CLASSICAL

Latest releases reviewed.

SHOSTAKOVICH: SYMPHONY NO 4
Kirov Orchestra/Valery Gergiev Philips 475 6190
****

In his recent EMI recording, Mariss Jansons approached Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony with a civilising sensibility. Shostakovich had not yet taken himself in hand from the official criticism meted out to his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Gergiev relishes the unbalanced extremes for which Jansons tried to find a viable middle ground. Gergiev and his Kirov players let the music snarl and bite, and understand well how its many excesses can turn into an almost nightmarish relentlessness. The question posed by a performance like this is, inevitably: what else might Shostakovich have gone on to write in this fascinating, almost disorderly-seeming style, had not the authorities pressured him to conform to more clearly-argued, more conventionally symphonic writing which they required to be uplifting in spirit rather than prevailingly black? www.deccaclassics.com - Michael Dervan

ELGAR: VIOLIN CONCERTO; VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: THE LARK ASCENDING
Hilary Hahn (violin), London Symphony Orchestra/Colin Davis Deutsche Grammophon 474 8732
***

Elgar's Violin Concerto was written for, dedicated to and premièred by Fritz Kreisler, and the two men gave the première together in 1910. Hilary Hahn's new recording suggests she sees little or no connection between dedicatee and music. She plays with her customary command, but the manner is too neatly clean-cut. It's as if she's making a beeline through the work, having a sure grasp of all the notes without yet having divined their import. The intention, of course, might be to de-sentimentalise the music, or tighten linkages that can easily seem dangerously loose. But the outcome often sounds matter-of-factly dispassionate - it's the orchestra which generates most heat - and the perfectly-turned Lark Ascending doesn't really take flight either. www.dgclassics.com - Michael Dervan

SCHUBERT: CELLO CONCERTO; ROSAMUNDE (EXC)
Gaspar Cassadó (cello), Hallé Orchestra/ Hamilton Harty Halle Tradition CD HLT 8003
**

A cello concerto by Schubert? Could it be a musicological discovery? Actually, no. It's cellist Gaspar Cassadó's orchestration of the sonata Schubert wrote for the arpeggione, a long-obsolete invention of the 1820s, which was a cross between a guitar (in body shape, tuning and in having frets) and a cello (in size and bowing technique). It turns up here on a CD of Schubert recordings made around the time of the composer's centenary in 1928, with Hillsborough's most famous musical son, Hamilton Harty, conducting the Hallé Orchestra. Cassadó's intention of re-writing the Schubert as a romantic cello concerto may well explain the neglect of his version. The Rosamunde excerpts are played in an intriguing, burly chamber music style, but the disc is compromised by the synthetic tone of the over-processed transfers. www.halle.co.uk Michael Dervan

DEBUSSY & RAVEL PIANO WORKS
Samson François (piano), Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire/ André Cluytens EMI Classics 585 9902 (6 CDs)
***

Pianist and composer Samson François, who lived life in the fast lane and died at the age of 46, is greatly treasured in his native France, where on the 25th anniversary of his death in 1995, EMI issued his complete recordings on 34 CDs. Responses in other countries have generally been more varied, and for every individual who thrills to François's music-making as playful, inspirational and improvisational there seems to be another to complain about its frivolity, waywardness or looseness. Debussy and Ravel were favourite territory for François, and the recordings in this bargain-priced box often show this variable player at his colouristically fanciful best. www.emiclassics.com Michael Dervan