Having lived with the Russian National Orchestra through their
excellent Beethoven
symphonic cycle, I was glad to slip back into some familiar resonances
in this new Shostakovich recording. Even so, it’s a shame to be leaving the
grand acoustic of the Moscow State Conservatory for this still impressively scaled
studio environment. Pentatone Classics are well on their way to completing their
cycle of Shostakovich’s symphonies, and if SACD recordings are a priority
for your listening experience then this is certainly one of the sets you will
be looking into.
To tell the truth, I haven’t been doing much Shostakovich listening of
late, but when I have it has more often than not been the venerable Melodiya
set with Kirill
Kondrashin to which I have turned. The cardboard box for this set seems capable
of imminent collapse even with no handling whatsoever, but the recordings remain
ones which come closest to the soul of Shostakovich - in the Symphony No.15 a
soul which seemed close to a kind of desperate madness. Spiky and drenched
in emotionally ambiguous swings and roundabouts, this symphony is one over
which
critics and commentators will argue until the cows roost on Broadway. Strangely,
Mikhail Pletnev seems to want to avoid as much controversy as possible in his
new recording. There are plenty of good things in this stunning Pentatone recording,
but high octane energy isn’t one of them.
Comparing timings, we have:
| |
I |
II |
III |
IV |
| Pletnev |
8:14 |
16:40 |
4:19 |
17:29 |
| Kondrashin |
7:07 |
13:47 |
4:24 |
15:12 |
| Barshai |
8:19 |
11:43 |
3:53 |
13:58 |
Timings never tell the whole story, but you can take it from
me that where Kondrashin is white-hot Pletnev is measured,
where Kondrashin is scaring your
pants off
Pletnev intrigues, and where the Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra players
are wringing everything possible from this extraordinary music, the Russian
National Orchestra are eminently professional but comfortable and practised,
rather than
on the edge of their seats. I don’t just mean the exciting fast bits.
Just take the Wagnerian opening of the final Adagio and you hear a genuine
funereal death tread in Kondrashin’s orchestra, which makes the uncomfortable
quasi-warmth of the subsequent quasi-Mahlerian sections all the more cynically
disturbing. Pletnev does get a dark growl from his brass, but the knocking
of the timpani is timorously feeble and lacking in depth. The contrasts are
almost
glossed over, maybe intending to show the bigger picture, but missing out on
that life-and-death grip which Kondrashin gets. Indeed, Pletnev’s build-up
through the final movement is a grand achievement, and the final climax is
marvellous, but if you’ve already left the room to make a cup of tea
during the first 10 minutes then there’s not much point.
The recording with Rudolf Barshai listed is the one available on Brilliant
Classics in a bargain box performed by the WDR Sinfonieorchester. In the first
movement
Barshai represents something of a middle ground, sharing some of Kondrashin’s
fire but without his helter-skelter tempo. Despite coming in shortest, Barshai’s Adagio is
anything but superficial, drawing more out of the notes than Pletnev’s
comparatively laissez-faire reading. Similar thoughts apply to the final movement,
which shifts along in no-nonsense style with Barshai, but remains moving and
convincing. Not entirely without blemish, Barshai’s bargain box is however
still a big all-round favourite.
This Pentatone disc presents excellent sonics, and even in stereo SACD mode
there is significantly greater depth and air around the musicians than in conventional
stereo. The more unconventional aspect of the orchestration are brought forth
with startling clarity, and there is bags of sonorous bass from the brass and
drums. There are however a few blemishes which the superb clarity of the recording
lay bare. Pletnev’s vocal contributions are clearly audible in the first
movement and elsewhere. In SACD mode this is a bit like having someone sitting
in front of your ‘best seat in the house’ who can’t help humming
at certain crucial moments - something which would be less noticeable if the
score wasn’t so unforgivingly transparent and exposed for so much of
the time, but certainly had me wishing the engineers had found a way
to reduce the effects of this normally minor problem. There is a definite wrong
piccolo
note 1:51 just before the first ‘William Tell’ quote, and the trombone
solo at 5:25 is disturbingly uncouth. I’m not sure if that was entirely
the intended result, with the player showing little distinction between his
usefully usual rasping tutti ff and that of a solo. Kondrashin does
something similar, but this fits in better with his more rough and tumble overall
picture, and either
way the 1974 diminuendo is done more effectively. There are some terrifyingly
exposed solos in the second movement which are taken very well indeed with
the RNO, and it is only a split trumpet note in the first tutti at 10:02 which
is
the spoiler. The entry of the chorale in the strings at 12:05 is truly magical,
or chilling, but I’ve heard better celestas than the slightly choked
resonances of the one which follows here. That double-bass solo does sound
like a strain
as well.
There may be further comments to be made, but I think my general drift is clear.
To be honest, I had expected more of Pletnev, who certainly has an ear for
every potential expressive contrast in his Beethoven recordings. There are
numerous
positive aspects in the performance. For instance, you may note the fascinating
clarity in the first movement with those antimetrical layered sections from
figure 28 in the strings, and its reprise it the woodwinds from figure 47.
There is
plenty of good playing here, but when you stand it against the comparisons
I’ve
given you realise what you’re missing. This is one of those performances
which would probably go down a storm on a Sunday afternoon in the Concertgebouw,
but which for me lacks too much in cynical joviality and nightmarish terminal
terror to make it competitive with the best.
This Symphony No.15 is accompanied by a selection from the incidental
music written for Hamlet in 1932, and therefore represents relatively
early Shosty. There would seem to have been room on the disc for the whole
suite, but though we are missing a few movements the argument is that these
are not
suited to the original Hamlet story, something which became somewhat bowdlerised
by the director at the time the music was written. Instead some other movements
have been brought in, including a Gigue from some stage music written
in 1954. As with much of Shostakovich’s work of this nature, much if
not all of the music is relatively facile, and I would suggest a ditching of
prejudices
against attempts to make such suites more interesting and acceptable. The end
result here is something if a romp which, if heard blind, I doubt anyone would
associate with Shakespeare in any form. Again, the playing is excellent, and
little touches like the extra vibrato laid on to the Lullaby have a
tongue in cheek charm which raises this recording above the oftentimes too
serious readings
of Shostakovich’s commissioned efforts.
To conclude, this is a decent enough recording of Shostakovich’s Symphony
No.15, but as Arthur Davison once said to me, the worst criticism you can
make of anything is that it is ‘Beige’. I hate to say it, but the
impression I am left with after working my molars over this recording for some
time now is that it is rather too ‘Beige’ to be up there with the
best.
Dominy Clements
Russian National Orchestra/Mikhail
Pletnev
[64:42] 
