Search - Dmitry Shostakovich, Frank Shipway, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra :: Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10; Gadfly Suite

It's very simple: BUY. THIS. NOW!

John Grabowski | USA | 01/20/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Santa Fe Listener is right. This is THE most blazing, passionate, hair-raising DSCH 10th in the catalog. Shipway and friends do everything short of burning the concert hall down, and they nearly do that! No matter what titanic interpretations you've already heard--Karajan, Mravinsky, Jansons, Haitink, whoever--you've never heard it like this. Not even close, baby. The brooding opening will make your hair stand on end as you wait in dread for the developing cataclysm to come. Here and through the performance is some of the subtlest use of rubato and careful attention to the rhythmic power of accents that I have ever heard in anything. It's as though the conductor has carefully considered the function and weight of every measure, yet it never sounds dull or calculated. The scherzo storms the gates, and I've never heard a more savage Dies Irae. But the third movement--always most problematic for me, is where Shipway really makes a difference. He pushes all the boundaries of the composer's neuroses, fears, insecurities, bitterness and satire further than any other conductor I've heard, and you realize afterwards that the others were just intellectually lazy here, that they never probed the depth of what the composer wrote before. Shipway investigates split-second changes in tempi, mood, and dynamics the way one would expect with one of Gustav Mahler's troubled creations, and the results are unforgettable--demented, warped, creepy, angry, sardonic. The finale starts out with the brooding mystery of the first movement, and for a moment you wonder, especially during the disembodied clarinet solo, if we're ever really going to get the expected transition to the raucous finale. (I was reminded of the first performances of Beethoven's 5th, where audience members were said to be uneasy by the creepy scherzo, having no idea the sunlight was about to gloriously burst through. It can actually be very disconcerting.) But we do get the blazing explosion, without irony (to my ears at least), an approach I never thought would work. But here Shipway seems to believe DSCH is really celebrating emancipation through the death of Stalin, and it's triumphant and downright thrilling. The ending leaves the listener truly complete and satisfied for the first time ever in this work.



The Gadfly is a pleasant addition. I have few other recordings of it, so I can't talk at great length other than to say it's very well-played. But after the shattering 10th, how can it be more than an afterthought? The Royal Philharmonic has apparently improved a great deal since last I heard them. There are times I wish the orchestra were a little more coarse, especially in the brass, but the shortcomings are very minor. Sound is excellent--rich and full, without any artificial spotlighting. I might prefer a bit less reverb, but I like dry sound. (I grew up in Philadelphia at the Academy of Music, after all!) This appears to be one of those orchestra labels co-ops: the symphony records it, and Allegro Media Group distributes it. At a very reasonable price too. This sort of arrangement will probably be the future of classical music, as the big labels and expensive marquee names, with a few exceptions, go by the wayside. If so, along with the CSO and LSO, the RPO has apparently learned to leverage this Brave New World to its advantage. Let's hope they have lots of luck with their effort, and as Santa Fe Listener says, more Frank Shipway please. If this is a representative sample of how he conducts, he should be far far better known than he is. Bravissimo, and encore!"

Astonishing

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 01/11/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For once I am going to be a man of few words and simply say "Buy this." In all respects -- sound, interpretation, and playing, this is a stunning Shostakovich Tenth from a conductor totally unknown in the U.S. and barely known to dedicated collectors. If I hadn't been told the same thing I am telling you, I would have missed a gem in the Shostakovich discography. More Frank Shipway, please."