Search - Dmitry Shostakovich, Mark Wigglesworth, BBC National Orchestra of Wales :: Shostakovich: Symphony No. 14

An improbable sucess, but a very real one

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 06/16/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a riveting account of the Shostakovich Sym. 14, which is based on a cycle of poems on the subject of death. Mark Wigglesworth showed a marked affinity for Shostakovich's idiom from the start of his cycle in 1997; this account was recorded in 1999. One wouldn't predict success. By consensus the Fourteenth is the most Russian of the symphonies, redolent of Slavic doom, whereas the two singers here, Joan Rodgers and John Tomlinson, are thoroughly British. Their tone lacks any Slavic timbre; as for their pronunciation, those of us who don't speak Russian can't comment. they certainly don't lack for confidence and forcefulness.



What Wigglesworth achieves is an improbable success, and he does it by turning this disjointed work, which is more a song cycle than a symphony, into a dramatic unity: you feel that you're attending a tense, dark chamber opera where life and death are at stake. He delivers wide mood swings, and even though tempos are slow, the focus remains on the ever-shifting orchestral part. Here the conductor finds instrumental effects that suddenly leap into terror, manic exhilaration, or eerie dirge at a moment's notice. The Fourteenth easily lapses into lugubriousness, but not here. For vocal splendor Rodgers and Tomlinson may not equal two other Westerners, Thomas Quasthoff and Karita Mattila, under Simon Rattle on EMI, but they are completely attuned to Wigglesworth ultra-dramatized approach.



When you consider Bis's state of the art sonics and the commitment of the Welsh BBC players, this is one of the most notable Shostakovich Fourteenths on disc."