Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 15

Petrenko's hallmark of winning careful but always meaningful articulation from his Liverpool players is as apparent in the outlines of the woodwind and brass uproar at the centre of the early... — BBC Music Magazine, June 2012, More…

Release Date: 30th Apr 2012
Catalogue No: 8572708
Label: Naxos
Series: Vasily Petrenko Shostakovich Symphonies
Length: 66 minutes

Presto Recording of the Week

11th June 2012

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Shostakovich: Symphony No. 2 in B major, Op. 14 'To October'

18:27

$3.00

$3.60

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Vasily Petrenko
Recorded: 14 June 2011
Recording Venue: Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, England

Largo

5:38

$1.00

$1.20

Poco meno mosso

6:50

$1.00

$1.20

Meno mosso

5:59

$1.00

$1.20

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 15 in A major, Op. 141

48:30

$11.00

$13.20

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Vasily Petrenko
Recorded: 26-27 October 2010
Recording Venue: Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, England

I. Allegretto

8:09

$2.00

$2.40

II. Adagio

17:21

$4.00

$4.80

III. Allegretto

3:52

$1.00

$1.20

IV. Adagio

19:08

$4.00

$4.80

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Recording of the Week, Shostakovich Symphonies from Petrenko and the RLPO

11th June 2012

The seventh instalment of the Russian conductor’s acclaimed Shostakovich cycle finds his Liverpool orchestra on top form in the Second and Fifteenth Symphonies.

These two hugely contrasting symphonies come from the opposite ends of Shostakovich’s life and career. The Second Symphony was written to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Bolshevik October Revolution. Its advanced idiom of experimental textures and abstract effects can perhaps be best described as organised musical chaos. The Fifteenth was Shostakovich’s last symphony and is filled with remarkable contrasts, from the rollicking quotes from Rossini’s William Tell Overture and eerie references to Wagner’s Götterdämmerung and Tristan und Isolde, to the last and perhaps most imaginative of the composer’s symphonic passacaglias.

Widely admired as having ‘superlative standards’ (BBC Music Magazine) and going ‘from strength to strength’ (Gramophone), Vasily Petrenko’s Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Shostakovich symphonic cycle has gained critical acclaim from every quarter, and each new release generates its own not inconsiderable gravitational field. Volume 7 cleverly pairs the ‘difficult’ but remarkably dramatic Second Symphony with the simultaneously rousing, enigmatic and emotionally draining Fifteenth in performances which once again set new standards.

Reviews

June 2012

Petrenko's hallmark of winning careful but always meaningful articulation from his Liverpool players is as apparent in the outlines of the woodwind and brass uproar at the centre of the early collage as it is in the last Symphony's skeletal solos...As so often, Petrenko shows the deepest sensitivity in going straight to the heart of the matter, and forward sound-balances for violins and celesta especially serve him well.

28th April 2012

Petrenko’s performances with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, have all the bite, wit and finesse one could hope for.

June 2012

the accepts the symphony's puzzles and paradoxes, playing down its moments of aggression...and highlighting, instead, its erratic bursts of wonder and its uneasy sense of bewilderment. I don't mean to suggest that Petrenko is in any way weak-willed. There's plenty of gravity in the second movement...In the end, though, you're likely to remember this performance for its moments of disorientation...another splendid release in an exceptional cycle.

11th June 2012

The orchestra play with all the refinement, discipline and intense commitment that has characterised this whole series. We hear every detail of the composer’s scores while colours and atmospheres have an incredible range and contrast. From the finesse shown in the shimmering and subdued opening of the Second Symphony to the vigour and excitement elsewhere this is impressive playing.

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Recording of the Week, Shostakovich Symphonies from Petrenko and the RLPO