This is the best CD so far in Michail Jurowski’s ongoing Shostakovich series for Capriccio. The Execution of Stepan Razin is a dramatic, dynamic cantata chronicling the execution of the Don Cossack who led an uprising against Tsarist Boyars in 1671 and was beheaded for his efforts. Bass Stanisalw Sulejmanow is the powerful soloist who acts as narrator throughout the work. His impressive declamations are solid and riveting. Right from the initial, demonic brass statement, conductor Jurowski demonstrates that he has his forces well in hand. His interpretation crackles with rhythmic urgency and precision, the winds play as if possessed, and the percussion outbursts serve as appropriate punctuation rather than just added noise. The orchestra is just as good in the instrumental Intermezzos from the composer’s controversial 1934 opera, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, which in 1962 was toned down a bit and resubmitted to the public and the Communist government officials as Katharina Ismailova. Its sarcastic Entr’actes were kept intact, with two additional ones added, and Jurowski perfectly captures their acerbic nature. The two fables are icing on the cake, with mezzo-soprano Tamara Sinjawskaja and the women’s voices of the chorus enunciating the texts clearly, while really getting the feeling of the folk-like music that sets forth these allegorical stories of The Cricket and the Ant and The Ass and the Nightingale. The recorded sound is better than on other issues in this series; the percussion and woodwinds have wonderful presence and are set forth in a very three-dimensional sound field. Only reduced bass response and a slight lack of overall string presence keeps this recording from attaining a higher rating.
