A bad day for Shostakovich
Album Of The WeekFrom the Lebrecht Album of the Week:
When the British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said this week that he listened to Shostakovich if he was having a hard time, I wondered if he’d been tuned in to the same set as me. There are many things in life that make me reach for Shostakovich and I am rarely let down by performance — certainly never as exasperated as I was by these.
The good things first. …
Read on here.
pictured: DSCH with Walt Disney
Indded, Vassily Petrenko’s recordings are earth shattering.
The legacy of Shostakovich will live on, notwithstanding my own insignificant opinion, which is: I find it difficult to appreciate music that requires a Secret Decoder Ring.
You didn’t like Makela’s recording of 5 but said nothing about 4 and 6, also in the same released set. These two performances are MUCH better than 5 in every way, including orchestral playing (note the woodwinds particularly), rhythmic point, and energy.
I don’t like how there’s basically zero contrast in tempo in the finale of Shostakovich’s 6th under Makela’s baton. The opening ‘A’ section goes in a fast two, but the contrasting ‘B’ section is conducted one beat to the bar in 3/8 time. In most recordings, that contrasting section goes slightly slower. Not under Makela. It comes across as monotonous to me.
The 5th is probably one of the greatest compositions of the 20th century. Properly performed, it is almost too painful to hear. With so many great recordings around, it is very difficult for a new recording to add real value.
I cherish an old czech PO recording with Carl Ancerl, in which one can hear how looking into the abyss actually sounds. Those people personally experienced the horrors of German occupation and stalinist oppression, as reflected in their playing.
It is almost unfair to expect these nice young scandinavians to reach and express such emotions.
Are you thinking of the 5th or the 10th? There is a phenomenal Czech PO/Ancerl recording of the 10th on DG.
It’s incredibly unsurprising you were acquainted with Pierre Boulez, another insufferable blowhard.
Dmitri Shostakovich was wearing Harry Potter glasses before wearing Harry Potter glasses was cool.
Odd choice for ‘album of the week’, unless all the others were turkeys.
But did not offer the opportunity to slag the latest whipping boy.
In your opinion, how do these compare to Bernstein and the NY Philharmonic?
So maybe Oslo’s loss to Amsterdam and Chicago is really their gain?
Well crafted review but totally disagree with findings. This Fourth opened the doors for me on a work I have never previously grasped.