Dmitri Shostakovich - String Quartet No. 5, Op. 92 (1952)

Dedicated to the Beethoven Quartet who premiered it in Leningrad, November 1953

1. Allegro non troppo -
2. Andante - Andantino - Andante - Andantino - Andante -
3. Moderato - Allegretto - Andante

Fitzwilliam Quartet

The work grows from a five note motif: C, D, E flat, B and C sharp, which contains the four pitch-classes of the composer's musical monogram: DSCH (E flat being S and B being H in German). This motif appears in a number of his other string quartets, including the Eighth, as well as his Tenth Symphony