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SHOSTAKOVICH: Festive Overture, Piano Concerto 2, Symphony 5
Dallas Symphony Orchestra/Andrew Litton (piano)
DELOS DE 3246 [73' 59"]

The CD plays in the order above, making a satisfying Shostakovich concert - the lively Festive (Festival) Overture, the witty, tuneful Concerto, and the ambiguous Symphony. Unfortunately these Dallas performances do not challenge the best, and the recording quality disappoints.

The music-making itself is well-prepared and conscientious (the Dallas Symphony is an excellent ensemble) and while there is little to criticise about the playing or the corporate endeavour, there is a distinct lack of character and inner motivation. The Overture is a tad cautious. While I'm not looking for the brazen brass and hundred-metre sprint of Svetlanov, I do not hear the tip-toe sparkle this music needs (and was given four decades ago by Georges Pretre and the Philharmonia for EMI. I remain hopeful that this and Pretre's superb Shostakovich 12 might appear on Testament).

Litton is an attractive guide through the charms of the Concerto. The woodwind solos are perky and personable; the soulful second movement informed by warm string tone worthy of Tchaikovsky. But Litton keeps a tight rein on the outer movements (because he's also conducting?) and this relentlessness yields to the greater variety of Rudy/Jansons (EMI, with Shostakovich's greatest Symphony, the 15th) and Bronfman/Salonen (Sony, with the other Piano Concerto and a particularly fine account of the Piano Quintet). Yet Leonard Bernstein is also conducting on his inimitable recording (Sony again) but this doesn't restrict him leading a rendition of brio and pertinence that remains, for me, the yardstick.

I should now mention the recording quality. It's a plush sound that for me is too reverberant. The engineering is no doubt of the highest order and the orchestra (if somewhat recessed for my taste) certainly sits in a recognisable perspective. So the problem is the venue itself, Dallas's McDermott Hall. The more sound produced so the wash of reverberance increases and instrumental details are swallowed. The bass line is not clear enough and is sometimes reduced to a mush of sound; the treble lacks brilliance. The side-drum at 9' 22" in (I) is barely audible at first then suddenly gets louder (help from the control room?); at 1' 40" in (II) the first two of the horn's six notes are unclear as they fight the acoustic's fog. McDermott Hall appears to be a big space, one allowing thrilling amplitude of sound - but this listener is frustrated because he's just as interested in the ingredients of the cake as the cake itself. Ultimately, the hall, as recorded, gets in the way of the music, softens its edges and muffles textures, but enhances a big, colourful spectacle if that's what you want.

Litton's conducting of the 5th Symphony is unexceptional - straightforward, sensitive certainly, but too circumspect. His occasional straying from the straight-and-narrow - the ritenuto at 5' 10" in the first movement and the staggered accelerando across the opening measures of the finale - stand out because these interventions are the exception rather than the rule.

The recorded world of Shostakovich 5 includes the composer's son Maxim (his first recording, my all-time favourite of this music on BMG/Melodiya), Artur Rodzinski's two, Bernstein's pair, Kurt Sanderling's, several from Mravinsky, Yuri Ahronovich's interesting version on BIS and Mark Wigglesworth's subjective account (also BIS). Andrew Litton, for all that he does little wrong, simply cannot compete. Andrew Litton plays Shostakovich 5 for you. That might be enough.

Reviewer

Colin Anderson

Performance

Recording


Reviewer

Colin Anderson

Performance

Recording


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