Symphony No. 3 in Eb major, The First of May, opus 20[a]; Symphony No. 14, opus 135[b].
Oleg Caetani, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Coro Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi[a], Marina Poplavskaya (soprano)[b], Mikhail Davidov (baritone)[b].
Arts Music 47723-8. DDD hybrid 5.1-surround sound SACD/stereo SACD/stereo CD. TT 74:45.
Also available in complete symphonies 10-SACD boxed set, Arts Music 47850-8.
Recorded live at the Auditorium di Milano, April–June 2006.

Symphony No. 3 in Eb major, The First of May, opus 20[a]; Symphony No. 14, opus 135[b].
Mariss Jansons, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischer Rundfunk, Chor des Bayerischer Rundfunk[a], Larissa Gogolewskaja (soprano)[b], Sergei Aleksashkin (bass)[b].
EMI 0946 3 56830 2 8. DDD. TT 79:21.
Also available in complete symphonies 10-CD boxed set, EMI 0946 3 56830 2 8.
Recorded at the Herkulessaal der Residenz, München, 10–12 January 2005[a], 7–8 October and 11–12 November 2005[b].

Symphony No. 1 in F# minor, opus 10[a]; Symphony No. 14, opus 135[b].
Simon Rattle, Berliner Philharmoniker, Karita Mattila (soprano)[b], Thomas Quasthoff (bass)[b].
EMI 0946 3 58077 2 1. DDD. 2-CD set TT 53:59+32:09.
Recorded live at the Philharmonie, Berlin, 15–17 June 2005[a], 16–19 September 2005[b].

By most accepted standards, the Berlin Philharmonic is one of the best orchestras in the world. The same cannot be said for the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, or even for the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, despite the high quality of their playing. In addition to producing famously flawless playing, the Berlin Philharmonic has Simon Rattle as its Principal Conductor, and he hardly needs to prove his credentials as a Shostakovich interpreter.

It is therefore not surprising that, at the level of sheer virtuosity, Oleg Caetani’s orchestra does not achieve the technical perfection of Rattle’s players. The Milan strings let Caetani down at crucial moments of the Fourteenth Symphony, most notably in the furious Malagueña, though the soprano’s entries in The Suicide also suffer from lack of intensity in the preceding string passages. The contributions of Caetani’s soloists, Marina Poplavskaya and Mikhail Davidov, are also mixed: Poplavskaya is unaccountably lightweight in Malagueña, but is spellbinding in The Suicide; Davidov is compelling in O Delvig; and their final duet is tautly controlled and balanced. Despite some roughness and moments of weakness, Caetani’s account of this bleak but beautiful symphony is well worth deeper acquaintance.

Rattle prefers a rich, warm sound to the hard edge of Jansons. His opening movement is textured with a luscious vibrato that Jansons eschews in favour of a cold glassiness, and his On Watch is sleekly taut where Jansons’ is cruel and obsessive. In The Zaporozhian Cossacks, Rattle adopts a deliberately sneering, almost mechanistic sound, where Jansons is all violence and fury. Rattle’s Malagueña, too, adopts a more relaxed tone than does Jansons’, with menacing undertones of violence. His barely there, pianissimo opening of The Poet’s Death is instantly compelling, and in the first movement too, the Berlin Philharmonic is the most eerie and brooding.

There are plenty of times when criticising an orchestra for sounding too perfect is nothing more than mean-spirited carping. But the criticism that could more fairly be laid at Rattle’s door is not technical over-perfection but expressive limpness – a sense that all that’s there is a beautiful sound. Any listener who didn’t know the symphony would find no cause for complaint. But those who follow the texts – poems by Rilke, Kuchelbecker, Lorca and Apollinaire – might well find Thomas Quasthoff’s gorgeously lyrical bass slightly at odds with the at times unbearable anguish of the words. And a comparison with Sergei Aleksashkin (the bass in Jansons’ recording) or Davidov further underscores the problem. Quasthoff’s singing of At the Sante Jail and O Delvig has a shapely beauty, but a brief comparison with the other basses in these two movements reveals his expressive weakness.

The anguish and intensity they bring to Apollinaire’s and Kuchelbecker’s poems simply aren’t there in Rattle’s recording, no matter how much the Berlin strings outclass Milan’s.

Jansons’ recording has the winning combination of superb orchestral playing and outstanding soloists. Neither Poplavskaya nor Karita Mattila (Rattle’s soprano) come close to Larissa Gogolewskaja, who ranges from the brittle intensity of Madame, Look! to the haunting insanity of The Suicide. Though Poplavskaya’s performance of this movement is also brilliantly hypnotic, Gogolewskaja’s voice is simply stronger and richer. Mattila is movingly vulnerable in Loreley, but that tenderness of expression comes at the expense of the passionate drive of Gogolewskaja’s delivery. Jansons’ bass, Aleksashkin, is far and away the strongest of the three: both anguished and tender in O Delvig, menacing in Loreley.

There is no question that Rattle is master of this interpretation, and some listeners will accept less exciting soloists as the price to pay for a strong original interpretation. But Jansons’ soloists are without question the most powerful and expressive of the three recordings; and when their performance is matched by both interpretation and technique of such authoritative musicianship, the result is compelling. Caetani, despite some superb singing and playing, is not really a contender in this company; to choose Rattle means settling for less with the soloists despite interpretative insights, whereas singers, conductor and orchestra are ideally matched in Jansons’ recording.

Rattle couples the Fourteenth Symphony with the First, while Jansons and Caetani have opted for the more unusual pairing of the Third. Both interpretations of the Third Symphony are convincing, although Caetani’s live performance has a frisson of excitement that some listeners might find lacking in Jansons’ more secure, though still powerful recording. Caetani’s tempi are considerably faster than Jansons’ in places, which certainly aids the sense of adventure, and the Milanese players are more secure here than in the Fourteenth Symphony. Both are fine recordings in very different ways: the Milan choir are rather untidy in the closing chorus, perhaps struggling to cope with Caetani’s whirlwind tempi, but on the whole their performance is just as gripping as Jansons’, even if not for quite the same reasons. There is, however, always the possibility that what may be compelling in live performance may pall with continued acquaintance, and Caetani’s recording certainly carries this risk.

Turning finally to Rattle’s performance of the First Symphony, as might be expected from the Berlin Philharmonic, it is technically and expressively flawless; it does everything it is supposed to. But it doesn’t do any more than that, and cannot compensate for the rather lacklustre Fourteenth. Rattle has produced some stunning Shostakovich recordings, but despite some ravishing moments in the Fourteenth Symphony, this CD isn’t one of his best.

Pauline Fairclough
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