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Shostakovich - Symphony No.7 ’Leningrad’

£11.78

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Label: Naxos

Cat No: 8573057

Barcode: 0747313305773

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Orchestral

Release Date: 29th April 2013

Works

Shostakovich, Dmitri

Symphony no.7 in C major, op.60 'Leningrad'

Artists

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor

Vasily Petrenko

Works

Shostakovich, Dmitri

Symphony no.7 in C major, op.60 'Leningrad'

Artists

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor

Vasily Petrenko

About

Three weeks after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Shostakovich volunteered with the Home Guard in Leningrad. As the siege of the city intensified, he worked on his Seventh Symphony, completing three movements before being forced to leave Leningrad and travel east by train.

The work was completed in December that year. Initially he gave each movement a programmatic title, but later withdrew them, leaving this epic work as an emblem of heroic defiance in the face of conflict and crisis: ‘I dedicate my Seventh Symphony to our struggle against fascism, to our coming victory over the enemy, to my native city, Leningrad.’

Shostakovich’s epic Seventh Symphony is a study in defiance and survival, written largely in the ruins of the besieged city in 1941. Its reputation has fluctuated over the years, with its immediate post war reputation largely low. But in recent years it has taken its rightful place in Shostakovich’s symphonic canon.

The award-winning Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is the UK’s oldest continuing professional symphony orchestra, dating from 1840. The dynamic young Russian Vasily Petrenko was appointed Principal Conductor of the orchestra in September 2006 and in September 2009 became Chief Conductor.

Sound/Video

Paused

1

Symphony no.7 - I. Allegretto
2

Symphony no.7 - II. Moderato (Poco Allegretto)
3

Symphony no.7 - III. Adagio
4

Symphony no.7 - IV. Allegro Non Troppo

Europadisc Review

Vasily Petrenko's widely-acclaimed Shostakovich symphony cycle with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic edges further to completion with this hugely impressive account of the epic Seventh ('Leningrad') Symphony. The work's first three movements were composed during the early months of the 1941–44 Siege of Leningrad, and at its first performances in 1942 (in Russia, London and the US) the Symphony was feted as a symbol of Soviet defiance in the face of the Nazi onslaught. After World War II, however it was largely held in disdain by Western critics as a crude example of Soviet patriotic propaganda. It was only after the publication of the controversial 'memoir' Testimony (ghosted by Solomon Volkov) and the passionate advocacy of Leonard Bernstein that the 'Leningrad' Symphony began to enjoy a long overdue critical re-evaluation and acceptance.

As so often with works allegedly inspired by or describing a particular set of experiences, the best performances are those that demonstrate a thorough expressive commitment to the music itself, irrespective of any narrative, ethical or political subtext. And on these terms, Petrenko and his Liverpool players win hands down. They may lack the sheer tonal heft wielded by Bernstein in his famous Chicago recording for DG but, with speeds that are still measured without being over-indulgent, and aided by a warmly atmospheric recording in Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall, they home in unerringly on the Symphony's powerful expressive core.

The broad strides of work's opening are as expansive as one could wish. The RLPO brass, resplendent yet incisive, make their unmistakable mark in the steadily increasing tensions of the first movement's Boléro-like central section, and in the tutti eruptions of the remaining three movements. In the gently yearning second-movement intermezzo, the central 'trio' takes on a suitably threatening, neo-Mahlerian hue.

Yet it is above all in the Symphony's passages of quiet fragility, of tragic intimacy, that Petrenko and his orchestra really show their mettle. The latter stages of the first movement are exquisitely shaped, with the music allowed just the right degree of space and outstandingly sensitive playing from the strings and woodwind soloists. In the great Adagio, one marvels at the dynamic and expressive range, the piercing wind chording, the delicacy of the string playing and the eloquence of the violas' arioso in the penultimate section. The finale provides an thrilling conclusion: its early pages deftly played and electric with anticipation; the later moments of concentrated tenderness hitting home so that the eventual glowing 'victory' emerges even more powerfully for being harder won.

There are numerous recordings of this once scorned work in the catalogue, available both singly and as part of complete sets, but this latest account certainly matches up to the finest. As throughout this Naxos cycle, Petrenko and the RLPO strike an ideal balance between passionate involvement on the one hand, and accomplishment and poise of execution on the other, without ever compromising expressive immediacy. At bargain price, it's a clear top choice.