Chamber Symphony, arrangement of String Quartet No. 4 in D major by Rudolf Barshai, op. 83a; Symphony for Strings and Woodwind, arrangement of String Quartet No. 3 in F major by Rudolf Barshai, op. 73a.
Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Tapiola Sinfonietta.
BIS-CD-1180. DDD. TT 56:57
Recorded in the Tapiola Concert Hall, Finland, 2-5 May 2001.

Chamber Symphony, arrangement of String Quartet No. 8 in C minor by Rudolf Barshai, op. 110a[a]; Symphony for Strings, arrangement of String Quartet No. 10 in Ab major by Rudolf Barshai, op. 118a[b]; Chamber Symphony, arrangement of String Quartet No. 4 in D major by Rudolf Barshai, op. 83a[c]; Symphony for Strings and Woodwind, arrangement of String Quartet No. 3 in F major by Rudolf Barshai, op. 73a[d]; Symphony No. 15 in A major, arranged by Viktor Derevianko and Mark Pekarsky for violin, cello, piano, celesta and percussion, op. 141a[e]; Schnittke: Prelude (Praeludium) in Memoriam Dmitri Shostakovich, for violin and tape[f].
Rudolf Barshai, Chamber Orchestra of Europe[a-d]; Gidon Kremer (violin)[e,f], Kremerata Musica[e].
Deutsche Grammophon 00289 477 5442. DDD. 2-CD set TT 75:34+80:11.
Recorded in the Kammermusiksaal, Philharmonie, Berlin, March 1989[a,b,d], February 1991[c]; Kirche St. Konrad, Abersee bei St. Gilgen, Germany, August 1995[e,f].

With the recent deluge of op. 110a and 118a recordings it is easy to forget that Barshai also made chamber versions of the op. 73 and 83 quartets. In these, Barshai broadened his palette to include woodwinds and in op. 83a, brass and percussion, bringing a new dimension to Shostakovich's "private" works.

Each might have his or her own opinions on how Barshai approaches the arrangements. For example, I would have thought that a bass clarinet would have been an obvious inclusion in the hurdy-gurdy opening of op. 73a and that the flute was a more idiomatic choice for the long cantilena of the op. 83a second movement. But that is precisely what makes such encounters so interesting - the way the orchestration plays on our expectations and challenges our musical thought; how it surprises, delights or shocks us.

The Third Quartet will pose no problems for purists - Barshai's conservative approach employs the woodwinds quite sparingly to outline certain phrases and to create particular symphonic resonances. For example, the soundscape of the funereal passacaglia-like fourth movement of the quartet bears a kinship to the neighbouring Eighth Symphony, and the oboe solo in Barshai's arrangement recalls the cor anglais solo in the symphony's first movement recapitulation. The woodwind textures of the final movement also parallel that symphony's finale.

Approaching the grating climax of the quartet's fifth movement, the benefits of a full string section become obvious - nowhere in this cycle of transcriptions does the full ensemble sound so unnerving as in the explosion of plaintive cries of the high violin quavers against the reprise of the funeral march theme (at 5:18 in Barshai's recording).

Barshai unleashes his vivid orchestral imagination on op. 83a, and while one may fault his orchestral excesses for being too gaudy, they are nevertheless stunning. His liberal use of percussion has obvious sources - the use of tuned toms in the march section of the third movement could find precedence in the Fourteenth Symphony (fifth movement - On Watch), which Barshai premiered, while the whip stick and gong splashes may come by way of the Thirteenth Symphony. The crisp xylophone lines and the low registers of the bass clarinet, bassoon and oboe also add a touch of Shostakovian authenticity.

Most startling of all must be the opening of the fourth movement, which calls to mind the Soldier's arrogant trot in Stravinsky's Le Histoire du Soldat with its combination of snare drum and trumpet: not quite Shostakovich's colours since The Nose, but here Barshai's adventurous orchestration brings a level of drama to this movement that one might not have imagined with the original quartet.

Barshai has an intimate relationship with the Shostakovich repertoire as both a performer of the quartets with the Borodin Quartet and as a conductor of some of his major works - remember that he added a little percussive spice to the concluding bars of the Fourteenth Symphony with the composer's approval. In the case of op. 73a and 83a in particular, Barshai's work serves to highlight the Jewish element so central to these quartets. These transcriptions can therefore be viewed as not only an expansion of the originals but also an insight into how a seasoned Shostakovich performer perceives the inner voices of his works.

It is interesting that Barshai in his 1989-91 recordings of these two works, reissued in Deutsche Grammophon's 2CD series, finds himself outdone by a new BIS release featuring French-born Russian conductor Jean-Jacques Kantorow and his Finnish ensemble, the Tapiola Sinfonietta. Kantorow extracts maximum excitement from Barshai's scores with his sparkling, high-octane performances and in all the brisk movements beats Barshai hands down. Barshai conducts flawless accounts, but his tempos are a little sluggish by today's standards - for example in each of the last two movements of op. 83a he takes a whole minute longer than Kantorow.

