To what extent should Western interpreters seek to emulate the characteristics of the Soviet orchestras of Shostakovich’s day – the dark, full, husky strings, the vibrato-laden winds going all out for strength and penetration rather than tonal beauty? Litton doesn’t. His orchestra has a transatlantic sheen and the McDermott Hall contributes yet more velvet in this superb-sounding “VR2” recording produced by Andrew Keener in collaboration with the Delos engineering team. We can at least be objective about the small textual variant in the violin solo which leads into the finale’s equivocal C-D-C dying fall. The smoothly ascending line favoured by Previn, Haitink (London, 11/83), Jarvi (Chandos, 4/90) DePreist (Ondine, 10/92) and Inbal (Denon, 1/95 – nla) is inauthentic, and, in the case of the last three, frankly inexcusable now that corrected editions of the score are readily available. Litton makes the right decision here, but elsewhere his touch is less sure. He considers this symphony a personal favourite, calling it “one of the most dramatic and frightening works ever composed”. And yet his first movement fatally lacks gravitas. There are some nasty expressive bulges, too, as the music gathers pace in the development. Sonically, the climax is tremendous, but doubts are confirmed by the first Scherzo, overly suave and streamlined, with an affected rhetorical pay-off. The second is at least well drilled and there is some beautifully sustained quiet playing in the Largo even if tension is set too low.
Throughout, the orchestra’s lightweight sonority is flattered by the richness of the acoustic: if this really is the quality of sound to be heard in the orchestra’s home, as the booklet-notes claim, its subscribers are lucky indeed. Collectors will find Shostakovich better served by the versions listed above.'