This live performance from 1978 is remarkable for how Kurt Sanderling gets this very French orchestra to play Shostakovich with such idiomatic surety. Right from the brooding, subterranean basses in the opening, to the desperately soaring strings and blaring brass in the first-movement climax, to the nervously rollicking winds in the finale, the French National players cultivate sound that if not authentically Russian is still pretty convincing. Listeners familiar with Sanderling’s Shostakovich will know to expect an especially weighty and grim atmosphere in the first movement–even though tempos are on the moderate side. Sanderling pulls back the reins somewhat in the manic scherzo (especially compared to Ancerl’s breathtaking speed), yet the strings play the first two notes out of sync and their less-than-cutting-edge articulation makes the movement more entertaining than enthralling.
No such problem affects the following Allegretto, where Sanderling builds a blistering climax with angrily baying horns. After a flowing and beautifully shaded slow introduction, Sanderling digs in his spurs for a surprisingly upbeat and vibrant finale, including a well-sounded tam-tam crash at the gripping climax. The reverberant recording presents the strings with less clarity than the winds and brass but offers solid presence and amplitude (even with its slight dynamic limitation). Sanderling’s tougher, meaner Shostakovich is of a type rarely encountered today, and it’s something you definitely should hear. [4/15/2004]
