This was one of the last recordings Yakov Kreizberg made before
passing away at the age 51. He had previously made his mark
in Shostakovich with a truly distinctive pairing of the Fifth
and Ninth symphonies, conducting the Russian National Orchestra;
my colleague Tony
Haywood was not as fond of it as I was. This excellent Eleventh
makes clear yet again what a loss to the musical world it was
when he died in 2011. Kreizberg has the Orchestre Philharmonique
de Monte-Carlo sounding perfectly suited to this music, in an
interpretation which brings the symphony across with conviction
and power.
The program, as put forth by Shostakovich - or to him by the
authorities? - necessitates an adagio first movement (‘The
Palace Square’) of eerie and hushed suspense. It sets
out a few motifs which will recur through the whole symphony:
the violins’ opening line, the ominously distant drumbeat,
the equally disembodied-sounding trumpet tune. The atmosphere
in this performance is terrific, although compared to the Liverpool
Philharmonic under Vasily Petrenko, the Monte Carlo trumpeter
seems a bit too chipper, too forward. Then comes the massive
second movement, with its depiction of a bloody massacre by
the tsarists. There’s really no way to bring this off
on CD due to the movement’s enormous dynamic range: if
you can hear it live - as I was lucky enough to do when Petrenko
presented it with the London Philharmonic - the sheer bloody
violence and loudness of the climax are more or less
the most terrifying thing one can hear in a concert hall. On
disc it’s hard to get the dynamic range of the piece done
right, and this recording is no exception. The playing is superbly
bone-chilling and the orchestra sounds possessed, but I yearn
for the gut-punch that the massacre really only delivers live.
The adagio which follows, a lyrical “In Memoriam,”
is another story: here Kreizberg brings a flowing account which
briefly even permits beauty and hope to rise to the surface.
It’s the highlight of a very good performance. After that,
there are passages in the middle of the finale, including a
reprise of the first movement, which do, here, feel overlong
and outstay their welcome; it’s a minute longer than Petrenko
in the same section. Then we get the final “twist,”
as Shostakovich’s coda returns to the terrifying horror-music
of the tsarist oppressors. Kreizberg paces this perfectly and
builds the coda with tremendous power, the orchestra giving
him exactly what he wants. Again, the CD medium just can’t
contain the full force of this music.
Nobody is going to listen to the Orchestre Philharmonique de
Monte Carlo here and think they sound anything but Russian.
That alone is a tribute to Kreizberg’s skill as a musician,
but throw in the excellence of this account and we have a really
worthy tribute. Vasily
Petrenko’s accomplishment with the Royal Liverpool
Philharmonic is similar, though - transforming an unexpected
orchestra into a Shostakovich powerhouse - and, among recent
recordings by émigrés, his more concise reading
may be preferred. Even Naxos is a bit frustrated by how to record
the symphony, though.
This may not have been his very finest, but I wish Yakov Kreizberg
could have given us much, much more.
Brian Reinhart
Masterwork Index: Shostakovich
Symphony 11
Eleven
11s - a survey of recordings
by David Barker
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Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo/Yakov Kreizberg 