Unmatched for a bargain Shostakovich 8th
Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 01/11/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"St. Petersbrug has long dominated our view of Russian classical music, and those performers based in Moscow tend to be overlooked, including the excellent conductor, Vladimir Fedoseyev. He's senior to Gergiev and Temirkanov, but like both of them Fedoseyev has a long association with one orchestra, the Moscow Radio and TV Orchestra. They play with unusually smooth tonality, and the string sonority in the first movement of this Shostakovich 8th is quite refined -- a welcome change form the grim grayness of most readings.
The recorded sound is impressive for a live concert, and at the ultra-bargain price that this CD goes for at Amazon Marketplace, it's very attractive -- indeed, Fedoseyev's reading can go up against the best from Previn and Gergiev, and far outstrips Rostropovich and Jansons. Only the two great Mravinsky recordings (a studio version on Philips, concert version on BBC Legends)rise above it. As an interpreter of Shostakovich, Fedoseyev favors depth of feeling over flash, and he doesn't set out to dazzle here. His musicianship is such that he holds one's attention form beginning to end, no smal feat in the massive Eighth -- if you are at all interested in this symphony, don't hesitate."