Search - Dmitry Shostakovich, Karel Ancerl, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra :: Ancerl Gold Edition 39: SHOSTAKOVICH Symphonies Nos. 1 & 5

Acclaimed Shostakovich performances from the Sixties that de

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 05/20/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the LP era Supraphon's reputation for sound was mixed, so it's fitting that the noted conductor Karel Ancerl should have his many recordings remastered so well. The sound here is clear and natural, bringing out the rustic charm of the Czech Phil.'s one-of-a-kind sound. They sound particularly light and insouciant in the Shostakovish First. Currently the vogue is to make this fizzy youthful work sound more serious, slow, and important (I heard such a performance from Valery Gergiev in concert), but Ancerl makes the music sound almost like Stravinsky in his most mischievous neoclassical style. This is a very enjoyable reading that deserves its high reputation.



the Fifth Sym. is, of course, Shostakovich's signature work, or at least it was before the fall of the Soviet Union brought us a flood of the composer's entire output. Ancerl begins with sharp intensity, just like Yevgeny Mravinsky, who was the master of this work. the intensity isn't maintained, but the Czech strings, with their tangy sonority, manage to sound more "right" than anyone outside Leningrad, and Ancerl's phrasing is focused and alert where so many rivals begin to wander.



As the symphony progresses, Ancerl manages to give full weight to the composer's intent without sounding lugubrious, another common pitfall. the line is always moving and shifting to keep our interest. The Scherzo could be more biting, but clearly the conductor considers it mischievous rather than satiric; how nice that it dances instead of clomps.



At 13 min. the Largo proceeds a little too briskly to wring out the intense emotion we get from Bernstein and Mravinsky, but a lighter reading is fully in keeping with Ancerl's overall plan -- his Shostakovich isn't tragic or subversive. Still, the Czech strings build to a heart-tugging climax. In the finale, Ancerl opts for neither a racing beginning nor grand rhetoric. He remains, as before, natural and easy. The secret of this performance, in fact, that it can say so much while seeming to relaxed about it. Only in the last movement do I miss Mravinsky's searing heat and Bernstein's volatility.



It's too bad that Ancerl marches us out rather lazily -- this could have been a legendary recording. As it is, it's one with much to enjoy and moments of magnificence."