Nicola Lisle talks to Matt Denton of the Carducci Quartet about their Shostakovich Project, coming to Oxford next week

The Carducci Quartet have set themselves a marathon task this year — to play all 15 of the Shostakovich string quartets in various venues throughout the UK, to mark the 40th anniversary of the composer’s death.

Oxford is one of several locations where the complete cycle will be performed over the course of the year. The launch concert on February 1 saw the Carduccis play three of the quartets — numbers 1, 8 and 12 — to a packed Holywell Music Room.

The next concert, on March 15, will see Shostakovich’s 10th quartet paired with Elgar’s String Quartet. “Very English meeting very Russian!” chuckles first violinist Matt Denton.

So what is the appeal of Shostakovich for the players? “When we were students it was Shostakovich that really had the most impact on us,” Matt says.

“As we performed more of the quartets we realised how much impact they had on audiences generally. I think it’s because of the dual message that’s often in the works. There’s a sort of political commentary and hidden messages, but at the same time there’s the personal suffering and the pain and the problems he was going through. That’s what appeals to audiences, I think, that combination.”

The quartets are also amazingly diverse, as the February concert demonstrated. “Yes, there’s a big variety,” says Matt. “From one to 15 is a huge journey to go on because of the variety of styles, but always he had this very personal voice and would often use similar techniques.”

The Carduccis’ biggest marathon this year will be on August 9, when they will play all 15 quartets in one day at the Globe Theatre in London — a prospect that is clearly not for the faint-hearted.

“It will be a real challenge,” admits Matt. “It’s about six hours’ worth of music, so that’s going to be very intense, not just for us but for the audience. There’s also the intensity of Shostakovich’s work, which is very physical to play and mentally exhausting.

“But the Globe has an amazing Shakespearean feel and it will all be candlelit, so it should be an amazing experience.”

To tie in with their Shostakovich project, the Carduccis have just released a recording of three of the quartets — the fourth, eighth and 11th — on Signum Records.

Why these three? “The eighth is hugely significant in that it’s the one that might have been his last. It’s infused with his own name and many quotations from his own works, and apparently he was thinking that it could be his last string quartet, so that’s an intensely personal one.

“The fourth was one of the early ones that couldn’t be performed at the time it was written. It had to wait about four years before he thought it would be safe to perform it.

“The eleventh was a new style, because it has a number of shorter movements which are quite quirky, and not the traditional structure that you’d expect for a string quartet, so it’s very interesting and very different.”

The enthusiastic reception of their first Oxford concert must be encouraging for their return visits?

“Yes, you’re never sure when you programme three Shostakovich quartets whether people are going to come! But it was packed out, and the reaction seemed to be pretty positive. So it was great.”

To find out more about the Shostakovich Project, visit carducciquartet.com

Carducci String Quartet Shostakovich Project
Holywell Music Room, Oxford
March 15
Tickets: 01865 305305 or ticketsoxford.com