Theodore Kuchar’s authoritative way with 20th century Russian symphonies has been well documented in his Prokofiev recordings on Naxos. He is no less masterful in Shostakovich, here leading a powerfully effective performance with the National Symphony of the Ukraine. Kuchar’s is a tightly-controlled and sharp-edged yet flowing reading that clocks in at under 45 minutes. That’s not to say it’s all iron and steel; on the contrary, Kuchar is keenly attuned to the varied emotional states of the work, from the manic fury of the first movement development and the sarcasm of the scherzo, to the heartbreak of the adagio (played with affecting intensity by the Ukrainian strings) and the “forced” euphoria of the finale, here refreshingly free of the revisionist weight loaded onto the coda by many latter-day interpreters.
Much of the credit for the success of this performance must go to the orchestra’s robust, fiercely energetic playing (note the excitingly aggressive brass in the first movement climax and finale)–the kind of playing we used to expect, and get, from Soviet orchestras on all those saturated and cavernous-sounding Melodiya recordings. You’ll find no such sonic problems here–the Amadis recording (another of HNH International’s labels) captures it all in widely dynamic sound, with plenty of depth. Only the bass drum’s missing bottom octave makes this a less than ideal presentation. Oleh Krysa’s rendering of the Violin Concerto is suitably dark and gloomy but it doesn’t quite generate the palpable tension of David Oistrakh; nor does Krysa’s playing, fine as it is, arrest the ear with the kind of stunning virtuosity exhibited by Lydia Mordkovich (especially in the great third movement cadenza). Still, this coupling is a great way for those who don’t own any version this masterpiece to make its acquaintance.
