Those who admire Inbal in Shostakovich will find plenty to satisfy them here. Objectively speaking, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra's sonority is thin, but the recording adds lustre, helping the conductor coax a distinctive sound from his forces. Neither the luminous strings, with their precisely controlled vibrato, nor the 'sterile' brass make any attempt to emulate the ferocious sonorities of the Leningrad Philharmonic—Praga's version is best taped live during the 1967 Prague Spring Festival. But then Inbal is worlds away from Mravinsky in his conception of the music. Thus the long quiet progress of the first movement is radiant rather than raw, something like a succession of shimmering icons. In the second, Inbal delivers an uncharacteristic burst of speed as doomed protesters meet Tsarist militia in Palace Square; he is inflexible within paragraphs but that discipline is not unwelcome.
In the third movement, he does not seek to emulate the Tchaikovskian thrust and passion of Stokowski's Houston recording (currently available in a superb new transfer); he has the violas charge their melody with intense vibrato, yet, for him, this is as much another tone colour as an overtly expressive device. After articulate beginnings, the finale ultimately disappoints: the tranquil section towards the end is predictably beautiful, but the tocsin bell is almost drowned out by the brass (obscuring the harmony) and there is a distinctly apocryphal cymbal crash on which to close.
Sample before purchase if you are not too familiar with Inbal's unvehement approach. There are the usual detailed Japanese-oriented notes and an abundance of index points if your player can decode them. The superb naturalness of the recording is not at issue.'