In both performances of op. 83a I would have preferred more gut in the opening violin melody, as demonstrated by Uri Meyer's Israel Sinfonietta in their 1998 Arabesque recording (Z6711) and the Borodin Quartet in their early recording of the original score (Chandos CHAN 10064(4); reviewed in DSCH No. 19).

Barshai's eloquence is nevertheless notable in the poignant slow movement, where the oboe's phrasing conveys more subtlety and poetry than does Kantorow's. Kantorow, however, finds the right blend of irony in the third movement with his flippant tempo and wry woodwinds. His menacing toms and abrasive bass clarinet impart a nasty bite to the march section, whereas Barshai's band is uncharacteristically timid and the toms strangely recessed.

It is noteworthy that while Barshai's bridge between the third and fourth movements employs the horn, both Kantorow and Meyer use a bassoon, creating a wonderful throwback to the Leningrad Symphony's bassoon soliloquy.

The excitement Kantorow elicits from his band in the fourth movement is irresistible; with its Jewish dance element, this final movement becomes an orchestral tour de force and the highlight of the disc. Kantorow injects this delicious Finale with a swagger reminiscent of Fleischmann's opera Rothschild's Violin, bringing out the best in Barshai's scoring. His snarling brass, the idiomatic violin phrasing and portamenti, the strident trumpet acciacaturas and the brittle xylophone in the tutti carry the work to a heart-stopping climax that finds Barshai unspectacular in comparison.

If you want the entire set of Barshai orchestrations (and then some) at one go, then DG's mid-price reissue is hard to beat, packing three single full-priced issues into two discs. This set is insightful and thoughtfully conceived as a whole, if a little lacking in the life-and-death edge that we have come to expect from these works, for which I suspect the orchestra is to blame.

Barshai's op. 110a and op. 118a performances are masterfully crafted, although for better or worse his Russian grittiness is tempered by the COE's refinement. Considering his Borodin Quartet roots, his op. 110a Allegro molto is uncharacteristically slow (where's the molto?), although not short on anger. His op. 118a Allegretto furioso is likewise not as furious as his competition - compare for example Juha Kangas' take-no-prisoners approach (BIS CD-1256; reviewed in DSCH No. 17) or Lev Markiz' spectacular clarity of attack (Challenge Classics CC72130; reviewed in DSCH No. 22). A leaner and angrier performance such as that achieved by Spivakov with his Moscow Virtuosi in op. 110a (Capriccio 67 115; reviewed above) would have been what I would expect from a veteran like Barshai.

The cycle is appropriately partnered with Gidon Kremer's superlative performance of the Fifteenth Symphony (previously reviewed in DSCH No. 7), which in this reduction explores the chamber-like sonorities inherent in the original. There are moments that are strikingly reminiscent of Shostakovich's Second Trio or Piano Quintet: for example, the opening section of the Finale with its piano against pizzicato strings, or the diabolical climax of the first movement. The bare-bones reduction also gives delicious prominence to the percussion, which get the spotlight in their infamous clockwork sections that underpin this symphony.

Kremer and his fellow soloists deserve credit for bringing a chamber suppleness to the score, and this is especially enjoyable in the central section of the third movement scherzo where cellist Clemens Hagen joins Kremer in some wicked portamento playing and comic rubato; pianist Vadim Sakharov completes this wonderfully responsive trio. Although the huge orchestral climaxes are no less impressive here, the soloists do not try to sound like an orchestra; indeed their chamber approach to the score illuminates how wonderfully flexible Shostakovich's music is in its ability to communicate in any number of forms.

The programme is completed by Kremer's passionate account of Schnittke's memorial piece for violin and tape, which accompanied the original release of the Fifteenth Symphony. Kremer's Schnittke breathes with life with his effortlessly fluent reading and an obvious delight in sonic textures: his final bars, for example, wheeze painfully like the composer's last gasps of breath frosting in the icy air.

His flamboyance may not be to all tastes and has prompted criticism from at least one reviewer who called his performance "schmaltzy". That critic may be more at home with Spivakov's more severe version (Capriccio 67 115; reviewed above), with its awkward, deliberately stiff articulations and uncomfortable edginess that convey the musical equivalent of Shostakovich's infamous mannerisms. Kremer on the other hand is more extrovert, and his enjoyment of the musical writing is obvious, translating into compelling listening.

The double disc set comes with the original CD notes, which include fascinating descriptions by Schnittke and Derevianko on their respective projects. DG would have done well to update the op. 110a notes provided by David Fanning in 1990, as his subtle anti-Testimony pleadings fashionable at the time are embarrassingly antiquated today.

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