Yuri Ahronovitch’s vigorously-paced opening of Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony indicates an energetic performance to come. He does indeed keep the pace moving, slowing only slightly for the reflective second subject. The famous march-tune builds quite a head of steam as it surges toward the big climax, the affect of which is undermined somewhat by a rather shallow, dynamically limited recording.
The Adagio is the most interesting movement here, as Ahronovitch milks the elegiac string melody, then later drives the angry middle section. The episodic Finale launches at a good clip, but it’s in the slow second-half that Ahronovitch distinguishes himself by bringing out the unique timbres of Shostakovich’s scoring. The brass-drenched coda comes off well, though again its impact is mitigated by the recording.
The Stuttgart Radio Symphony performs with enthusiasm and solid expertise, however, for stunning orchestral execution in this piece there’s no beating the St. Petersburg Philharmonic under Jansons, or the big, bold, and brassy Chicago Symphony under Bernstein. That Ahronovitch’s is a live performance does lend a decided “sense of occasion” to his rendition–a factor that certainly makes it worth hearing.
