Shostakovich plays Shostakovich
Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, op. 35[a]; Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, op. 102[b]; Concertino for Two Pianos in A minor, op. 94[c]; Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, op. 67[d].
Dmitri Shostakovich (piano) with Samuel Samosud, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Josif Volovnik (trumpet)[a]/Alexander Gauk, Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra[b]/Maxim Shostakovich (piano)[c]/David Oistrakh (violin), Milos Sádlo (cello)[d].
Classical Treasures CT-10022. ADD mono. TT 66:25.
Recorded 1956[a]/1959[b]/1956[c]/1947[d].

Cello Concerto No. 1 in Eb major, op. 107[a]; Cello Concerto No. 2 in G major, op. 126[b]; Satires (Pictures of the Past), op. 109[c].
David Oistrakh (cond.), Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Mstislav Rostropovich (cello)[a,b]/(piano)[c], Galina Vishnevskaya (soprano)[c].
Classical Treasures CT-10037. ADD mono[a,b]/stereo[c]. TT 72:19.
Recorded 24 January 1965[a]/12 November 1967[b]/23 (listed incorrectly as 21) October 1967.

These are the first two discs of Shostakovich recordings from Russia's Ostankino radio archive to resurface on the Classical Treasures label, a California-based subsidiary of the South Korean Yedang Entertainment Company. The identical programmes appeared previously on Revelation: Volume 5 of that label's Shostakovich Plays Shostakovich series (RV 70006), and RV 10087. The works are even arranged on Classical Treasures' CDs in the same order as they were on Revelation.

Regular readers know that the British Revelation label was torpedoed by legal intrigues over the copyrights to these recordings (see Industry News, DSCH No. 10). Although Classical Treasures' promotional talk of "never-before-released music" (their italics) seems rather cheeky given the 114 CDs that Revelation issued, the renewed availability of this catalogue is a good thing.

Certainly, the historic programme on the Shostakovich plays Shostakovich disc is nothing short of mouth-watering. Despite the haphazard playing in the piano concerti, which do not speak highly of Shostakovich's keyboard skills (or, for that matter, Josif Volovnik's trumpeting in the First), both are valuable documents of the composer's anxious, staccato mannerisms.

The famous Shostakovich-Oistrakh-Sádlo Prague recording of the Trio has appeared on CD umpteen times before, but is welcome wherever it goes for its expressive variety, if not always flawless execution.

Also self-recommending is the alternately poignant and rollicking father-and-son duet in the Concertino, a short work written with the teenaged Maxim in mind and premiered by him two years before this recording.

How tragic, then, that all the recordings on the Shostakovich plays Shostakovich disc have precisely the same flaws in transfer pitch as they did on Revelation! The Concertino, Second Piano Concerto and Piano Trio No. 2 are all sharp by roughly a semitone, while the First Piano Concerto is very slightly sharp.

I have notified Classical Treasures of this problem, but they have not, thus far, indicated that they will correct it. Although few listeners will consciously identify the pitch discrepancies, these will distort anyone's perceptions of the performances. Consequently, this CD cannot be recommended even to ears that don't possess absolute pitch.

The Trio can be heard at the right pitch on Eclectra ECCD-2046 (reviewed in DSCH No. 14), but the release of the concerti at the correct pitch on the defunct Russian Disc label is unavailable (RDCD 15 005).

Another technical glitch on the present issue, this one not found on Revelation: the transition from third to fourth movements of the First Piano Concerto repeats during play.

I reviewed the performances on the new Rostropovich disc in their Revelation incarnation in DSCH No. 9. This remains a most desirable programme. The First Cello Concerto is played with greater intensity than in the 1961 concert with the same soloist and orchestra under Rozhdestvensky on EMI's 2-CD set Rostropovich: The Russian Years (EMI 7243 5 72295 2 4). The 1965 performance is so gripping that occasional lapses in accuracy are easily overlooked. Oistrakh's shaping of the orchestral role is distinctive; listen at the end to the disquieting way he constricts the notes of the concerto's four-note signature.

This Second Cello Concerto is more restrained than the premiere performance on the afore-mentioned EMI set, and its recording's narrow dynamic range short-changes the climax in the last movement. Still, the sombre reading is well played, and rewards repeated listening.

Neural Audio's remastering for Classical Treasures enhances the bass of these recordings. This makes the concerti sound a degree warmer and more "alive" than on Revelation.

Dedicatee Vishnevskaya's Satires are authentically hot-blooded, and it's enjoyable to hear Rostropovich on an instrument other than his cello. The identical recording is also available on BMG/Melodiya's Russian Live Recordings from the Sixties (74321 53237 2). As with Revelation and Melodiya, Classical Treasures supply no texts for this work.

Unfortunately, the noise-reduction operation Neural Audio performed on Satires is contraindicated for classical music; it excises more hiss during quiet periods between notes, so that when the piano plays pizzicato, it comes wrapped in static. This is especially damaging in the last song, Kreutzer Sonata. If this valuable recital is your main objective, go to Melodiya instead, where you'll also hear the husband-and-wife team in the premiere of the Blok Romances, Prokofiev's Akhmatova Poems, plus Shostakovich's orchestration of Musorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death.

Classical Treasures provide more extensive booklet notes than did Revelation. On Shostakovich plays Shostakovich, Byron Adams' well-written and interesting description of the First Piano Concerto is followed by over seven pages about Shostakovich as pianist and David Oistrakh's career, penned by one Boris Gontarev, who also supplies the nine pages of notes on the Rostropovich disc. Apparently, these have not been edited by a native English speaker: "Very often since 1981, when Maxim emigrated to the West, one might see a rare billboard ..." And so forth.

There are factual errors too, as when, in discussing how Ivan Sollertinsky, the dedicatee of Piano Trio No. 2, would frequently present concert performances, Gontarev writes, "Naturally, Sollertinsky presented this "Trio" to the audience, when it was premiered on November 14, 1944." No mean feat for a man who died nine months earlier!

Although these discs have limited distribution in Asia, Classical Treasures have no plans to market them through regular channels elsewhere. Instead, they prefer direct marketing via TV "infomercials" and their own website, www.classicaltreasures.com. They hope to release around twenty new discs per quarter. Five CDs with Shostakovich recordings are set to appear in the next batch - only one of these did not previously appear on Revelation, but none have been reviewed previously in our pages.

One hopes that future Classical Treasures releases will display quality control - in both remastering and annotation - commensurate with the significance of this material.

W. Mark Roberts
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DSCH No. 17.
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