Previous Shostakovich issues from this conductor and orchestra have tended to divide the critics. MEO was particularly impressed with the Eleventh (Delos, 5/89) whereas DJF found a lack of weight and character in the orchestral sound. Those who like their Shostakovich Red in tooth and claw will no doubt find the present issue underpowered: the versions listed above offer far more in the way of ‘authenticity’. Instead, DePreist gives us a pair of sensible, very well-prepared performances in good, albeit slightly studio-bound sound. Even in the Twelfth, he makes scant attempt to forge an appropriate Soviet-style sonority at climactic moments, preferring a certain lucidity and restraint. The Ninth is purposeful and clean, yet offers no particular revelation at the close: the finale is soft-grained, almost puny, where a harder satiric edge would seem de rigueur. As throughout, articulation is firm but there is little in the way of attack. You may find this approach more appropriate than I do and the coupling is an unusual one.'