Shostakovich - Symphony No.11 "The Year 1905"
Royal Scottish National Orchestra / Lazarev
Linn CKD247

Release date April 2005

In Sir Alexander Gibson's time with the SNO, the orchestra became known for its 'Nordic' repertoire, with a notable Nielsen survey and countless performances and recordings of Sibelius. In more recent times, the orchestra has looked further east, with particular emphasis on the music of Shostakovich. Neeme Järvi's 1980s Chandos recordings of Symphonies 1-10 (excluding the Second and Third Symphonies) are among the most impressive things in the orchestra's discography, while more recently José Serebrier specifically asked for the RSNO for his recent Glazunov recording project because of the orchestra's experience in this repertoire. In the wake of a Shostakovich intégrale from outgoing Principal Conduc-tor Alexander Lazarev, Linn Records taped the Eleventh Symphony in the Usher Hall early in 2004. The symphony marked a change of direction in the composer's symphonic thinking. Subtitled 'The Year 1905', it uses revolutionary and other popular songs to depict the massacre outside the Winter Palace in St Petersburg on 9th January of that year, although Shostakovich's deeply pessimistic work surely has a wider meaning. According to Solomon Volkov, the composer thought that "…it deals with contemporary themes even though it's called '1905'. It's about the people, who have stopped believing because the cup of evil has run over." In this respect, it is a direct descendant of Boris Godunov, a point not lost on Lazarev – the gong-led coda of the finale sounds like pure Musorgsky in his hands. You might think that the natural tempi of the popular songs would result in broadly similar overall timings between interpreters; but no – there are huge differences. The quickest on record is Kyrill Kondrashin, who brings it home in a little under 54 minutes (I wonder if he believed in it 100%?), while Rostropovich takes an epic 72 minutes in his gripping LSO account. Lazarev's timings (around 60 minutes) are not dissimilar to Mravinsky, in an electrifying live Prague Radio traversal. The RSNO lower strings can't match Mravinsky's Leningrad players – they sound a little underpowered at the beginning of the fugato in the Ninth of January movement (from 11'43''). Shostakovich asks for a huge body of strings – his ideal is 80 players! – and elsewhere the RSNO's hard-working strings are occasionally swamped by the crushing weight of the brass. The RSNO has a real feeling for this repertoire, and responds to Lazarev with tremendous commitment, the trombones making a spectacular impact with their obscene glissandi towards the climax of the Ninth of January movement (try them from 13'27''). The solo playing is distinguished, especially Stephen West's eloquent cor anglais solo towards the end of the fourth movement. Linn's engineering is superb – the icy landscape of the first movement has rarely been so well caught in my experience. I hope that the success of this CD will encourage Linn to record the Twelfth Symphony, a Lazarev speciality and a rarity on record.

Sandy Matheson