The dazzling virtuosity displayed on this disc by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe makes me wonder why such a fuss is sometimes made about the validity of orchestrations and transcriptions. The string quartets of Shostakovich undoubtedly contain some of his best music. Though often conceived on a symphonic scale, they were essentially written as private expressions of the composer's innermost feelings. Following the success of Rudolf Barshai's orchestration of Prokofiev's piano pieces Visions fugitives for his Moscow Chamber Orchestra, he asked Shostakovich to allow him to orchestrate his String Quartet No. 8. After the first performance, the composer was so impressed that he wrote to Barshai suggesting that he should orchestrate others of the quartets. Since then, Barshai has worked on the Third and Fourth String Quartets with remarkable results. If the original quartets can be said to be in black and white, Barshai's Chamber Symphonies must be said to be in technicolor, enhancing the textures and giving the works a wider dynamic range. Never do the orchestrations sound contrived and at all times the works are irradiated by the spirit of Shostakovich.
Barshai's credentials for the task are impeccable. First as the viola player in the string quartet that gave many of the quartets their premieres, later as a conductor, he was a loyal friend and supporter of the composer throughout many difficult years. The music of both of these works, which date from the late 1940s, must course through his veins. Both are sombre, almost bitter, works painting a portrait of a composer under siege, not knowing whom he can trust. For the most part, Shostakovich writes in a simple and direct style, though often he retreats behind a mask of sardonic, and sometimes macabre, humour. Every inflexion, every change of mood is subtly pointed by Barshai the conductor and the players of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe respond magnificently.'