Dmitri Shostakovich

“EMI's sound will crush your bones and your brains to jelly” (All Music Guide on Symphony No 4)

Le Monde de la Musique: “One wonders how Repin manages to find so much freshness and spontaneity in a work as well known as the Tchaikovsky Concerto…one is tempted to put Repin, with Milstein, Heifetz and Stern, at the very summit of a plethora of recordings.”

“…there’s no question that Berglund delivers an intelligent, moving and fully formed conception of this powerful and emotionally draining symphony” David Hurwitz, classicstoday.com

“…there's no doubt that a magisterial hand is at work, steadily shaping long-term sequences and arriving decisively at apocalyptic climaxes.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2006 ***

“In many respects Alfred Schnittke seems to take Shostakovich's unique brand of introverted lyricism and his penchant for grotesque imagery to new levels of intensity. This link is palpably drawn by Alban Gerhardt and Steven Osborne whose approach to the much-recorded Shostakovich is admirably fresh and innovative. Particularly daring is their emotionally numb and extremely slow reading of the Largo coda to the first movement... In this context, the slow outer movements of the Schnittke seem particularly withdrawn and disturbing, the frenzied activity of the central Presto offering little respite to an all-pervasive feeling of gloom and despair.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2006 ****

“All sorts of intriguing repertoire is here, and Shostakovich's ready fund of melody and his exotic orchestral palette...Chailly plays this repertoire superbly and receives magnificent orchestral playing from both the Concertgebouw and Philadelphia orchestras, with Decca sound to match.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

Rattle said of Symphony No. 14 “for me it’s the most important of his symphonies, because it reveals [Shostakovich] at his closest. Not only in the depth and darkness, but in the sudden irony, the sudden humour… you wouldn’t know where the next mood was going to come from. Very special.”

“…the Berlin strings catch every shade and dynamic under Rattle's rigorous direction, and the percussion resonates in Philharmonie acoustics. On a bonus disc comes a focused performance of the First Symphony, calculated in its fits and starts but always alive.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2006 ****

“The Emersons have played Shostakovich all over the world, and this long- pondered intégrale sets the seal on a process that has brought the quartets to the very centre of the repertoire – the ensemble's and ours. While some listeners will miss the intangible element of emotional specificity and sheer Russianness that once lurked behind the notes, the playing is undeniably committed in its coolness, exposing nerve endings with cruel clarity.
The hard, diamond-like timbre of the two violins (the leader's role is shared democratically) is far removed from the breadth of tone one might associate with a David Oistrakh, just as cellist David Finckel is no Rostropovich. But these recordings reveal surprising new facets of a body of work that isn't going to stand still. The Fourth Quartet is a case in point, more delicate than most rivals with the finale relatively pressed, less insistently Jewish. The Fifth sometimes seems closer to Ustvolskaya or American minimalism than the mid-century Soviet symphonic utterance we're used to; the Emerson's almost hectoring mode of address and unfluctuating tempo are maintained for as long as (in)humanly possible. The very vehemence of, say, the finale of the Ninth tends to blunt the harmonic sense of the music, leaving something more visceral and rosiny than the argument can stand. To get the unique feel of this set, sample one of the encore pieces, the 'Polka' from TheAge of Gold. Little humanity and wit, but can you resist the explosive brilliance of the technique? DG's recording is exceptionally vivid if somewhat airless, the separation of the instruments being achieved at the expense of tonal blend.
Given that all the quartets were taped live with only remedial patching, the audience is commendably silent: their enthusiastic applause is retained for Nos 1, 2, 9 and 12 only. This is a Shostakovich cycle for the 21st century.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010