This disc has more reason to exist than most in Chandos’ embarrassingly bad series of recordings featuring these forces, but that doesn’t make it a “must buy” proposition. Valeri Polyansky’s Shostakovich Sixth Symphony remains uncompetitive for the usual reasons: fallible playing (particularly from the winds in the latter two movements), cloudy recorded sound (note poor balances in loud passages, particularly between upper strings and winds), and flat-footed conducting (the finale). The first movement, in contrast, has its good moments. It’s suitably dark and grave, but with stunning performances of this symphony from as diverse an assortment of conductors as Mravinsky, Litton, Barshai, Berglund, Järvi, and Bernstein (Sony, not DG), there’s absolutely no reason to give this version a second thought.
On the other hand, The Execution of Stepan Razin has not enjoyed many recordings in recent years (or ever, for that matter), and it’s a major work very much in the style of the contemporaneous 13th Symphony (Babi Yar), similarly scored for bass soloist and chorus. Kondrashin’s classic account never was officially offered on CD, and Kegel’s for Philips is long out of print. Jurowski’s on Capriccio is available if you can find it, and it’s a better performance than this one (for one thing, he’s got the excellent Cologne Radio Orchestra), and next to him Polyansky’s forces sound a touch lightweight. Still, with good choral singing and an effective bass soloist in Anatoly Lochak, the musical message comes across forcefully enough. In short, the performance is certainly more than adequate. On the other hand, whether you’ll want to pay full price for it given the coupling to a second-rate Sixth Symphony is a decision you must make for yourself.
