Search - Dmitry Shostakovich, Eliahu Inbal, Vienna Symphony Orchestra :: Shostakovich: Symphony No. 14

Excellent soloists, orchestra, conductor, and sound.

Howard G Brown | Port St. Lucie, FL USA | 04/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Eliahu Inbal's recordings of the Shostakovich symphonies have not garnered the plaudits of other sets - Haitink, Rostropovich, Barshai, Kondrashin, for example. Like the Naxos cycle, these Denon recordings are generally considered to be uneven in result from an interpretive point of view. The recordings themeselves are among the finest when it comes to matters of engineering -- they sound excellent.



I am most familiar with this among Inbal's traversal; I think it is very fine. The soloists are at home in the language, and the Vienna orchestra and conductor are clearly at home in the music. This song-cycle symphony is probably the closest in spirit to the world of the Second Viennese school -- especially the music of Schoenberg and Berg -- while remaining utterly Russian in character, and obviously the work of Shostakovich.



It may be the selection of poems -- Apollinaire, Rilke, among others -- which, in spite of being in Russian translation, lend a more cosmopolitan sensibility to the work. Shostakovich also approved a version that uses the original languages of the poems, and that version was recorded by Haitink for Decca.



This recording by Inbal shows the conductor's affinity for this work in particular, and for the music of Shostakovich in general. If price is an issue, one can not do better than the Naxos recording. However, it would have to be very good indeed to match the sound and performance offered on this disc."