Since the classic Kyrill Kondrashin account (Melodiya, 1/69) continues its purgatorial wait for reincarnation, the field is still wide open for a fine Execution of Stepan Razin. This new one, from a source that has given us some excellent recordings of rare Shostakovich, is about on the level of its Leipzig rival on Philips - a solid but colouristically limited bass soloist, moderate intensity from choir and orchestra. It scores higher on recording quality, not surprisingly since the Philips dates from the early 1970s. And it ought to score higher on the all-important matter of texts and translation, since the Philips disc has none. Sadly, Capriccio offers only a translation abridged to the point of incomprehensibility, with virtually all the soloist's words cut out and no sign of the original Russian whatsoever. So in order to get any sense of the denunciatory import of Yevtushenko's words, and in order even to begin speculating on Shostakovich's possible allegorical intent, you have to go to the Bulgarian performance on Koch, where the full text and translation accompany a performance of lamentable amateurishness.
With that disc you at least find a valuable coupling, in the shape of Sviridov's abjectly conformist Oratorio Pathetique. Capriccio offers the teenage Shostakovich's Krylov Fables, somewhat doggedly delivered by comparison with the above-listed rivals, and a rather pointless suite of interludes from Katerina Izmaylova (not the original Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District as claimed in their titling). Definitely not recommended.'