Vasily Petrenko, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra - Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 15 (2012/2015) [DSD64 + FLAC]

The seventh entry in Vasily Petrenko's outstanding sequence of Shostakovich symphonies pairs two works that stand at opposing poles of Shostakovic's creative life but present similar interpretive puzzles. The 2nd Symphony, written to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution, begins with music as modernistic as anything Shostakovich ever wrote but ends in a bombastic choral setting of Leninist agitprop poetry. The 15th Symphony, the composer's last, swerves from an almost giddy sense of play to death-haunted musings to a bleak serenity; along the way Shostakovich mixes in enigmatic allusions to Rossini and Wagner. In both pieces, esteem for the music sits alongside bafflement at what these pieces mean, and what they say about the composer's elusive inner life.

There's a lot to like in this recording of Shostakovich's Second and Fifteenth symphonies with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra led by their young conductor, Vasily Petrenko. First is the pairing of these two works, one a brash early piece in which the composer tried to reconcile the demands of Communist propaganda (the work's subtitle refers to the tenth anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution), and the other his deeply gloomy swan song in the symphonic form. Despite the gulf that separates them, with the central events of 20th-century history flowing through it, the two works are recognizably products of the same pen. The brisk performance of the Symphony No. 2, Op. 14 ("To October"), is quite strong, with the long ascent from the depths of the work's almost inaudible opening very well controlled and the choral finale and its ridiculous text never overdone. The big question mark here is the Symphony No. 15 in A minor, Op. 141, which is drained of both its gloom and its gallows humor looking back at various kinds of Romantic music (the quotation from the William Tell Overture is curiously flat in affect). Instead, Petrenko seems to want to make it into a modernist work in the vein of its companion on the album; tempos are brisk, dynamics compressed, and contrapuntal artifice sharply chiseled. To those who grew up on the gloriously lugubrious recording of this symphony by Maxim Shostakovich (who ought to know what it's all about), Petrenko's reading may be maddening. Yet great works change over time, and perhaps that's what's happening with this one.

Tracklist:

01 - Symphony No. 2 in B major 'To October', Op. 14: I. Largo –
02 - Symphony No. 2 in B major 'To October', Op. 14: II. Poco meno mosso – Allegro molto –
03 - Symphony No. 2 in B major 'To October', Op. 14: III. Chorus 'To October': Meno mosso
04 - Symphony No. 15 in A major, Op. 141: I. Allegretto
05 - Symphony No. 15 in A major, Op. 141: II. Adagio – Largo – Adagio
06 - Symphony No. 15 in A major, Op. 141: III. Allegretto
07 - Symphony No. 15 in A major, Op. 141: IV. Adagio – Allegretto – Adagio – Allegretto

Recorded at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, England on June 14, 2011 (tracks "1-3")
& on October 26-27, 2010 (tracks 4-7).
2xHD Mastering: René Laflamme.
2xHD Executive Producer: André Perry.

Musicians:
Vasily Petrenko - Conductor
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir on "3"


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