SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 15 in A Op. 141 (1971); Hamlet Op. 32 – Russian National Orchestra /Mikhail Pletnev – PentaTone multichannel SACD PTC 5186 331, 64:42 [Distrib. by Naxos] *****:
Written between April and July 1971, Shostakovich’s Fifteenth Symphony remains something of a puzzle. He had wanted to write a light-hearted work, telling Boris Tischenko “I would like to write a cheerful symphony” and indeed, aspects of this subscribe to that.
The opening movement certainly does have comical episodes, including the metamorphosis of one of the themes into that from Rossini’s William Tell. Maxim, the composer’s son, is at a loss to explain why the composer quotes this, and it is possible it is, in a late work, a fragment of a childhood memory. Franz Steiger in his excellent essay explains that the young Dmitiri used to listen to a fanfare band which played the Rossini, among other works, out of key.
The slow second movement has an extensive solo for cello, here superbly played by Alexander Gotgelf; Pletnev produces wonderful sounds from the Russian National Orchestra, secure brass chorales and ravishing string playing, and an intensity of interpretation which fairly etches itself into one’s hearing. Solo violin passages are beautifully played by Alexander Bruni, the orchestra’s concert master. Shostakovich, in addition to quoting himself, produces snatches of Beethoven, hints of Mahler, and in bold colors Wagner, from Tristan und Isolde. Splendid percussion contributions abound in this work, none as captivating as the clock ticking away at the symphony’s end.
Hamlet was written as incidental music for a production in 1932, early in the composer’s career. The production seems to have been somewhat eccentric, deviating from the story as usually presented, Hamlet becoming hard-drinking and the action something of a farce. Pletnev has selected extra numbers for this recording which is more extensive than the Suite, and the result is a valuable and entertaining filler to the disc.
To match the orchestra’s superb playing we are presented with a recording of the highest quality too. PentaTone’s engineers Erdo Groot and Roger de Schot have combined warmth with clarity and the results in surround and in stereo are entirely successful. This is an excellent addition to PentaTone’s ongoing series of recordings of Shostakovich symphonies and has given me much pleasure listening to over the last month.
— Peter Joelson
