Nicola Benedetti’s view of the Shostakovich is poised and flowing, rather than raw and edgy. Of course, the music has the raw and edgy part more or less built in, so hers is an entirely valid approach. There’s no want of energy or intensity in the scherzo or finale, but Benedetti’s view works best, to my ears, in the beautifully spun-out opening Nocturne and in the grave meditation that is the third-movement passacaglia. Only when the main theme of that movement needs to dominate the orchestra do we suspect that Benedetti, who is relatively closely recorded, hasn’t got quite the bigness of tone that Shostakovich requires. That said, she shapes the following cadenza with intelligence and assurance.
As for the coupling, it’s not as silly as you might at first suspect. Glazunov was Shostakovich’s teacher, after all, and his enjoyable Violin Concerto rewards the committed advocacy that it receives here. Once again, I do wish that Benedetti had a bigger tone in those very romantic, Russian cantilenas–more of them here than in the Shostakovich–but the playing is still very good of its type, and the accompaniments in both works under Kirill Karabits leave nothing to be desired. If you like this pairing, you may want to consider this release.
