Classical Music: Neeme Järvi Conducts Shostakovich

Neeme Järvi Conducts Shostakovich

Symphonies Nos 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10; Ballet Suites Nos 1 – 5; Festive Overture; Tahiti Trot (Tea for Two); Violin Concertos Nos 1 and 2.

Lydia Mordkovitch (violin)
Royal Scottish National Orchestra Neeme Järvi
Chandos CHAN 20439
chandos.net

Few composers carry as many contradictions as Dmitri Shostakovich. He could write music of crushing weight and bleak introspection, then turn out a ballet number or a popular song arrangement with a wink and a flourish. Any collection that aims to present him whole has to do justice to both sides. Chandos's eight-CD reissue of Neeme Järvi's recordings with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra does exactly that, and it makes an excellent introduction to the composer for newcomers as well as a rewarding return for those who already know him.

These recordings date from the late 1980s and Järvi's celebrated years with what was then the Scottish National Orchestra, where he was Principal Conductor from 1984 to 1988. The Estonian conductor, born in Tallinn in 1937, trained at the Leningrad Conservatory, where Yevgeny Mravinsky, the great Shostakovich interpreter, was among his teachers. He later held leading posts in Estonia, left for America in 1980, and went on to spend more than two decades at the helm of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, alongside spells in Detroit and The Hague. His discography runs to more than 500 albums, nearly 300 of them for Chandos. In 2006 the RSNO made him Conductor Laureate, and his Scottish legacy includes cycles of Prokofiev and Dvořák and the tone poems of Richard Strauss. The Shostakovich gathered here is among the finest of that partnership.

The orchestra is in superb form from the very first bars. The woodwind playing is outstanding, the strings are brilliant, and brass and percussion combine power with real finesse. Järvi handles the tempo changes with a sure hand, and the balance between sections and the way they answer one another is a constant pleasure. The solo parts within the orchestra are excellent throughout, the piano included. Above all there is clarity and colour, so every nuance of Shostakovich's orchestration registers and the vivid pictures he paints come through at full strength. Järvi draws out the music's emotion without letting it get out of hand.

The symphonies are where the collection shows its weight. The crescendos build inexorably, and the inner movements are finely shaped. In the fourth, the enormous clamour that eventually gives way to the hushed, desolate ending is marvellously controlled, and the percussion is especially atmospheric. In the Leningrad Symphony the brass are magnificent. Trumpets and trombones drive the work to a thrilling conclusion, and the performance has a robust, full-blooded character that suits the music well. Chandos's engineers have captured it all brilliantly.

The two violin concertos feature the Russian-born violinist Lydia Mordkovitch, who died in 2014. She gives accomplished, deeply felt readings of both. In the first concerto, Järvi judges the opening Nocturne perfectly: the lower strings lay down a dark, brooding carpet, and when Mordkovitch enters, she captures the spirit of the work at once. Her line sings while the accompaniment stays beautifully poised behind it. In the Scherzo she darts through the music with complete control, her virtuosity set against excellent woodwind playing. The Passacaglia begins with its grim, unyielding ground bass rising from the depths of the orchestra, the horns throbbing above it, and the intensity builds until her Russian soul shines through. Then the Burlesque erupts, a frenzied, sardonic finale that she dispatches with dazzling skill and unflagging energy to the final bar.

The second concerto again places the soloist against sombre lower strings. Its Adagio is beautiful, with Mordkovitch getting to the heart of the music. Here the violin's dialogue with a solo flute and the telling use of timpani are especially effective.

Then there is the lighter Shostakovich, and it is a delight. The ballet suites are delectable, and the orchestra plays them with obvious enjoyment. The Festive Overture fizzes, and the Tahiti Trot, the composer's famous arrangement of Tea for Two, sparkles with wit and panache. Heard next to the symphonies and concertos, these pieces are a reminder that the man who wrote the Fourth's bleak ending also had a real gift for fun.

Everything here is finely tuned, and the collection hangs together as a whole. There is plenty to enjoy across all eight discs, and it amply repays the investment. This is a set of reissues worth every penny.