![]() Indeed, I’ve seldom heard this finale sound so quietly refined. I wouldn’t have minded a bolder, more vivid sound – one has to crank up the volume for it all to snap into focus – but then this isn’t the mighty Eighth or Eleventh. The Allegretto is well shaped and sprung the playing is wonderfully alert and precise, and the music’s quirks and quiddities are never overplayed. Wigglesworth’s insistence on more air around the notes really pays dividends in the strange, disembodied second movement the muted brass are unanimous, the twisting cello line is as wistful as any, and it’s all so thrillingly spectral. By contrast Haitink has more point and sparkle, and Decca’s sharpened edges add to the music’s brittle humour. As always there’s nothing rushed about Wigglesworth’s reading, with every tic and nuance laid bare in the most natural and unaffected way. So, how does Wigglesworth’s Fifteenth fare in such august company? It takes a while to warm up – the first movement seems a little po-faced at the outset – but the mood does lighten thereafter. Kondrashin’s 1974 Dresden account (Profil) isn’t far behind. That said, the one I turn to most is Kurt Sanderling’s with the Berliner Philharmoniker first issued on the orchestra’s own label, this performance digs deeper and goes darker than any I know. Of more recent versions Dmitri Kitaienko (Capriccio) offers both a forensic examination of the score and top-notch engineering. Kondrashin’s Melodiya account is uniquely Russian – sometimes raw, always illuminating – as is Maxim Shostakovich’s recording of the 1972 premiere (on a Melodiya LP). Haitink (Decca) has long been a favourite of mine, not least for his judicious blend of wit and introspection. We must also be grateful for the number of fine Fifteenths in the catalogue. Given what we’ve already received it seems churlish to complain. I’d really like to hear more Shostakovich from this team, but I have a feeling that’s all we’re going to get. 15, the culminating work in this most valuable cycle, was recorded at the same time as the First collectors may well be irritated by the duplication, which could have been avoided with a new recording of, say, The Execution of Stepan Razin. 2 and 3 all I will say here is that revisiting it after a longish break has increased my admiration for both the work and Wigglesworth’s performance. Surely there’s too much of what we hear later – the mordant wit, the distinctive sonorities and those familiar progressions – for it to be anything other than an original, focused and very personal piece.Īs I reviewed this version of No. That prodigious gift is evident in the First Symphony, which some detractors suggest contains less of Shostakovich than first thought. ![]() That’s not to say the insights of Kondrashin et al are any less valuable when it comes to understanding this complex, conflicted composer if anything they all contribute to a multi-faceted, always fascinating portrait of a truly formidable talent. In that sense Wigglesworth’s Shostakovich is a palate cleanser, a necessary corrective to all that’s gone before. That’s no bad thing in scores that, for the most part, are already so volatile. Happily that never seems to result in a lack of tension or drama paradoxically, such a cool, analytical method allows the music to ‘speak’ plainly, without added histrionics or blatant manipulation. Indeed, Wigglesworth’s quiet, cerebral progress is part of what makes his performances such a revelation. 2, 3, 7 and 12 – respond gratefully to a thoughtful approach. The one constant is the quality of the music itself even the Cinderella pieces – Nos. Over the years I’ve heard many accounts of these symphonies, all of different vintage and some of doubtful provenance. I’ve reviewed most of the latter, and their artistic strengths are matched by recordings of considerable range and splendour. Even then – with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales – it was clear we were in for something rather special that said, Wigglesworth’s more recent performances with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic are in another league entirely. BIS have now covered all these symphonies, a project that began with the Leningrad in 1997. ‘Wigglesworth’s Shostakovich cycle is the finest – and most consistently satisfying – in the catalogue.’ That was my response to the previous instalment in this series, which included the No. The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
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