Shostakovich: October, Op. 131

“Schwarz has honed Seattle strings and brass to produce exactly the right, dark Russian timbre.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2006 ****

“It's certainly time we heard more of the young Petersburg-trained bass Ildar Abdrazakov. …the full agony of the songs about Dante and death touches something deeper. Gianandrea Noseda's BBC Philharmonic set up the necessary atmospheres, whether in apocalyptic trumpet duets, the fierce hammer-blows of 'Creativity' of the tender-mysterious string refrains of 'Night'.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2006 ****

“Shostakovich's Michelangelo settings - reflections on love, death, creativity and immortality - are part of his magnificently bleak last will and testament. …Abdrazakov's restraint brings its own rewards, allowing the songs to speak with social wisdom, the more so thanks to his fabulously steady tone, which remains rich and euphonious across the entire register and dynamic range. The BBC Philharmonic and their principal conductor accompany with refinement and well aimed attack. ...the Six Romances on verses by British poets... are characteristically caustic in tone. This is another full-blooded performance and finely judged recording...” Gramophone Magazine, April 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

“…there's little question that many of the performances have an immediacy of impact that remains unrivalled to this day, the Fourth, Fifth and Thirteenth in particular maintaining their status as classic interpretations. Elsewhere there are plenty of instances where the tension seems to operate at an almost unbearable fever pitch such as in the disturbingly unhinged account of the opening movement of the Fifteenth... the Kondrashin set is surely a must for all Shostakovich devotees.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2007 *****

“If Kondrashin's name isn't the first listeners associate with the composer these days that has more to do with the spotty availability of his recordings than with their intrinsic quality. Of course the sound is not state-of-the-art, the mid-range tending to be rather crowded and shouty, but the transfers are more than listenable. The Fourth in particular is an enormous improvement on its mono-only predecessor, the Ninth disappointing only in the way the sound cuts out abruptly at the close, probably to disguise wear on the master tape. Both these readings are usually judged 'definitive' and the Russians have added to the attractions of the cycle with extras occupying the same high ground. You'll not find a more compelling account of The Execution of Stepan Razin than the one by its onlie begetters and this would seem to be the most 'official' transfer of David Oistrakh's Second Violin Concerto currently doing the rounds.
Black marks, and there had to be some, are earned by the flimsiness of the box containing the 11 sturdy individual cardboard folders and the lack of adequate annotations, texts and translations.
This is the textually bowdlerised version of the Thirteenth which weakens the author's personal identification with the fate of the Jewish people. Here the indictment of anti-Semitism becomes less specific to Mother Russia and we are reminded of the latter's 'heroic deed in blocking the way to Fascism'. Not that you'd know it. Neither this nor the Fourteenth make much sense without the words in front of you.
Whatever the case, the Melodiya set is a compulsory purchase for all true lovers of Shostakovich, especially those who feel that most recent recordings speak with a foreign accent or are simply too damn slow! The first complete Shostakovich cycle from one interpreter can still startle with its resilience and panache and the raw tone of the Moscow Philharmonic is part and parcel of the appeal. Over to you.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The Melodiya set is a compulsory purchase for all true lovers of Shostakovich, especially those who feel that most recent recordings speak with a foreign accent…The first complete Shostakovich cycle from one interpreter can still startle with its resilience and panache” Gramophone Magazine

“it remains mandatory listening...on balance this all has the ring of authenticity that one expects from a conductor who was so closely associated with the composer and who gave the premieres of Symphonies 4 & 13.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“The objective manner may disappoint those who remember Ashkenazy's more flamboyant pianism but this kind of plain-spoken Shostakovich could make a good benchmark library choice. The conscientious avoidance of either high gloss of interpretative point-scoring is carried over into the three new performances produced in-house by the NHK Symphony, an orchestra with which Ashkenazy has been associated as music director and latterly conductor laureate.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2007