I had not heard the London Shostakovich
Orchestra before, either live or recorded,
so I wasn’t sure quite what to expect.
The booklet tells us that the orchestra,
founded in 1999 ‘... exists to provide
the opportunity for serious musicians
to perform symphonic music to a high
standard’. A love of the music of their
eponymous composer is obviously a prerequisite,
and the passion and commitment of their
playing bears this out.
What isn’t perhaps
so clear to the unsuspecting CD buyer
is that this is an amateur band, albeit
a good one. One could argue that this
should be made clearer on the packaging,
but then again, why should it be? The
music is played in its entirety and
with integrity, and the standard of
performance becomes self-evident to
anyone with ears to hear within a minute
of the beginning of track 1. So caveat
emptor say I!
Jonathan Ayling is
a talented and musical cellist, and
a genuinely compelling performer, even
if the technical demands of parts of
the Cello Concerto no.2 – which are
huge – are ultimately still beyond his
grasp. The balance is not that bad,
but he is spotlighted too closely, so
that his dynamics seem rather flat,
and the music lacks the variety it almost
certainly had ‘in the flesh’. The orchestra
does well, even if they are unable to
bring sufficient ferocity to the extraordinary
outburst of the folk-song ‘Bubliki’
in the finale. Any listener who has
heard recordings by the concerto’s dedicatee,
Mstislav Rostropovich, will know the
devastating effect this passage can
have.
What of the twelfth
symphony? Other than the little-known
second and third, this has always seemed
to me the most disappointing of Shostakovich’s
works in the genre. It struggles to
maintain its inspiration, and often
serves up rehashes of the preceding
two symphonies, particularly the eleventh,
a far superior work. Perhaps the composer’s
personal circumstances, or maybe the
great speed at which he wrote it (even
faster than usual!) are to blame; whatever
it is, it’s a hard piece to get enthusiastic
about.
However, Cox and his
orchestra clearly managed to do so,
and turn in a performance of great drama
and intensity. Whatever the shortcomings
of the playing, there is no doubt that
Cox has the measure of this music –
its phrasing, its spacing, and its sound-world.
Some of the climaxes – for example the
great one at the end of the first movement
– have the necessary cataclysmic power
to them, and the orchestra largely maintains
its stamina and concentration. Violins
make a really splendid sound, and the
percussion section is of a high class.
Other areas need more work; high woodwind
suffer from sour intonation and poor
chording, and horns are unreliable.
Here is music that
is challenging even for seasoned professionals
to play. In addition, this is a live
recording, so that this CD represents
a considerable achievement. As a record
of what must have been a thrilling and
even inspiring evening, it is a valuable
document. As a means of repeated hearings
of the masterpieces enshrined, however,
it is naturally a non-starter. Best
bet is to go to Rostropovich/Ozawa for
the concerto and Järvi for the
symphony, both on DG.
A highly enjoyable
recording of a remarkable event, and
a reminder of the riches of musical
talent in which the UK abounds.
Gwyn Parry-Jones
see also review
by Philip
Scowcroft
Available in
an alternative coupling of the two cello
concertos - review
London Shostakovich Orchestra/Christopher
Cox 
