This beautifully engineered studio recording under Kirill Karabits has all the necessary adrenaline to keep the listener fully engaged. Karabits is particularly effective in negotiating the tricky changes of tempo in the opening ‘Babi Ya’ movement and ensures that the tension is sustained right to the very end.

Karabits conducts incisively, with the accent on drama...Tsibulko’s singing is first-rate, as is the orchestra’s playing, especially from the brass, who are encouraged to snarl. The powerful male choruses of native Russian speakers surpass any Western chorus for clarity and diction, not to mention authenticity. Pentatone’s recorded sound is beautifully transparent and lifelike.

The orchestral playing astounds at every turn, the choral singing beyond reproach. Even more important, the narrative thread, apt to stretch and sometimes break, is preserved, Karabits in full control to the very end.

Notwithstanding the Ukrainian on the podium, this performance strikes me as a particularly Russian-spirited one. The emotional commitment from all concerned is palpable; Yevtushenko’s dissenting texts need to be heard as much now as they did in the 1960s, and Tsibulko and Karabits are more than capable of imbuing them with weight and urgency.

It’s a huge, brooding piece, with flashes of dark humour in the scherzo, and a wistful skewering of Soviet careerists in the finale, superbly sung and played.

The performance has the authenticity and depth expected from the Kiev-born conductor Kirill Karabits, Oleg Tsibulko (bass), the Russian National Orchestra and two Russian choirs...Karabits controls this grim feast masterfully well.