The specially commissioned arrangements retain the nuances that make the original string quartets so special but also add a whole world of subtle sonorities. The Shostakovich quartet shows him in the prime of his creative life;

Rudolf Barshai's orchestration adds to the texture and depth of this piece. The Ravel String Quartet in F major is one of director Clio Gould's favourite pieces of music so she was delighted when Rudolf Barshai agreed to orchestrate this. Barshai, a student of Shostakovich and a founding member of the Borodin and Tchaikovsky Quartets has also completed arrangements of Shostakovich's four chamber symphonies.