A superb Adagietto, yet the rest could be better...
darreen | Berkeley, CA | 01/09/2007
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I do esteem Mr. Temirkanov, in fact I regard him as the finest living Russian conductor, and his artistical insight into the late-romanticism repertoire is second to none. However this particular performance is below satisfying. Though a close-to-perfect rendition of Adagietto (certainly among the best that I ever heard), and the whole thing actually sounds better after several listening, I still expect a finer output from the St. Petersburg group.
The St. Petersburg brass players were sort of off form. They could even seem to be out of tune at times, and the playing is faulty too. E.g., the trumpet diminished unexpectedly at 12'14", which was a rather odd phrasing, and the horn player apparently hiccuped at 6'00" during the scherzo (though comparatively, he did an overall decent job for this movement). The finale was half-destroyed by the disturbing brass sound, I'd say. And the ear-piercing brass passage during the last couple of minutes made the rest of the orchestra essentially inaudible.
Second, this living recording sounds embarrassingly "living". Not to mention those everlasting coughing. I respect Water Lilly's efforts in making this record, yet I'm left questioning the renown of Shostakovich Hall. The orchestra playing is surprisingly distant and two-dimensional. The overall vague texture might suggest some depth, I don't know. The brass keeps pinching one's right ear, with the low string roaring some miles ahead (and extremely muddy, too). (The SACD sound might be better, I'm yet to find out).
Though this might have been the engineers' goal to achieve, a real "living" experience as if you were in the hall, it is somehow uncomfortable. On the other hand, the recording by itself does possess the feeling of authenticity, reality, conveying the full dynamic range and very fine details. So is it the Shostakovich Hall to blame? In fact it not impossible, IMHO. It was actually the concern on the Hall's acoustic quality (superb for live performances though) accounted largely for Mr. Temirkanov's hesitation of making recordings, and it is currently undergoing some major renovation. So let's pray for better.
"
Track Listings (5) - Disc #1