Dmitri Shostakovich - The Golden Age - Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic

Dmitri Shostakovich - The Golden Age (Ballet: Complete)
Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic
Recorded in Stockholm Concert Hall, June, 1993
Chandos CHAN9251(2)

Rozhdestvensky's curious Chandos reassessment of Shostakovich's early ballet scores has given us an interesting counterpoint to the masterpieces of the late 1920s and 1930s - The Nose, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and the Fourth Symphony.

For sustained inspiration Shostakovich's first ballet score is no rival to Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet; neither is it as even in quality as Britten's Prince of the Pagodas. But its first ever complete recording is at least as much of an event as the recent rehabilitation of Britten's work; and in terms of topical and sociological interest it is at least as fascinating as Prokofiev's.

It is well-nigh impossible to follow the story-line from the music itself, although the general idea of Shostakovich's characterization is clearly to differentiate between goodies and baddies by assigning them respectively healthy-folk and decadent-bourgeois idioms. But then the trouble was, he couldn't stop himself enjoying being decadent. Not all of the 37 movements stand up independently of the stage-action. But the finales and the whole of Act 3 are top-notch stuff, at times surprisingly threatening in tone and symphonic in continuity; and there are several movements which could undoubtedly be promoted alongside the four in the familiar concert suite (the Tap Dance of Act 2 is especially appealing, for instance). Those who know their Shostakovich will be constantly intrigued by foretastes of Lady Macbeth, the Fourth Symphony and the Hamlet music, and by the appearance of Shostakovich's "Tea for Two" arrangement as an Interlude in Act 2.

This first complete recording is a major coup for Chandos. And it's good news that they are lining up the other two Shostakovich ballets as well. Admittedly not even their flattering engineering can disguise a certain lack of confidence and idiomatic flair on the part of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. The borderline area between wit and cruelty, which so much of the music inhabits, obviously does not come naturally to them, some of their characterization is lukewarm, and some of the faster movements sound positively lethargic. Even when they do get close to the spirit (in a creditable majority of numbers) it is difficult to suppress memories of the bite and panache Rozhdestvensky used to elicit from his Russian orchestras. But let that not deter anyone with the least interest in Shostakovich, or ballet music, or Soviet music, or indeed Soviet culture as a whole, from investigating this weird and intermittently wonderful score. DJ F

Posted by Toni