Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphonies 7 & 11 - Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra - Paavo Berglund (EMI)

Hi again. I like Bournemouth SO sound at the time Berglund was its principal conductor a lot, and at those times he did some sparkling recordings of Sibelius, Shostakovich, Vaughan Williams, Bliss, Walton or Bitten. I think this is one of the best. Enjoy!

Review:

His Shostakovich 7 is not at all the work of a cheap pedlar of street-corner emotions. On the contrary while Berglund does not convert the primary colour extremes of parts of the first movement into a domesticated water-colour he lends the work a colossal remorseless stride. So effective is this gigantic tread that the excitement generated by the blatant heroics of the first movement are quite irresistible. There is some outstandingly poetic and over-the-top work from clarinets and trumpets in the first movement. The French horns are simply magnificent at the climax of the first movement. When one comes to the Adagio (a 'Soviet Requiem' carried over from the arching intensity of the Sixth Symphony) the inward emotions are patently sincere in Berglund's hands. The col legno staccato at 5.10 in the finale demonstrates the realistic analytical quality of the recording. The brass rear up like dark crags at 14.34 in the finale carrying a message of grim and resounding optimism. The Eleventh is also given a no holds barred performance seeming to me more filmic than ever. Notable is the first movement like a brooding and gloomy Tallis Fantasia. The second movement is remarkable for Berglund's exploration of a sense of threat threaded with optimism and long-suffering bitterness. While this performance and recording does not overwhelm in the way De Preist's Helsinki PO Delos reading does it is a fine performance of a work too easily written off. As for the movement titles I find them a distraction. The music itself is well worth your attention. If in this work Shostakovich occasionally falls victim to writing more rather than less he can easily be forgiven in the face of such vivid emotionalism.