Over the decades it s members all trained at the Moscow Conservatory have inevitably changed but the ensemble s identity has remained cohesive it s philosophy and aesthetic embodying an entire musical culture. The quartet s close association with Dmitri Shostakovich has gone down in history and his chamber works are central to this 7CD collection which offering music by a succession of Russian composers from Borodin himself to Schnittke spans the 19th and 20th centuries.