Shostakovich: Symphony No 10

01/09/2007
Art Lange
Fanfare (US)

Andrew Quint favourably reviewed this same release in Fanfare 30:5 from the point of view of the SACD listener. For what it’s worth, my more modest stereo experience offered few reservations. I have no quibble with his appreciation for the performance itself.

The Australian Youth Orchestra does a marvellous job with this difficult score, playing with passion and precision. Anissimov’s slow pace in the first movement reminded me of a riveting live performance I once heard with Mstislav Rostropovich conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra – both conductors being able to shape small details to great effect and simultaneously sustain enormous tension. After this impressive opening, Anissimov alternates between expressions of personal tragedy and heroic engagement…

Musically, this is well worth hearing.