Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely riveting !, October 26, 2003
There seems to be little doubt that profoundly troubling influences were exerted on Shostakovich's emotions around the time he was in the process of creating this symphony, the first of his more mature large masterworks. He felt compelled, though with reluctance, to suppress this work in 1936. It did not surface for its premiere until late December, 1961. Once performed in concert, it generated all sorts of speculation. Only five years prior, the composer himself had issued some reservations about it. But I have no intention of probing further here the political and ideological aspects of the accompanying story. The main focus is this big, outspoken, abstruse and bewitching opus, and when one has the good fortune of hearing as dedicated, perceptive and exciting a performance as that served up here by Neeme Jarvi and the Scottish National Orchestra, the entire experience becomes special. This is not the first time I have encountered the "give it all it's worth " effort from this team of musical forces. (See my review of their recording of the Shostakovich Tenth.) With Jarvi at the helm, you'd better be prepared to hold tight and not let go. It should also be said that the Chandos sound engineers do a beautiful job of assisting in clearly bringing to light every aspect of this spellbinding journey. For one thing, you will be impressed with the urgency and sometimes explosive power the conductor and orchestra bring to the first movement. One can easily pick up on the influence of Mahler. Here and there, it seems as if Shostakovich is employing that composer's cloak to issue mocking musical commentary. The second movement carries Mahler's influence even further, once more intertwining it with the sometimes ominous, unpredictable elements of Shostakovich's own living environment. In the third and final movement, Jarvi deftly communicates some of the symphony's more pungent and powerful aspects, while managing to retain an air of dangerous anticipation. His complete portrayal is terribly convincing. Whether you are unfamiliar with or curious about this symphony or you have heard other interpretations of it, you owe it to yourself to listen to Jarvi and the Scottish National Orchestra. Regardless of the direction you are coming from, you should find yourself strongly impressed.
|
|
|
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Shostakovich with all the edges rough, October 26, 2005
Jarvi's reading is glaring and hard-edged, bringing out the mechanistic side of this enigmatic work. He makes it sound like a raw industrial symphony, which is an exciting approach. His Scottish orchestra is a bit thin, and the recorded sound has some glare, so one can't expect the refined, sophisticated sound that is available from Haitink, Chung, and Gergiev--I prefer all those recordings over this one. But the Fourth is the hardest of Shostakovich's symphonies to carry off, and Jarivi's rawer approach is convincing.
|
|
|
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Shostakovich's orphan symphony, November 18, 2008
It's a little ironic for me that, of all of Shostakovich's symphonies, this remains for me the most enigmatic, appealing, and electrifying. It was, after all, shelved soon after being written and had wait until the 1960s for a public performance. Perhaps it might have spelled the end of the composer, coming as it did at the time of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and the "impact" that work had on Shostakovich's life. I'm left wondering how the composer might have developed had he been able to pursue the creative path indicated by this work, assuming it would have been divergent from the path he did pursue in subsequent works (the Fifth, for example). We'll never know but we can at least enjoy a remarkable work, beginning with its breathtaking roller coaster ride of a first movement.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
~ Dmitry Shostakovich
~ Dmitry Shostakovich
by David Hurwitz
~ Shostakovich
- the new music site from IMDb and Amazon.
