Twenty Four Preludes, Op.34 (arr. string orchestra, G. Korchmar, 1990) [35:34]
String Quartet No.8, Op. 110 (arr. string orchestra) [23:49]
Dogma Chamber Orchestra/Mikhail Gurewitsch (concertmaster)
rec. Sendesaal, Bremen, Germany, dates not given
AUDIOMAX AUD 9121830 SACD [59:25]
I’m always in two minds when I come across arrangements;
I ask myself not only whether it works but whether it offers any
other insights into the music. When it comes to Shostakovich can
there be any improvements on perfection since that’s how I
view most of his output.
The 24 Preludes, written in two short months (30 December 1932 to
2 March 1933) were arranged in 1990 for string orchestra from the
original piano works, by Grigory Korchmar, Professor of composition
at St. Petersburg State Conservatory and Professor of the Department
of Music Education at the Herzen State Pedagogical University.
Interestingly he has also made some arrangements of orchestral works
by Grieg, Tchaikovsky and Sibelius for piano. I was unaware that
there was such a version of the preludes so I listened with special
interest. Richard Whitehouse in the liner-notes to the original
version for piano (Konstantin Scherbakov on Naxos 8.555781) says
that with the Preludes Shostakovich’s desire to shock had
been transmuted to become a desire to entertain. Playing that disc
it was easy to understand what he meant; there is a wistful and
at times playful nature to many of the pieces which a piano is supremely
able to project. This is achieved while creating an intimate atmosphere
and speaking directly to the listener all of which I find a string
orchestra has greater difficulty achieving. I’m not stating
categorically that such arrangements shouldn’t be made in
the first place. A recent disc I reviewed had some of these preludes
transcribed for the unusual combination of flute or piccolo and
marimba which I felt on that occasion added a new dimension. However,
the results are quite different from the original and have to be
seen in that way; it becomes a totally new experience when listening,
and at the end of the day nothing beats the original version.
The same attitude on my part comes into play with the arrangement
for string orchestra of Shostakovich’s 8th string
quartet. This was made by Rudolf Barshai - strangely unaccredited
on this disc. Reading a review on a website of a disc of Barshai’s
arrangements and referring to the one made of the first string quartet
the reviewer said “... if like the others, it tells us nothing
essentially new about the music, it does make the music available
to a wider range of players”. One can’t argue with the
final point but if it tells us nothing new about the music one is
left with the question ‘what was the point?’ I recognise
the fact that Shostakovich himself sanctioned Barshai making the
arrangements in the first place but I often wonder whether that
was simply due to his friendship with Barshai and his modesty and
general good-natured responses to his fellow musicians, despite
some well known exceptions. It is true that the biting nature of
the eighth string quartet still comes through in the string orchestra
arrangement but 16 orchestral members cannot create the same stark
nature achieved by four musicians. Something is lost to me at any
rate. In a previous review of the same arrangement, that time by
the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, I said ‘There is no doubt that
the chamber symphony is a powerful work of great poignancy and if
you come to it without knowing the quartet or are able to discount
it while listening then it is certainly hugely impressive. However,
if you do know the quartet then you cannot fail to agree that the
stark nature the four instruments create gives the music a far greater
atmosphere of desolation, horror, anguish’. I went on to add
that it is a perfect example of less is more. I stand by that opinion
despite the fact that the account presented is as good as the previously
mentioned disc and the arrangements of the preludes were also well
played and made interesting listening.
Anyone who would like to hear what a different sound can be created
by the arranging of piano pieces and a string quartet for a small
string orchestra will find this disc worth a listen.
Steve Arloff
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