Customer Reviews

Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 6 & 12

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I purchased this for the Symphony No. 6, looking for an alternative to Mravinsky and Leningrad, which I found exciting, but a bit scrappy due to the very fast tempos in the 2nd and 3rd movements that caused the intricate details of this wonderful work to be hidden. There are some strong characteristics to the Inbal/Vienna recording. The third movement tempo was a bit on the slow side, but the playing and balances were clear--much clearer than Mravinsky.

But there are significant issues. In the third movement, while the difficult eighth note passages in the strings and winds during the straight 2/2 meter were executed safely, when Shostakovitch adds metric complexity, mixed meters, etc., the playing became very sloppy. There were two very audible note errors in the flute and violin solo parts at the end of the movement. Since these are known errors in Kalmus edition that exist only in the parts and not the score, they should have caught by the conductor during rehearsals. The library staff should also have corrected them prior to rehearsals. Both of these shortcomings point to an under-prepared performance on all fronts.

In the second movement the tempo slows down at musically inappropriate places, which seem to correspond to when the winds have difficult passages. Either this was done to relieve the winds of the technical pressure, or was a result of the use of an alternate take that was played at a slower tempo. Neither is worthy of a recording.

Finally, the first movement tempos varied from slow to absolutely stagnant. The entire movement lacked musical cohesion, resulting in a disinterested/boring account.

Overall the winds and brass play beautifully in tune, but the strings use of vibrato (too much and used at the wrong times) betrays a lack of vision for the work.

I do not recommend buying this recording.