Shostakovich Choral Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Dmitri Shostakovich
Label: Decca
Magazine Review Date: 7/1993
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 51
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 433 319-2DH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Suite on Verses of Michelangelo |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Baritone Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer Vladimir Ashkenazy, Conductor |
| (4) Verses of Captain Lebyadkin |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Baritone Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer Vladimir Ashkenazy, Piano |
Author:
There have been fine recordings of Shostakovich's penultimate and antepenultimate opuses sung by Evgeni Nesterenko—indeed the Michelangelo Suite won a Gramophone Award in 1977 (HMV, 5/77—nla). But like so many classic Melodiya issues these seem to be languishing somewhere in between copyright agreements. So warm thanks to Fischer-Dieskau for what is a useful stopgap, involving what must surely have been a labour of love.
The Michelangelo settings encompass most of the ethical concerns of Shostakovich's last year, plus a surprising return to erotic themes (or perhaps not so surprising, given that love is such a powerful sub-text to the death-haunted Fourteenth Symphony). The musical language is remarkably elliptical and it takes a performance of supreme idiomatic mastery to reveal its depths. Is Fischer-Dieskau's one such? Well, he certainly tries with all the considerable artistry still at his disposal—the voice itself, through liable now to spread under extreme pressure, is still for the most part well focused, and the Russian pronunciation is more convincing than most non-native singers can manage. But this remains a marvellous simulation rather than the real thing; just a few bars of Nesterenko reminded me how the words fitted his voice like the proverbial glove. And though Ashkenazy undoubtedly knows the music from the inside (he recorded the Suite in its piano version with John Shirley-Quirk for Decca—5/78, nla), his Berlin players sound like strangers to the idiom.
The Lebyadkin Verses have only ever been recorded twice before. They are compact satirical sketches in the Mussorgsky manner, with built-in asides and audience interruptions, and Fischer-Dieskau and Ashkenazy revel in their shades of black humour. Recording quality is fine, although I wonder whether more could not have been done to enhance the rather underpowered orchestra in the Suite.'
The Michelangelo settings encompass most of the ethical concerns of Shostakovich's last year, plus a surprising return to erotic themes (or perhaps not so surprising, given that love is such a powerful sub-text to the death-haunted Fourteenth Symphony). The musical language is remarkably elliptical and it takes a performance of supreme idiomatic mastery to reveal its depths. Is Fischer-Dieskau's one such? Well, he certainly tries with all the considerable artistry still at his disposal—the voice itself, through liable now to spread under extreme pressure, is still for the most part well focused, and the Russian pronunciation is more convincing than most non-native singers can manage. But this remains a marvellous simulation rather than the real thing; just a few bars of Nesterenko reminded me how the words fitted his voice like the proverbial glove. And though Ashkenazy undoubtedly knows the music from the inside (he recorded the Suite in its piano version with John Shirley-Quirk for Decca—5/78, nla), his Berlin players sound like strangers to the idiom.
The Lebyadkin Verses have only ever been recorded twice before. They are compact satirical sketches in the Mussorgsky manner, with built-in asides and audience interruptions, and Fischer-Dieskau and Ashkenazy revel in their shades of black humour. Recording quality is fine, although I wonder whether more could not have been done to enhance the rather underpowered orchestra in the Suite.'
Shostakovich Choral Works
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