The Ninth Quartet is the last of the personal quartets. The seventh having been dedicated to his first wife, the eighth arguably dedicated to himself, the ninth is dedicated to Irina, a young musicologist and his third wife whom he had married in December 1962. The String Quartet no. 9 in E flat major, opus 117, and the Tenth String Quartet were written within three months of each other in the middle of 1964. Together they mark the transition from the central phase of Shostakovich's string quartets, to those of his final phase: the quartets 11 to 15.

This quartet, lasting about 26 minutes, has five linked movements marked:

1. Moderato con moto, attacca
2. Adagio, attacca
3. Allegretto, attacca
4. Adagio, attacca
5. Allegro

If the key of the previous two quartets were associated with torment and tragedy respectively, the key of the ninth, E flat major, has happier connotations. It is the key which Beethoven associated with human heroism, his having used it in his Symphony No. 3, the "Eroica" and in the Piano Concerto No. 5, the "Emperor". And indeed, true to tonal protocol, the quartet is definitely more optimistic than the previous quartet.

But it is not only through their dedications that these three quartets form a set. Each of the quartets has movements which flow into each other without interruption. This sequence of consecutive and continuous quartets makes them unique in the whole of Shostakovich's output. Nevertheless the ninth anticipates the later quartets. It contains periods of silence and sparsity which will reoccur in later quartets. Shostakovich had begun to move away from traditional forms and was entering into a new, more experimental phase, as is evident in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Symphonies, composed about this time. These later quartets are full of slow music; packed with semibreves and minims; abundant in harsh gliding notes and biting emphatic chords. And all of these elements of his final quartets occur in his ninth quartet. But the quartet also looks back; especially to the Fourth Quartet with its Klezmer influences. Compare, for example, the third movement of this quartet with that from the Fourth.

This is a wonderful work; rich, vibrant, in parts ecstatic; full of contrast; packed with counterpoint; demanding and effervescing with energy. It is complex both in structure and in details, and its interlocking motifs are reworked and reintroduced continuously throughout its five movements. The first four of these movements are short, about four minutes long, but the final fifth movement is over twice that length.

The first movement is full of relaxed self-satisfaction and its motif is repeated in a different form in the second movement, an "Adagio" which exudes even greater contentment. The third movement marked "Allegretto", is a mad polka in F sharp. It starts with a long ostinato which is broken by fanfare-like passages played by the first and second violin. Indeed they are but derivatives of the familiar fanfare of Rossini's 'Guillaume Tell', a fanfare that would be clearly quoted again in the Fifteenth Symphony. In the more sombre fourth movement of this quartet the motif of the first is recalled before being being interrupted by violent pizzicatos.

The final "Allegro" is itself divided into five parts, each demonstrating Shostakovich's mastery. This intensive and turbulent movement, almost a quartet for itself,  represents not only the conclusion but the centrepiece of the ninth quartet. The movement is the jewel of the quartet, indeed it is one of the jewels of all the fifteen string quartets. Its concentrated excitement, vitality and energy, makes it the most exhilarating finale in all the cycle.

The String Quartet No. 9, so different from the popular eighth, is in no way its inferior. I prefer it to all his previous eight quartets and deeply regret that it is played so little in public.