These are two of the most brilliant and insightful Shostakovich performances to come along in quite a while, and that’s saying a lot given the excellence of the recent competition. Certainly if you’re looking for this coupling, which is becoming a popular one, this is the disc to have. Yakov Kreizberg’s account of the Fifth Symphony is simply the most grimly intense since Sanderling’s (Berlin Classics). The first movement is implacably urgent and as architecturally cogent in its monothematic single-mindedness as any conductor has ever projected it. An aptly gruff and gawky scherzo precedes a very slow, hushed, and emotionally draining account of the magnificent Largo. Have you ever noticed that this movement uses no brass instruments at all, but still manages the most powerful climax in the entire symphony?
Kreizberg, like Sanderling, is absolutely convinced that the finale does not represent a “happy” ending. After an impressively portentous opening and a brooding central interlude, he grinds out the coda with as much relentless menace as the music can take, and then some. By the time the movement heaves its lacerated carcass through the final bars, the cessation of sound comes as a positive relief. Throughout, the Russian National Orchestra plays with 100 percent conviction, and PentaTone’s sonics, whether in stereo or SACD surround, are extremely natural and well-balanced.
What makes this disc even more special is the fact that the Ninth Symphony is every bit as good. The first movement’s deadpan humor comes across with perfect clarity and point. The ghostly waltz that follows has the same quiet intensity as the Fifth Symphony’s Largo, while the scherzo demonstrates just how well Kreizberg has the orchestra on its collective toes. His account of the finale just might be the best on disc: he goes completely nuts in the recapitulation, with a freedom of tempo that the composer surely would have applauded, and the coda breezes by at a truly startling clip. It’s at once the most hilarious as well as the most satisfying account of this movement to have appeared yet. Do not miss this release. [4/11/2007]
