Roman Simovic Archive

SCHUBERT [arr. MAHLER]: Death and the Maiden; SHOSTAKOVICH [orch. Barshai]: Chamber Symphony in c – Roman Simovic & LSO String Ensemble – LSO Live

by Audiophile Audition | May 20, 2016 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews

SCHUBERT [arr. MAHLER]: Death and the Maiden; SHOSTAKOVICH [orch. Barshai]: Chamber Symphony in c – Roman Simovic & LSO String Ensemble – LSO Live multichannel 5.1 LSO0786 TT: 66:28 (3/11/16) ****: A stunning performance and recording of these two transcriptions of Schubert and Shostakovich. The LSO Live label offers us an interesting disc of string quartets transcribed for a larger string ensemble, the Schubert by none other than Gustav Mahler, who loved the quartet and wanted to expand its sound. Schubert’s Death and the Maiden Quartet, heard here in Mahler’s arrangement, was passed over in Schubert’s lifetime, the quartet has become a staple of the quartet repertoire.The original Quartet was written soon after Schubert had suffered from a significant period of illness, including syphilis, and some have speculated that it is the composer’s testament to his own death. The piece gains its title from the second movement, which is a set of five variations based on the melody of one of Schubert’s most poignant songs, Death and the Maiden, in which a girl struggles against the terror of impending death, that ‘grisly man of bone’, who casts himself as a welcome friend. Then we get the Shostakovich Chamber Symphony in c, […]