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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert

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Music: Classical: Chamber & Recital

Live and recorded concerts from all over the UK. Includes the Wigmore chamber music series

Live and recorded concerts from all over the United Kingdom. Also includes the flagship Wigmore chamber music series.

Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert: Shostakovich on Strings

Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert: Shostakovich on Strings: Episode 4: Brodsky Quartet and Plowright

Music: Classical

Episode 4

Episode 4: Brodsky Quartet and Plowright

Shostakovich on Strings

Brodsky Quartet and Plowright

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Brodsky Quartet and Jonathan Plowright in Shostakovich: Piano Quintet and Quartet No 11.

The Brodsky Quartet and Jonathan Plowright (piano) in music by Shostakovich: Quartet No 11 in F minor; Piano Quintet in G minor. From the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow.

Fresh from finishing their marathon project to record all Shostakovich's string quartets, the Brodsky Quartet along with pianist Jonathan Plowright make a welcome return to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland for this performance. 

Shostakovich's Quartet No. 11 is closely connected to the grief and loss of a good friend and violinist, Vasili Pyotrovich Shirinsky, who was the second violin in the Beethoven String Quartet. He chose F minor, which is a common key in the baroque era for representing death, and the heart of the quartet is its 6th movement, an Elegy on the loss of his friend, followed by a certain calm acceptance in the Finale. 

The intense, lyrical and playful Piano Quintet is one of Shostakovich's most popular and best known chamber works. It was received with such wild enthusiasm at its premiere that it was awarded the prestigious Stalin prize - a sure sign that he had regained Stalin's approval since his political denunciation by the Communist Party. It divides into three parts; the prelude and fugue, a homage in part to JS Bach, one of his musical heroes; a central and joyful Scherzo in brilliant Mendelssohnian style and the highly melodic Intermezzo and Finale. 

Shostakovich - Quartet No.11 in F minor 

Shostakovich - Piano Quintet in G minor 

Brodsky Quartet 
Jonathan Plowright, piano.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Music for strings by Shostakovich, from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow

Series of programmes featuring music for strings by Shostakovich, performed at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow

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Shostakovich on Strings

Episode 4: Brodsky Quartet and Plowright

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