The Staatskapelle Dresden was, and probably still is, Germany’s greatest orchestra overall, the one with the most distinctive sound, the grandest historical tradition, and the highest level of musical versatility. This important release certainly supports that notion. It captures the German premiere, on February 23, 1963, of Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony under the baton of Kyrill Kondrashin, who had led the Soviet first performance a bit less than two years previously. Interpretively this is the same conception, almost down to the second, as you can hear in Kondrashin’s 1962 Melodiya recording; but the mono German radio sonics are markedly superior, with more natural balances, a wider dynamic range, and richer bass.
The playing of the orchestra is also astounding. It’s worth keeping in mind that this broadcast was made around the same time as Suitner recorded his stunning Rite of Spring, and it’s quite clear that few if any German orchestras had the chops for the “modern blockbuster” repertoire to the same degree as the Dresden contingent. That the brass get through the work with so few slips is simply amazing. The final chorale erupts with even more brazen effrontery than on the Melodiya recording, and just listening to the strings articulate their insane fugue subject in the first movement is worth the price of the disc. Apparently at this point the East German authorities were as ambivalent about the work as the Soviets were, and it’s something of a miracle that this document has been preserved at all–but if you care about Shostakovich, Kondrashin, or the great German orchestras, you’ll very much want to hear it.
