Have
you noticed how feature films are being pushed out on DVD
sooner than ever these days after appearing in a cinema
near you. In much the same way we see relatively recent
classical music releases increasingly to be worth waiting
for in budget compilation form. True, many of the recordings
here are of older and even distinguished vintage, but it
used to be a sign of ‘a certain age’ in a reviewer when
releases re-appeared somewhere down the line. It seems
like only yesterday when I was listening to the
Cello
Concerto version which now appears in this twofer.
Both this, the
String Quartet No.8 and the
Violin
Concerto No.1 found here are still very much available
at full price. I hope EMI haven’t started over-fishing
their catalogue in an attempt at the kind of ‘quantitative
easing’ which will see us all out of a job in a few years
time.
With
the two or three-ish aforementioned separate concerto/quartet
discs in one hand and this compilation in the other, I
can see the dollar signs ringing up behind your eyes already.
With this release’s bargain credentials already established,
it only remains to see if the performances are in fact
really worth having.
I
quite enjoyed the
Symphony no.1, though wouldn’t
consider it the most exciting I’ve ever heard. The quality
of playing by the Berliner Philharmoniker is very good
as one might expect, but the recording is surprisingly
light in the bass. Those meaty low lines in the gorgeous
Lento sometimes
are often covered by the rest of the orchestra, and I miss
the toothsome welly and impact which the basses and low
brass can give here and elsewhere. As with the rest of
the Mariss Jansons Shostakovich symphonic cycle, this is
good, and in places very good indeed, but while serves
well as an introduction it doesn’t set the world alight.
What
may well send your world into a different plane is the
Piano
Concerto No.2 as played in 1970 with John Ogdon. There
is a little analogue tape hiss as you might expect from
a recording of this age, but the quality is certainly no
aberration on this otherwise digital disc, and in any case,
the playing is such that all considerations of technology
take last place. This recording has been available before
of course, appearing together with Bartok’s 3
rd Piano
Concerto on a 2001 budget re-mastering. My favourite recordings
of both of Shostakovich’s two piano concertos was for a
long time that with Dmitri Alexeev on Classics for Pleasure,
and I still consider that to be something of a desert island
disc. If I could have his
No.1 and Ogdon’s
No.2 on
one disc then I would be a happy camper indeed, though
I’ve also kept Eugene List’s rough and ready 1975 recording
with the USSRRSO conducted by Maxim Shostakovich pretty
close to hand on an RCA/BMG release. Ogdon and the RPO
are penetrating, fun, and deeply moving all at the same
time, and with much better sound than that USSR Melodiya/RCA
recording with Eugene List. The lively outer movements
have a sardonic cold-war grit which seems to tug at Shostakovich’s
superficial, typically nervy romps, simultaneously dancing
and twitching, possessed as well as passionate. The slow
central movement sails close to that Francophile sweetness
we love in Ravel, but sustains a sense of barren melancholy
which clings to the soul long after the music has stopped.
Intonation is not always 100%, but who cares: this is a
performance and recording which has classic status, and
should be a part of every Shostakovich library.
I
hadn’t heard anything by the St. Lawrence String Quartet
until now, but their disc with the 3
rd, 7
th and
8
th quartets has been widely praised, and one
can hear why with this sample of one of Shostakovich’s
most famous string quartets. They give an impassioned and
colourful tone to the thickest of textures, maintaining
the intensity of a tight vibrato in even the driving
Allegro
molto, and the doom-laden dances and sheer deathly
emptiness of the music elsewhere has rarely sounded so
potent. It didn’t move me quite as much as the
Hagen
Quartett, but came close enough.
On
to disc 2, and I have heard criticism of the tempos in
Sir Simon Rattle’s recording of the
Violin Concerto
No.1 with Sarah Chang. I’m not quite sure why this
should be the case. His timings are certainly comparable
with Jaap van Zweden’s 1996 recording on RCA with Edo de
Waart, and
Ruth
Palmer with Benjamin Wallfisch certainly make more
of a meal of the opening
Nocturno, coming in at
over a minute longer. It all sounds pretty good to me,
through with the big acoustic of the Berlin Philharmonie
seemingly more part of the picture than usual – it sounds
a bit more like the Albert Hall than usual on this recording.
I suspect the problem may be more one of technical brilliance
over a real feel of engagement or emotional involvement.
No matter how well everyone plays – and the technical standards
are very high indeed – some of it sounds like one big intermezzo,
to be hacked through before getting on to the next ‘good
bit’ of the programme, or better still hitting the pub.
If you want real soul in this piece you really have to
go back to the David Oistrakh/Rostropovich team, which,
once of CBS, can now be found on Sony.
I’ve
already given a pointer to my previous review of the
Cello
Concerto No.1, and what I wrote then still stands.
What I can add however is that all of that ‘in your face’ white
hot playing has become increasingly hard to live with,
and I can’t say I’ve played this much since 2006. To be
fair, we reviewers rarely get the time to play anything
much for sheer pleasure, but listening again and I can
appreciate the synergy and sizzling performance from Chang
and Pappano, but am glad I have still hung on to my copy
of Truls Mork on Virgin. The gorgeous
Moderato still
hits the spot however, and newcomers and seasoned collectors
are unlikely to be disappointed.
What
do we have left? The
Jazz Suite No.1 is given a
satisfactory performance here with some nice touches, but
is entirely eclipsed by that with Gennady Rozhdestvensky
and the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra. If
you are feeling blue, I urge you to seek this Melodiya/BMG
recording out: the slide guitar solo alone is an instant
cure for SADS. The Philadelphia players enter into the
spirit of the piece with gusto however, and I like the
richly laid-back saxophone tones throughout and the nicely
placed slide trombone. For an American band the slide guitar
towards the end is however lamentably low in the mix and
a rather feeble ‘fourth man’.
Tahiti Trot is a nice
bonbon with which to finish the programme, but in this
case is more Victor Borge/Mantovani than DSCH.
To
conclude, for well under a tenner this is indeed a rich
bargain, full of wonderful music and remarkable performances.
Yes, you may be able to do better with some of the pieces
elsewhere, but this is always likely to be that case in
such compilations, and most of us accept the tradeoffs
along with the gems. None of the performances are intrinsically
weak and many are among the last few years’ top selections
for this repertoire. If you are only now dipping your toes
into the thrilling waters of Shostakovich’s sound-world
then you could do far worse that starting here. As a seasoned
jewel-case clatterer you might think the bargain element
was the clutch of recent EMI recordings found here via
the back door, but the reason I shall be guarding this
disc against thieves is the John Ogdon
Piano Concerto
No.2, that’s the real steal.
Dominy Clements 
EMI CLASSICS 2376862 [75:27
+ 77:57] 
