Elizaveta Kopelman (piano), Kopelman Quartet, Nimbus NI 5865 *****

Mikhail Kopelman, leader of the Borodin Quartet from 1976 to 1996, formed the Kopelman Quartet in 2001. The Kopelmans are currently recording the Shostakovich quartets for Nimbus, each issue pairing Shostakovich with another composer. The latest instalment brings the Tenth Quartet of 1964 and the wartime (1944) Piano Quintet by Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919-96), a Jewish friend for whom Shostakovich stuck his neck out a number of times, and who was also the dedicatee of the Tenth Quartet. The quartet contrasts calm and icy fire. The quintet is an unusual five- movement work, often bleak, but rising to unexpected feverishness, and with a finale that opens with a suggestion that it’s going to turn into a rollicking Irish dance. The Kopelmans (and pianist Elizaveta Kopelman in the quintet) convey both works as if their very lives depended on it. See url.ie/6c45