Search - Shostakovich, Helmerson, Polyansky :: Symphony 12 Op 112 / Cello Concerto 2 Op 126

Compelling performances of Shostakovich's lesser known works

David A. Hollingsworth | Washington, DC USA | 06/13/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"By the time I reviewed Polyansky's performance with the Russian State Symphony Orchestra in Glazunov's 2nd symphony & his Coronation Cantata, I was more than underwhelmed & underenthused, for I felt that the performances lacked the necessary excitement & passion. Listening to this disk, however, it sounds as if a totally different orchestra is featured with a different conductor. Refinement, conviction, sonority, enthusiasm, and discipline dominates the whole disc and the cello soloist Frans Helmerson played with warmth and command, although perhaps a bit too subdued.Shostakovich Twelfth symphony of 1961, like, for instances, Gadzhiev's 4th Symphony and Shebalin's Third Symphony, was dedicated to the memory of Vladimir Illyich Ulyanov (Lenin). The symphony continues where the 7th & 11th symphonies left off, in describing crucial events which changed Russia fundamentally. The first movement is a turbulent expression of the unrest which occured during 1917 before & after Lenin returned to Russia. The second movement describes Razliv, a country where Lenin exiled himself. The third movement ("Aurora"-the name of the battleship) describes the vessel which fired a shot so as to signal the conflict of the Winter Place whereas The Finale is of jubilation.The second concerto for violincello & orchestra of 1966 is a late endeavor of the composer. Shostakovich grew ill (heart condition) at the time & composed the piece in a sanitorium. Like the first cello concerto, much of the music is of slow or moderate tempo, most particularly in the first movement. It will be by the second movement (also the second movement in the first cello concerto) where the tempo picks up in pace with various instruments express conflicting ideas. In the second concerto, however, slow tempo re-emerged & the work ends quietly yet troubled. The composer's 15th symnphony shares the same language out of anticipation made by the concerto itself, the work of darkness with little optimism & serenity.Recommended."