Search - Shostakovich, Rostropovich, Nso :: Symphony 5

Rough and ready but full of spirit

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 04/22/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's amazing to me that the other reviewer gets "helpful" ratings even though he hasn't heard this CD and restricts his meager comments to another recording altogether (Rostropovich's remake of the Shostakovich Fifth on Teldec in 1995).



What we have here is DG's 1983 recording with Rostropovich as the new condcutor of the National Sym. One has to face certain distressing facts first: the orchestra is no great shakes, DG's sound is boxy and close-up, Rostropovich isn't the master of conducting technique. All of which sets him up for a critical drubbing in certain quarters (the Gramophone lambasted the Teldec remake without mercy). Not to mention the stingy timing of 45+ min. -- DG later reissued the Fifth with a filler, Rostropovich's sterling account of Shostakovich's Cello Concerto #2.



Why, then, does this reading have semi-cult status? Partly it's Rostroovich's aura, not just as a great musician but a Soviet dissident in sympathy with the composer's personal suffering. The climax of the finale is pointedly turned from Communist triumph to hollow rhetoric and apathy. But there's more to it. Rostropovich, unable to draw the whole work into a coherent whole, falls back on personal phrasing and emotional gestures of the kind a cellist would make on a solo instrument. Rough around the edges, this Fifth feels completley sincere from bar to bar. Rhythms grow slack, tension isn't held, but despite those flaws you can't stop listening to what Rostropovich has to say.



Or at least I couldn't. This is a highly subjective performance that asks for a subjective response. Not everyone is willing to give such a response -- I opted out halfway through Rostropovich's third version, with the LSO on the orchestra's house label, LSO Live. It's only 2 min. slower but feels drawn out and slack to me. Knowing that CD in advance, I wouldn't have sought out a used copy of the DG version except for some rapturous fans, and now I'm glad I did."