This excellent Chandos
CD has been receiving accolades in the
musical press. In one review it was
described as being the best currently
available of this repertoire. Whilst
I wouldn’t disagree with this judgement,
I went back to the old Melodiya vinyl
LP of these songs, and to hear these
is to enter into a totally different
sound world. In this Shostakovich anniversary
year, Melodiya has in its vaults more
than a few such recordings which would
make any fan of the composer dance with
delight. The two song cycles were available
a long time ago when Melodiya was distributed
in this country by EMI on SLS 5078 (a
double LP issue). If Melodiya were to
re-issue these on CD, they would have
winner on their hands.
However, this review
is for the current issue and I am pleased
to state that it is up to Chandos’s
normal high standard of excellence from
Studio 7, with the BBC Philharmonic
attaining its usual standard. Noseda
steers his band through the difficult
writing with absolute skill and ability.
I am more concerned with the bass soloist,
(Ildar Abdrazakov), as he seems to be
afflicted with the same problem which
affects many of today’s soloists. When
he is singing up to mezzo-forte, his
voice is a wonderful instrument – colourful,
and very pleasant to listen to. Above
mezzo-forte however, his pitch control
is very approximate and borders at times
on nothing more than shouting. I know
Shostakovich’s writing for his soloists
in rarely easy, but to return to Yevgeny
Nestorenko (the original soloist on
Melodiya) one actually hears something
much closer to what Shostakovich wrote.
In this late work,
there is a violence to the orchestral
parts which if played in the idiom,
can be extremely impressive. Whilst
the BBC Phil manages this difficult
writing extremely well - as good a most
of the competition on modern CD - there
is absolutely no comparison with the
Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra under
Maxim Shostakovich in the Michelangelo
Songs and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra
under Rudolf Barshai in the Songs to
Lyrics by English Poets. There is a
rawness of expression, not down to the
recording, but in the playing, alongside
which the BBC Phil sounds relatively
soft-edged. A quality not in keeping
with the subject matter of the lyrics.
Shostakovich wrote
his Op.145 based upon the writings of
Michelangelo. It consists of eleven
contrasting and emotionally charged
movements which range from dark lyricism
to violent protest. The composer gave
his own titles to each of the verses
and it is not surprising that many of
them had a great significance to him,
given his very difficult existence within
the constraints of the Soviet Union.
It must be obvious from this description
and to anyone who knows the composer’s
style just what an emotional roller-coaster
ride they are in for.
When we come to the
Six Songs to Lyrics by English Poets,
although the source material comes from
a totally different area, the emotions
are very similar. This song-cycle was
originally Op. 62, and in this version
written in 1942 was for bass soloist
and piano. Both the emotional content
and nature of the cycle cries out for
more colour than the piano can produce
and so the composer re-wrote the work
in 1971 for bass soloist and small orchestra.
The new work, now accorded Op. 140,
was premiered in Moscow in 1973 with
Yevgeny Nestorenko as the soloist. Once
again, as good as Chandos’s soloist
is, he cannot compete with the Melodiya
issue. This is not to say that Nestorenko’s
pitch control is perfect, but it is
streets ahead of Abdrazakov.
The disc is completed
by a Symphonic Poem "October",
which seems a strange choice. I would
have thought another song cycle might
have been a better choice, but at least
the current choice gives the BBC Philharmonic
a chance to shine on their own. Apart
from a competitive version by Nëeme
Järvi on DG there is little competition,
and so Noseda and his band has the field
to itself. Given the excellence of the
Chandos sonics, this is now the top
recommendation for this symphonic poem.
So to sum up – an excellent
release, but if Melodiya were to re-issue
their original recordings with Yevgeny
Nestorenko there would be no contest.
John Phillips
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Ildar Abdrasakov (bass) 
