The Overcoat
Lyric Waltz and Romance from Ballet Suite No. 1, sans op. P; Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, op. 35[a]; Lyric Waltz, Dance I, Romance and Waltz from Ballet Suite No. 2, sans op. P; Waltz from Jazz Suite No. 1, sans op. E; Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, op. 102[b]; Waltz from Ballet Suite No. 3, sans op. P; Allegro (incorrectly listed as Mvt. 1) from Symphony No. 10 in E minor, op. 93; Waltz II from Suite for Variety Orchestra (incorrectly listed as Jazz Suite No. 2).
Mario Bernardi, CBC Radio Orchestra, Angela Cheng (piano)[a,b], Jens Lindemann (trumpet)[a].
CBC Records SMCD 5216. DDD. TT 72:53.
Recorded Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver, 20 - 21 June 2001.

To accompany the film The Overcoat (reviewed elsewhere in this issue), CBC have released a soundtrack CD containing most of the music. They have shuffled it, presumably to make a "listening experience" as much as a soundtrack, but they do include instructions for programming the tracks in the order in which they appear in the film. The usefulness of this is questionable; the CD doesn't include the finale from the Tenth String Quartet, which appears in the film, so programming your CD player is not the same as hearing the film's music without the images and stripped of the overlaid sound effects. But since the CD includes both piano concertos bolstered with some other (mostly light) pieces, it is possible to listen to it in a comparable way to, say Chailly's Jazz Music album (Decca 433 702).

The disc opens with the Lyric Waltz from the First Ballet Suite, a souped-up version of the first movement of the First Jazz Suite. The heavier orchestration makes this the less successful version for me, but the CBC orchestra stay pretty light on their feet for it, with just a hint of sluggishness in the middle.

After the aperitif, onto the starters: the First Piano Concerto, a piece so often played and that so often misses. To bring off the balance of the madcap and the cruel in the outer movements, the changing moods, the careering along without quite losing control ... and then, to cope with the wistful slow movement as well! It can all be just too much to manage.

Sadly, though wonderfully clean-fingered, Cheng does negotiate the corners too cautiously too often in the first movement. The corollary, however, is that the slow movement comes off well, particularly towards the end when the orchestra suddenly find the right tone. Sadly, with the finale we're back to a concern with getting it "right" and occasionally with making the point that this is "funny" music, always the best way to stop the laughs. Meanwhile Jens Lindemann's contribution to the whole concerto is very enjoyable - perhaps it's perverse but recently I've been spending more and more time with the trumpet in this work.

A couple of palate-cleansers next: the Lyric Waltz and the Dance I from the Ballet Suite No. 2 followed by the Waltz from the Jazz Suite No 1. Perhaps this is heretical, but I find a few of Shostakovich's waltzes too close to one another for comfort. Against that, the first Dance (later cropping up as At the Market Place in The Gadfly) is always immensely enjoyable. Then we get to the real thing with the Waltz from the First Jazz Suite, a piece I never tire of, here given a nicely balanced performance, swinging without sounding forced.

Now perhaps the main course: the Second Piano Concerto. Cheng starts oddly, pecking at the melody, seemingly in an attempt to make it pawky, but really just risking it becoming a disconnected series of notes. But things improve so much that it begins to look like the best thing on the disc and even the slightly odd slamming on of the brakes just before the first movement cadenza doesn't really spoil things too much.

The Andante is one of those tricky movements, and in describing it the booklet notes fall into the easy trap of using the phrase "heart-on-sleeve" (even if they deny the possibility that Shostakovich could ever be that). Of course, to play it heart-on-sleeve is to destroy it. There is a corner that Shostakovich keeps to himself even here, and it's the probing that makes this movement moving. But Cheng is happy to accept the surface (not heart-on-sleeve) leaving this deceptive movement unexplored before we get to the finale and Cheng finds her feet again. Odd that in the First Concerto the slow movement should come off best and in the Second Concerto it's just the opposite. Is Cheng underestimating the later work? Perhaps so.

It's the point when the sweet trolley arrives, and it's packed! The second Waltz from the Third Ballet Suite is definitely one of Shostakovich's more distinctive waltzes and gets a performance that's light but still able to show its darker side before the arrival of two Romances: the more overtly wistful one from the First Ballet Suite and the dark-opening and mysterious-ending one from the Second Ballet Suite. Staying with that suite, we next get another of the best waltzes: the first movement. Too easily played crassly, here it's expertly judged.

In this company, finding room for something a little tart must have presented a problem. I suppose that making the Allegro from the Tenth Symphony the penultimate piece, leaving time for a relaxing coda, is a good attempt, especially as it counters the risk of excessive sweetness from the other pieces. But in the event it doesn't feel right; it's hardly the most compelling performance and would you really want it ripped from its context?

To me, the Waltz from the First Jazz Suite is one of the best Shostakovich wrote, but by the time we get to the second Waltz from the Suite for Variety Orchestra (or the Eyes Wide Shut Waltz as it will probably become known!), it sometimes seems like third pressings. Perhaps it's not entirely surprising that the latter rounds off this programme - the release of the Kubrick collection on DVD seems to have "inspired" a few people and Handel's Sarabande (from Barry Lyndon) is currently advertising something, while Ligeti is apt to turn up at a moment's notice in a documentary. But things are better than that in this case. The undeniable similarity of this Waltz to the Waltz from the First Jazz Suite means that it ends the CD with a nice feeling of "the same but different".

The annotation leaves a bit to be desired, which is a shame, as one of the declared aims of the theatre production was to introduce people to the music of Shostakovich. It would be nice to see fewer mistaken references to the Second Jazz Suite, but citing the wrong movement from the Tenth Symphony is less forgivable. And to learn that the Ballet Suites draw on music "Shostakovich had written in the much happier '30s" beggars belief.

I wouldn't necessarily say that this was the recording to have for either of the concertos; dull though it is to repeat, Alexeev, Jones and Maksymiuk with the English Chamber Orchestra still do it for me (Classics for Pleasure CD-CFP 4547), along with Shostakovich's own EMI recordings (CDC 7 54606 2). As I've said, Cheng is impressively clean-fingered if a little too cautious and emotionally detached.

But the selection of pieces is very pleasing. I always find it easy to have too much of the ballet suites, so breaking them up with the concertos is a good way of presenting them. If the programme appeals, this is certainly worth having.

John Riley
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DSCH No. 17.
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