Paavo Berglund’s lifelong dedication to Shostakovich has never been in doubt, right from his earliest recordings with the Bournemouth Symphony for EMI. Indeed, his versions of Symphonies Nos. 6 and 11 remain reference editions of both works, so it’s very gratifying to see him add the Eighth symphony to his discography. By and large, this is a very fine performance too. Berglund always has given special attention to questions of phrasing and articulation, particularly from the strings, and this pays big dividends in the first movement, which has splendid flow and sustains its intensity right through the softest moments. At about 27 minutes you might think this is one of the slower versions, but this turns out to be deceptive: most of the extra time is taken up in the theoretically quick central development, here less contrasted in tempo than usual.
The result allows plenty of detail to register, and the rhythmic energy never flags–but I can understand some listeners preferring a higher level of sheer hysteria. Still, the big climax comes off splendidly and the ensuing English horn solo really is gorgeous. The first scherzo has plenty of life, though it’s not as gawky as others have made it, while the menacing toccata is aptly mechanical and features a brilliant trumpet solo at its center. Once again, as in the first movement, any suggestion of a certain timbral smoothness gets wiped out by the crushing climax that leads to the benumbed passacaglia, here just about perfectly paced (a bit shy of 10 minutes).
The finale awakens gently, and I have to say that I generally prefer a livelier basic tempo than Berglund’s. But the opening bassoon solo is exceptionally well done, the entry of the strings wonderfully phrased, and Berglund sustains the music’s mood of fragile happiness with complete conviction. He takes extra care to preserve the contrapuntal clarity of the central fugue and certainly doesn’t hold back at the fearsome return of the first movement’s climactic motto theme.
There are now performances of this symphony for every taste, from the fast and urgent Caetani (Arts Music) to the very slow and grave second Previn recordings (DG), but none offer quite Berglund’s interpretive point of view, so there really is something new here for collectors to enjoy. The engineering also is very good both in stereo and multichannel formats, and the bottom line is that you may quibble with certain details, but there’s no question that Berglund delivers an intelligent, moving, and fully formed conception of this powerful and emotionally draining symphony.
