Search - Dmitry Shostakovich, Kurt Sanderling, Berlin Symphony Orchestra :: Schostakowitsch: Symphony No. 10

Great interpretation; intense, pounding, unrelenting--just l

John Grabowski | USA | 09/11/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"You might say Sandering's interpretation of the monumental DSCH 10th Symphony has the composer's implicit stamp of authenticity: he and Shostakovich were good friends and the composer revealed much of the inner context of his work to the conductor, who emigrated to the Soviet Union from Germany in 1936. According to Sanderling, the first three movements are supposed to represent the loneliness and persecution of those years. (Nothing specific abou the second being a musical portrait of Stalin.) The fourth movement is a Haydnesque return to joy and humor. To me the humor has always sounded rather brain-dead and unconvincing, but the conversation in the liner notes seem to suggest it was genuine. Sanderling says the work came to be called the "Thaw" symphony, and the finale was a celebration of DSCH being able to speak out again after the death of Stalin. Whatever it is, there is something about the way Sanderling transitions from the struggle that begins the movement to the "joy" theme that is very convincing. The only other conductor who convinces me here is Karajan in his 1982 recording, which, along with this CD, are some of the best two DSCH 10th I've heard on record. The orchestra on this recording, try as hard as it does, cannot match the Berlin Philharmonic's overpowering virtuosity, especially in the scherzo, where Karajan and Company mince you into submission. But I used to think the scherzo was a lot more "underplayed" than it actually is; I realize upon closer listening that what I don't like about Sanderling's way is that he stays a *little* too long on the first beat, which sort of drags the whole thing down to my ears. I prefer brisker rhythm, though Haitink, in his Decca recording, takes this movement so fast I feel he loses a lot of the menace. (Yes, folks, Haitink takes something too fast.) Also, after the Dies Irae passage, the strings' return is stiff and unexpressive, further robbing the scherzo of its momentum. Still, the playing in the other movements is on the whole very sensitive with a great sense of the long line, especially in the first and third movements, which depend more on nuance than on power and virtuosity. And here Sanderling excels in a way that is truly thrilling, and more penetrating than other recordings--fine as they are--by Previn, Haitink, Ormandy, and Jansons. There is a "slow build" in these movements that many conductos miss, because they go too fast and don't pay enough attention to the shape of the music. (What's truly miraculous about this work and makes it for me Shostakovich's greatest symphony and perhaps greatest single work, is the richness and variety he gets in the first movement from a simple three note ascending phrase. The only other similar economy I can think of from Shostakovich comes from the first movement of his First Cello Concerto.)



The CD is well-recorded and clean. There are a lot of graet DSCH 10s in the catalog, and this is very high among them. Aside from the afore-mentioned Karajan, an earlier out of print Karajan from the mid-60s, and a stupendously fresh and electric Frank Shipway with the Royal Philharmonic, and of course the most authentic of Shostakovich conductors, Mravinsky with the Leningrad Philharmonic. They should all be on your shelf, for all are sublime in different ways."

BerlinSO Shines

Michael Cohen | Boston, MA USA | 01/30/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Without saying, Shosty's 10th stands on its own. However, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, with much thanks to Kurt Sanderling, does a great job playing this incredibly difficult piece. The second movement is played so crisply and ferociously that the listener is swept into Stalin's fury. The winds and strings do a fantastic job with some difficult articulations and technical passages.
Overall, each movement is given a character of its own and the orchestra shines every moment up through the last measure of the finale.
Also, the cd booklet is very informative, containing an interview with Kurt Sanderling, who was a close friend of Shostakovich."