SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 1 in f; No. 2 in B-flat, “To October”; No. 3 in E-flat, “The First of May” – Netherlands Radio Choir and Philharmonic Orch./ Mark Wigglesworth – Bis

SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 1 in f, Op.10; No. 2 in B-flat, Op. 14, “To October”; No. 3 in E-flat, Op. 20, “The First of May” – Netherlands Radio Choir and Philharmonic Orch./ Mark Wigglesworth – Bis multichannel SACD 1603, 81:13 [Distr. by Qualiton] *****:
After the miraculous composition by the 18-year-old composer of his First Symphony, it is perhaps no surprise that the next two, despite the overt and even sickening paeans to all things Lenin and Soviet, would be counted as failures both by the public and Shostakovich himself. Shostakovich was commissioned by Lev Shuglin, head of the Propaganda Department of the State Music Publishing House, to write an orchestral work with chorus called Dedication to October, in order to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution. As mentioned, even the composer himself rejected the work (as he did the Symphony 3) later on, and hated the text by Alexander Bezymensky, calling it “abominable”. I don’t blame him a bit—it is full of the stereotypical hagiographical nonsense devoted to one of history’s greatest monsters, and as such will not sit well with most modern audiences. Indeed, both 2 and 3 are rarely performed except in cases of completest series, like this one appears to be. It can be argued that any substitution of any other text might make the work more played, but the through-composed music—considered experimental at the time—lacks a coherent thrust, and is likely to remain on the periphery of the most-performed Shostakovich works.
The Third, to a Semyon Isaakovich Kirsanov text praising May Day and the revolution, was written three years later (1930) and is in much the same vein as Symphony No. 2, though here we find the composer in one of his patented sardonic moods where the music simply doesn’t match the spirit of the texts, a game of mix-and-match that he was to play his whole life and has left posterity with a host of guessable solutions as to the true intention of his actions. This work, more interesting and subtle than the bombastic and ostentatious No. 2, is not as offensively pretentious in its presentation, and has moments of real excitement, harmonic interest, and genuine craft.
Wigglesworth and his Netherlanders would seem the perfect combination for these two works, surpassing my previous favorite Haitink/London Philharmonic from long, long ago 1981 (but still sounding wonderful). We have a number of new Shostakovich series recordings in SACD that contain some memorable readings, but this conductor proves as effective in the more famous later symphonies as most of the others, though individual exceptions can always be found. His No. 1, in a work already graced with brilliant readings like Bernstein/Chicago and many others, is given a solidly resonant performance that captures the university-aged composer’s wit and imagination through impeccable orchestral execution and perfectly-judged tempos.
This is a most auspicious penultimate ending to a new Shostakovich series that promises to be among the best. I can’t believe this is the first time Audiophile Audition has encountered this series, which is well worth checking out in the other symphonies, of which No. 15 is the only other one remaining to be recorded. The Bis surround sound is good. [In spite of their not making their original recordings using highest-res DSD…Ed.]
—Steven Ritter