AVAILABILITY
www.symposiumrecords.co.uk
There have been a number
of ‘Shostakovich plays Shostakovich’
releases over the past decade. The famous
1947 recording of the Op. 67 Trio has
turned up on Supraphon CO 4489 (where
it once enjoyed quite a long catalogue
life in an 'Oistrakh in Prague' gatefold
double LP – it’s not on the Praga CD
box of the same name so take care) and
also on Revelation RV70006. Allied to
these it’s also in Volume One of Doremi’s
Oistrakh Collection as well as on Lys
and Eclectra. Some of these are now
deleted and Symposium adds its own transfer
to the lists coupled with items of equal
interest.
Admirers of cellist
Miloš Sádlo who died in 2003
will welcome the opportunity to hear
him in such notable company. As a member
of the Czech Trio he had toured Russia
and had tried out this trio for the
composer who pronounced the performance
"all wrong" but in the following
year the cellist joined forces with
Shostakovich and Oistrakh for a performance
at the 1947 Prague Spring and a recording
followed soon afterwards. Only one 78
side was taken down, with no alternative
takes, exigencies of post-war shortages
which make the performance, whilst by
no means spotless, all the more remarkable.
The original mike placements were rather
close so one can hear some of the bowing
mechanics, especially Oistrakh’s, and
which do impart an unusually acidic
quality to his tone and a somewhat hoarse
one to Sádlo’s. They also reveal
that the no-retake cello harmonics were
fearlessly negotiated by Sádlo
(whose real surname by the way was Blaha).
In the Largo one feels the tense concentration
of all three musicians and the grotesque
march theme of the finale is laid out
with mordant conviction. It’s a fleet,
unlingering interpretation and Shostakovich’s
pianism is consistently elevated; there
are few better examples of it on record.
The ten Preludes he
recorded from the Op. 24 set show that
on balance he favoured challenging tempi.
He brings powerful rhetoric to the E
flat minor whilst stressing the lyricism
at the heart of the E flat major, whilst
burlesque wit courses through the D
minor. The Three Fantastic Dances are
here with a particularly supercilious
and charming Third and the Children’s
Pieces are self announced as he plays
them. The Quartet No. 3 is played by
the Beethoven Quartet, famous interpreters
of Shostakovich (they gave the premières
of all his quartet bar Nos. 1 and 15,
the latter going to the Taneyev) and
many other Russian composers. They bring
out the play of pizzicato rhythm and
deep sonority in the second movement
Moderato as well as the contrasting
bleakness and sternness of the Adagio,
its sense of abstraction emerging powerfully
directed. No less than these is their
accomplishment in the complex and difficult
finale.
The documentation here
is rather hit and miss. Symposium utilises
Tully Potter for biographical detail
on the Beethoven Quartet but otherwise
there’s just a rather generic note on
Shostakovich and no recording details
or dates. The transfers adhere to Symposium’s
characteristic principles; retention
of a relatively high level of surface
noise but limited noise reduction and
no harmful loss of high frequencies.
Lys’ transfer is quieter.
Jonathan Woolf
Dmitri Shostakovich (piano) 