Search - Dmitry Shostakovich, Kurt Masur, London Philharmonic Orchestra :: Shostakovich: Symphony No. 1; Symphony No. 5 [Hybrid SACD]

Shostakovich with a Difference

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 11/15/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First, I must say that the sound on this CD, recorded live in concert in 2004, is spectacular in both its SACD and plain vanilla formulations. Rich deep lows, precise highs, mid-range clear and present. Considering this was recorded in Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank, that's saying something. Someone has figured out how to get lifelike sound in that hall. And the London Philharmonic is in great form with its newish music director, Kurt Masur.



As to the performances, they are different from any I've ever heard and at first I wasn't sure I liked what I was hearing, but repeated listenings have led me to revise my opinion upward. I still have some quibbles -- for instance, in the First Symphony, Masur seems to lose his conception of the form of the piece in the third and fourth movements, and things tend to meander. And I have rather mixed feelings about how he ends No. 5. The concluding several minutes of the fourth movement seem to be going for monumentality and majesty rather than brio and excitement. I was brought up on Bernstein's spine-tingling finale and that still seems the way to go -- and most other conductors seem to agree with that -- but one must commend Masur for having his own ideas on the matter. And you have to give him and the orchestra credit for bringing it off. The tempo of those last pages is slower than I've ever heard them and sometimes seems to be grinding to a halt. The timpani seem to be in the room with you, and those final timp strokes at the end literally rattled my windows. Wow!



In the first movement of the Fifth there are some muddled inner voices that I would prefer to hear more clearly. In the first movement of the First Symphony there is a delicacy -- along with the sarcasm -- that is quite winning. Strangely this effect is absent in the two Lento introductions to III and IV. The Allegro molto of the First's Finale, though, regains the clarity and delicacy of the first movement and all ends well. And may I just gape in wonder at the mastery of the 18-year-old Shostakovich who wrote the symphony in order to gain entrance into the graduate program of the Leningrad Conservatoire?



This CD has several things going for it: Masur's clearly personal ideas about the works, the fabulous playing of the LPO, the generally wonderful recorded sound. One could certainly do worse than have this recording. But I think I still prefer Haitink and Järvi in the First, and Bernstein and the old Stokowski in the Fifth.



Scott Morrison"