Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 14

Karita Mattila, Thomas Quasthoff - Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 14

Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 14
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CD Details

Artist: Karita Mattila, Thomas Quasthoff
Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich
Conductor: Simon Rattle
Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Edition: Music CD
Format: Live
CD Release Date: 2006-06-06
Music Label: EMI Classics
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. De Profundis - Thomas Quasthoff
  2. Malaguena - Karita Mattila
  3. La Loreley - Karita Mattila
  4. Le Suicide - Karita Mattila
  5. Les Attentives I - Karita Mattila
  6. Les Attentives II - Karita Mattila
  7. A La Sante - Thomas Quasthoff
  8. Reponse Des Cosqaques Zaporogues Au Sultan De Constantinople - Thomas Quasthoff
  9. O Delvig, Delvig! - Thomas Quasthoff
  10. Der Tod Des Dichters - Karita Mattila
  11. Schulssstuck - Karita Mattila
Music CD 2
  1. I. Allegretto - Berliner Philharmoniker
  2. II. Allegro - Berliner Philharmoniker
  3. III. Lento - Berliner Philharmoniker
  4. IV. Allegro Molto - Berliner Philharmoniker

Music reviews of Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 14

Music Review: JUST NOT RUSSIAN ENOUGH!
Rating: 4 Stars

Both Shostakovich's last two symphonies are obsessed with death. And both are profoundly Russian in their approach to their subject matter. They share a deep darkness at their hearts to which Russians seem to have a unique key. And both are leavened by that biting sardonic Russian humour which, in Shostakovich's hands, always seems equally black.

No.14 is perhaps the darker of the two, aided by the monochrome colouring of its strings-only orchestra and abetted by the flashes of colour and texture from the large percussion group that complements it. Despite taking its texts from a broad range of European poets, it is this profound Russian blackness that is the all-pervading characteristic of the piece. De profundis (the title of the first poem) indeed.

And it is perhaps such quintessential Russianness that this disc lacks. Wonderful singers, wonderful orchestra, and a wonderful conductor ultimately cannot substitute for that echt Russian voice. The singers, especially Mattila, certainly have their moments of magical singing - her lilies in the Suicide and, for that matter, Quastoff's O Delvig, Delvig are both intense and moving. But not precisely in the right way. Shostakovich himself tried to provide a way out by authorising the singing of the texts in the poems' original languages (as used by Mr. and Mrs. Fischer-Dieskau on Decca). But it's a stop-gap - no substitute for the real thing. For that you have to turn to real Russians singing in real Russian such as Vishnevskaya and Rezhetin for Rostropovich.

Much the same comments apply to the orchestral playing and conducting, as well. There is certainly the full range of string colour and devices here - rich bass and cello sonorities, full violin tone, col legno and sul ponticello effects, pizzicati that are full and rich or spookily glassy as the score demands - all wonderfully played by the Berlin Philharmonic. But once again, you don't feel this music is in their or their conductor's bones. Rattle too often is caught up by the moment, worrying at a phrase or seeking out deeper truths in the inner voices. But it is all rather counterproductive. The flow and symphonic thrust of the whole piece seems to elude him and it tends to remain just a song-cycle. Even the moving reprise of the opening material much later passes for relatively little.

For that real Russian darkness and intensity, I would turn to Rostropovich with his wife and Mark Rezhetin. Or, for a fascinating alternative, the same singers join Benjamin Britten - the dedicatee of the symphony - in the first performance of the piece outside Russia on a BBC Legends disc. Perhaps not totally echt, but Britten was never less than elucidating when conducting other composers' music as well as his own.

Symphony No.1 on a separate disc fares better. The teeming plethora of ideas and vivid orchestral imagination of the 19-year old composer get the treatment from Rattle and his Berliners. Even here, though, there are times when the sheer variety of the ideas don't always gel together. Nevertheless an exciting performance of a symphony that was always much more cosmopolitan in outlook than its successor from late in Shostakovich's life.
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