Shostakovich String Quartet No.8 - 3rd&4th mvt 

the first violinist's use of her bow is amazing and when the violists goes into the cut time part, it's powerful and rich the entire quartet is so talented kudos :]

The first violinst is great! So talented girl:) I cannot stop listening to it!

I can't imagine it being played otherwise, given the nature of the piece!

i just noticed something, shostakovich has reoccuring themes through out all his music! for example in the 3rd movement of this at 1:55, its the main theme from his cello concerto. and in the second movement of this, it has the theme in it from his piano trio!

Excellent! Romantic Shosta. :-) We want more of them.

qué buenos! y parecen jovencitos! Una de las mejores versiones que he escuchado de esta obra

@sethlightking this is because he wrote this piece for himself (some say as a suicide note). there are themes in all of the movements from pieces of his the he had composed previously. I did a paper on it in college. there's a lot of info on it. quite interesting if you're in to that sort of thing. The 3 accented note theme in the 4th movement are supposed to be the KGB knocking on the door to take him away (one theory)

Thanks for the comment! We were around 19-21 back then. :)

There are no words for Shostakovitch. He was the Master! Interesting note: Bernard Herrmann must have listened to DS when composing his "Psycho" theme for Alfred Hitchcock in 1959 (The movie came out in 1960). Nevertheless, I love both of them!

Great performance, compliment.

"DSCH" ALL THE WAY, movement rocks!

@cellogeek95 Actually, from what I understand, that is a common theme in Shostakovich's music because the notes are his initials

Jaw-dropping. Thank you for this.

Yes. This was from 7 years ago. We were around 20-22. :)

Epic!Epic power,epic!!!

there is one viola and two violins. At least that was the way I received the arrangement :)

Ah! they play the theme in shostakovich cello concerto no 1 at 1:55!

I've been looking for live recordings of this for reference since I'm playing it this summer as well, and I have to say this is a very good performance! Bravo (: 你们拉的很棒，继续努力! How old are you all?

@triviumlambofgod The three loud attacking notes represent knocking on his door by people sent to collect and kill him.

@diedoppelganger Nope. We're not those musicians. :D Though I know the 1st violinist from that video. That other video is from New England Conservatory.

@Soulstar333 Yeah! I read that too :)

xD Ah, that would make more sense. I was focusing on his bow than his hand :3

Thats exactly what I was thinking

Same here.

@Nutterbutterz95 Yes.

Oh wait. I see that this was like, 7 years ago haha

@dragonscarz13 That doesn't mean I don't like the second movement as well. :P

I like the 3rd movement more than I like the 2nd movement. Is that weird?

@VeggiePirateLorryn It's a string quartet, so that means there is only 1 violinist, right? The other two are violists; people who play the viola.

Nope. I think I was rearranging the pages. :)

omg, so aggressive! I laik

@GLaDOSsMailerDaemon I listen to Beethoven! D:

4:06 Did the cello player just bite off his loose bow hairs? xD

I thought it was dark because Shostakovich was thinking of suicide... =/

to elaborate on the reason for the lack of lighting: its about stalin's treacherous fascist regime and the regime's terrorized and murdered victims

lol xD

poor cello has that one harmonic forever

Ok wow so I totally didn't mean my comment like that. I don't even know why I wrote that. I meant that it's too bad that he was going to kill himself, but it's a good thing he didn't so he could keep writing fabulous music!

so it's a fail he didn't kill himself? what is wrong with you?

such a great piece of music, too bad Shostakovich was such a fail after he composed this piece (he was gonna kill himself, but his friend took the poison away before he could)