Testament’s re-release of this 1962 OSR Shostakovich Fifth serves as gentle reminder that the spectacle of conductors making recordings of repertoire ill-suited to them is not a modern phenomenon. Whatever his prowess in 19th- and 20th-century Romantic music of Eastern European origin, Kertész simply does not connect with Shostakovich’s frenetic, highly strung idiom. He emphasizes the symphony’s classical structure, employing crisp phrasing and rendering the music with a strangely chilly detachment.
The first movement particularly suffers from this. Where is the somber portent in the strings (exemplified by Bernstein and Rostropovich), or the biting, frenzied brass in the development’s climax? The Scherzo, one of the fastest on disc at 4:38, sounds bland and uninflected as it rushes along. The Largo does generate occasional moments of genuine feeling in some neatly turned wind solos, but the drab finale is completely devoid of menace. The orchestra plays professionally, but its members are not inspired by the podium presence to go beyond the call. The remastered recording has good clarity and presence but also suffers from some tape hiss and limited dynamics.
The Kodály (from 1971, with the LSO) is another matter entirely. Here Kertész is on his home turf, conducting with brilliance and engaging imagination, illuminating the Peacock Variations’ myriad colors while keenly projecting its vital rhythms. As a bonus, Kertész prefaces the performance with Kodály’s choral arrangement of the original song. I would say that this is reason enough to acquire this disc, but the Kodály (which is noticeably more open sonically than the Shostakovich) has been available in a number of CD incarnations, most recently on a Decca Double with the complete Háry János music.
