Customer Reviews

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7 [Hybrid SACD]

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This live reading of the "Leningrad" Sym. #7 of Shostakovich from Mariss Jansons is much stronger than his earlier studio version on EMI, which ironically enough was with the Leningrad (now St. Petersbrug) Phil., whose authenticity in this music is undeniable.

Here his own orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw plays with great refinement and elegance, two qualities that might seem misplaced in a wartime symphony whose most famous feature is a long march about invading Nazis. But Jansons is out to erase memories of WW II in this music, substituting great care over detail and trying to find heartfelt expression in music often dismissed as second-drawer Shostakovich. For a sturm-und-drang reading one turns to Bernstein's two classics (one with the NY Phil. on Sony--my favorite--the other with the Chicago Sym. on DG) that take full advantage of the symphony's punch and swagger. Jansons finds another way, and although I'm not fully persuaded that the Seventh isn't a bit junky and hollow, he makes as good a case for it as I've ever heard.

This is by far his best Shostakovich recording after completing a less than thrilling complete symphony cycle for EMI. The sound from the orchestra's hosue label is spectacular, even in two-channel stereo.