SHOSTAKOVICH SYMPHONIES WITH RUDOLF BARSHAI

Several conductors - Haitink, Inbal, Rostropovich, and Kondrashin come first to mind - have recorded complete cycles of the Shostakovich symphonies. Because no conductor excels in all fifteen symphonies, however, it is generally advisable to pick and choose among individual recordings rather than purchasing a box set. Nevertheless, with this set, Brilliant Classics is offering a nearly irresistible combination of good to excellent performances and a rock-bottom list price. Listeners just starting their Shostakovich journey will be in very good hands with Barshai. At the same time, even collectors who know this music well, or who own multiple recordings of it, should consider Barshai as an illuminating supplement, because there's nothing routine, perfunctory, or imitative about this music-making.

"WDR" is West German Radio; the WDR Symphony Orchestra is based in Köln (Cologne). (This group sometimes is called the Cologne Radio Orchestra.) These recordings were made in the Philharmonie between 1992 and 2000. Oddly, some of the individual symphonies (the Eighth, for example) were recorded over the course of more than a year, but I don't hear any problems with continuity or uniformity, either between or within symphonies. The orchestra is not a top-rank ensemble like the Royal Concertgebouw or the Vienna Philharmonic, but it has nothing to be ashamed of here, and its members play with character, which is not something one can take for granted from more technically perfect orchestras. For example, the bells, which play a prominent role in the first movement of the Thirteenth Symphony, have a timbre that is nothing less than terrifying. (These would be great Symphonie fantastique bells!) Many such details, when put together, equal memorable orchestral playing.

As a Shostakovich conductor, Barshai has excellent credentials. Long before he came to the West, he established a working relationship with the composer. The premiere of the Fourteenth Symphony went to Barshai, and the conductor also is responsible for several arrangements for string orchestra of the composer's quartets.

His predilection for fast tempos (sometimes radically so) causes some initial surprises for the listener, but his tempo choices don't sound forced or sensationalized. He is not afraid to give the music its full emotional due, and he does not shy away from the composer's extremes of rough humor (an aspect many conductors make too little of) and tragedy, and of brutality and tenderness. Prominent, singing melody is emphasized, as are dance-like rhythms, and the humanity of the music is thereby retained. Barshai's only failing is that he can't quite find the chill needed in, for example, the opening movement of the Eleventh Symphony, or in the fourth movement of the Eighth, but this barely detracts from the overall worth of this set.

In the "Babi Yar" Symphony, bass Aleksashkin adopts a more histrionic approach than most of his predecessors. Unfortunately, his willingness to emote sometimes plays havoc with his pitch. Vladimir Vaneev is a more dependable bass soloist in the Fourteenth Symphony, and soprano Alla Simoni is strong too. (Vishnevskaya and Reshetin, with Rostropovich on the podium, remain unsurpassed in this symphony.) The choruses in the Second, Third, and Thirteenth Symphonies are both idiomatic and enthusiastic.

The quality of the sound on these discs is superb - practically demonstration quality. My only reservation is the forwardly balanced percussion. The recording dates suggest that these are not live recordings, yet there is a fairly high frequency of extraneous noises to suggest the opposite. These are not too distracting, however.

Each CD comes in its own glossy, stiff paper envelope; together, they are packaged in a sturdy box that will take up little shelf space. Brilliant Classics includes a 28-page booklet, with commentary on each symphony (but no texts) and an appreciation of Barshai.

This is an outstanding bargain. Get it while you can.

Brittens Music Eastbourne