As was the case with his sensational coupling of Shostakovich’s Fifth and Sixth symphonies, Oleg Caetani has a real feel for this music. He builds the first-movement battle as well as anyone ever has, actually shaping and phrasing even the noisiest climaxes and inviting the listener to conclude that there’s a real musical process at work in this most boisterous of Shostakovich scores. The Scherzo also benefits from Caetani’s careful attention to articulation, particularly after the central climax where so many other performances languish. Caetani sustains the Adagio equally well, and the finale concludes with a suitably roof-raising peroration.
What’s missing here, aside from sonics that are very good but not as outstanding as the previous release (which in fact was recorded later–this is the first disc in the series), is truly great playing, particularly from the brass. They dominate the climaxes by default, but the horns need a more heroic tone and greater penetrating power in the first movement’s climax, while in the Adagio Caetani isn’t able to coax the same intensity from the strings that Bernstein gets, for example, from the Chicago Symphony (never mind the comparison with respect to the brass). The symphony’s opening also needs greater heft and incisiveness, though the performance certainly takes off thereafter. This is, then, a very good performance, but not a first choice. For that, stick with Bernstein on DG or Järvi on Chandos.
