The London Shostakovich Orchestra was founded in 1999; according
to the note in the booklet, it "exists to provide the opportunity
for serious musicians to rehearse and perform symphonic repertoire
to a high standard and draws its membership mainly from the
London amateur musical community." Thus, it's an enterprise
analogous to Colorado MahlerFest in the U.S., which annually
forges an orchestra from a similar variety of professionals
and devoted amateurs.
Bearing that in mind, these musicians' achievement in these
performances, which affirm their enthusiasm and commitment,
is considerable. Conductor Christopher Cox, who has trained
at University College London and at Guildhall, clearly understands
the requirements of the style and has transmitted them to his
players. The phrases with irregular meters - with which the
cello concerto is more than usually beset - emerge with a clear
shape and sense of destination. In the concerto's Moderato
slow movement, the woodwinds taper their crescendo alertly
and cleanly at 7:59. Cox's approach to the symphony's first
movement is sustained and spacious, to the point of insecurity
- note, after 2:48, how the players want to edge the accompanying
chords forward - but, once the conductor gets things going,
he actually achieves a heroic breadth. Full-bodied string tone
helps sustain the music's long line, though at the cost of a
piano or two. Cox begins the finale at a similarly broad
tempo, but acknowledges the terraced accelerations the composer
prescribes, and the movement reaches what most listeners would
call "normal tempo" soon enough.
The soloist in the concerto, Jonathan Ayling - a member of the
London Philharmonic - produces a rich, dusky tone in the low
range. He knows how to reserve and manipulate the vibrato to
enhance expression, notably in the clean lines of the Moderato,
for example; and he renders the legato phrases of the Cadenza
with a beautiful lyrical intensity. As recorded in concert here,
he suffers some small mishaps in the Moderato: a few
clumsy shifts; some dicey chromatic harmonics at 9:04 and again
some phrases later, although the immediately preceding ones
are spot-on; and an outright misreading of the first C as an
E at 9:57. On the other hand, when the orchestra loses the pulse
of the finale at 0:50, after the woodwind scale, it's Ayling
who, by dint of alert musicianship, quickly adjusts.
As with any group of players of mixed abilities, one must accept
playing and ensemble that occasionally veers, or lurches, below
professional standards. The high violins, usually though not
uniformly accurate, sound careful and unglamorous. The massed
strings' resonance at full volume comes at the cost of a few
smudgy attacks and blunted arrivals; the tone becomes diffuse
in quieter passages. The orchestra's principal horn sounds good
when he plays out - and is surprisingly secure at 4:37 of the
symphony - but suffers numerous passing burbles and patches
of rough tone. The woodwinds sometimes lag behind the beat;
in the concerto, the bassoons conspicuously flub the exposed
attack at 6:29 of the Moderato.
Nervousness and fatigue take an audible toll, to the point where
a single 'cello makes not one, but two, false entrances before
0:53 of the symphony's finale! The trumpets also start falling
behind at 3:30, at the height of that movement's activity, getting
things unstuck briefly; and the low reed chords at about 8:45
are wheezy and uncertain.
The booklet spends some time explaining the difficulties of
recording in performance, and apologizing for the possible presence
of traffic and aircraft noises, as well as the usual noises
from the audience. They really needn't have worried. There's
the odd click here and there, and a few coughs and thuds from
the house, noticeably while Cox is trying to get the symphony's
first movement going - nothing out of the ordinary for a concert
recording. The sound reproduces with excellent depth, clarity,
and dynamic range, though the woodwind choir seems disfavored
- just a bit distanced - in the mix-down.
It's hard not to admire the work on display here. The London
Shostakovich Orchestra certainly deserves praise for fostering
interest in the composer; this is a useful document of the ensemble,
and I'm sure these performances were enjoyable in concert: Cox's
account of the symphony, despite its problems, is more gripping
than the comparably broad renderings by Maxim Shostakovich (Collins)
and Skrowaczewski (IMP). But it's hard to recommend this issue
as a "basic library" choice, or even a supplement.
Stephen Francis Vasta
see also review of concerto on Dunelm DRD0233 by
Ian
Milnes
Jonathan Ayling (cello) 
