Capriccio’s ongoing series of vocal and choral-cantata works of Shostakovich has unearthed some very interesting music, and a few gems as well. One of the latter is the Suite on verses by Michelangelo Buonarroti, one of the last works the composer finished before his death in 1975. The poetry of the Renaissance Tuscan Everyman is declaimed largely in recitative over sparse but pungent orchestrations. Shostakovich himself chose titles for the 10 songs, which include “Truth”, “Love”, “Anger”, “Death”, and “Immortality”. The Romances on poems by Pushkin come from a much earlier period, and are quite a bit more melodic and simple in structure. The six-song cycle on Japanese poems is from approximately the same period and is an exceptionally gloomy work devoted to unrequited love. Bass Anatolij Kotscherga sounds marvelous in the first two cycles. His dark Boris Godunov-like voice is commanding and fully conveys the entire drama of Buonarroti’s texts. Tenor Wladmir Kasatschuk makes a good impression in the less demanding Japanese cycle and, as usual in this series, the Cologne players perform well for their Russian maestro, Michail Jurowski, who paces everything just right. The recorded sound is good, if just a bit remote. Those who like lieder and are looking for something off the beaten path will surely enjoy this release.
