Soviet String Quartet Making Its Inaugural U.S. Tour : Music: Although it specializes in Dmitri Shostakovich, the group’s repertory extends to several other Russian composers.

Sometimes things take longer than expected.

Twenty-three years ago at Moscow Conservatory, four students formed the Shostakovich String Quartet, eventually touring the world, receiving international renown and gaining a reputation as one of the foremost chamber music ensembles in the Soviet Union. Tonight and Saturday, at UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall, the distinguished ensemble makes a belated Los Angeles debut as part of a tour billed as its first of the United States.

“Well, as they are now saying in Russia (about the reforms), ‘It’s better late, than never,’ ” replied cellist Sasha Korchagin, when asked about his quartet’s delay in performing in the United States (they performed in Hawaii and Carmel earlier this year as a side trip on a Canadian tour). “America is a great, great country, and for Soviet musicians, the chance to play here is usually the highlight of their careers.”

At first reluctant to carry out an interview, blaming his broken English (he is the only member of the quartet to claim a competent knowledge of the language), Korchagin eventually became quite talkative in a telephone conversation from Santa Fe, N.M. He and the other members of the quartet--violinists Andrei Shishlov and Sergei Pishchugin and violist Sasha Galkovsky, all between 45 and 47--performed there for the Sante Fe Chamber Music Festival, which has arranged their current tour as part of a three-year cultural exchange program with the Soviet Union.

“Now, we are better known abroad than at home,” he said with a laugh, refering to their extensive touring of Europe, Australia and Canada. “Unfortunately, it was the political situation between our two countries that has kept us from performing here for so long.

“We started to become really known around Europe when we won the first prize at the 19th International Munich Competition in 1970 and the first prize at the Leo Weiner International Competition in Budapest three years later. But when we started to think about coming to the United States in the late 1970s, the Afghanistan War started and sadly the political situation became very bad.”

Although the ensemble specializes in the 15 quartets of Dmitri Shostakovich, their repertory extends to several other Russian composers, as well as some of the major quartets of the Classical and Romantic eras. Their two programs at UCLA will include the third and fourth quartets of Shostakovich, the first quartet of Borodin, the Tchaikovsky quartet and works by two Moscow composers, Alexander Balashov and Vasili Lobanov.

“Balashov was one of the original members of our quartet--a violinist--and died around 1976,” Korchagin said. “Lobanov is also a very good friend of ours who combines several different styles.”

The Sante Fe Chamber Music Festival has already commissioned a quintet by Lobanov to be performed next summer by Lobanov and the Shostakovich Quartet. They will also take part in performances of the complete chamber works of Shostakovich, not only in Sante Fe, but hopefully in Los Angeles as well.

“Actually, our original interest in bringing the Shostakovich Quartet here to America wasn’t a celebration of the new openness in the U.S.S.R. or debuting a noteworthy ensemble in America, “ said Sheldon Rich, president of the Sante Fe Chamber Music Festival. “Those were just wonderful coincidences.

“In the past, our festival has concentrated three-year periods on the chamber works of Mozart and Schubert and we’re emphasizing Shostakovich for these next three years simply because he is a great composer. We listened to several Soviet ensembles and liked the Shostakovich Quartet the best.”