Search - Shostakovich, Kremer, Ozawa :: Violin Concerto 2

A gloomy enterprise, but Kremer has mastered the shostakovic

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 10/01/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Gidon Kremer delivers the starkest, and therefore the most authentic, version of the austere Shostakovich Violin Cto. no. 2 that I've encountered. The work isn't singular in being joyless; much of late Shostakovich is like King Lear without the laughs or Siberia without the tropical climate. For me, certain works cross the line. Melancholy becomes depression; bleakness becomes sterility. On its own terms, Kremer must have a feeling for this angular, spare, uningratiating work, which has been far less popular than the First Concerto. DG provides beautiful sound and the BSO beautiful playing. Seiji Ozawa's leadership is competent enough. I have a hard time caring.



Kremer has an inordinate fondness for arrangements, some of which are less well advised than others. This transposition of the Schumann Cello Concerto falls somewhere in between. On its own, it sounds like a mistake, especially as done here, with minimal romanticism and passion. the total absence of violin pyrotechnics is a severe hindrance. Schumann didn't even stretch the technical demands of the cello, a more cumbersome instrument. Kremer sometimes sounds like he's doing warm-up exercises, and Ozawa is, if anything, even more detached. What could possibly emerge that's positive? Only the tone of the violin, for those who find the cello version rather gloomy in its original guise. But that's not much of a reason to buy this CD, which turned out to be a first-class downer."