained that being a musician has nothing to do with gender, "not in our playing of the instruments, not in our lives." Even so, as part of the audience, I found hearing a quartet entirely made up of women gave me a special connection to the music. Hearing these Russian women put their souls into playing Shostakovich totally absorbed me.

I hadn't known how much muscle went into playing a Shostakovich quartet. So you can imagine my consternation when the gun-like sounds of fireworks pierced the walls of the patio of the Municipal Building for three minutes while the Quartet played the final movement of Quartet #3. The musicians, although clearly dismayed, kept playing. But, oh, what mindless scheduling by the Festival!

Sisters, the 2nd violinist and violist