Specs & Pricing

Shostakovich:
Complete
Symphonies. Giuseppe Verdi
Symphony Orchestra of Milan, Oleg
Caetani, conductor. Producer and
engineer uncredited. Arts 47850-8 (10
hybrid SACDs).
Among the noteworthy Shostakovich releases
in this centenary year of his birth is a box
set of the complete symphonies on a small
German label led by a little-known conductor
and played by an equally little-known Italian
orchestra. However, these forces combine
for one of the better complete Shostakovich
symphony sets.
The obscure credentials aren’t as disqualifying as they might appear at first sight. Conductor
Oleg Caetani, for example, has a growing European reputation, and directs the Melbourne
Symphony as well as these Milan players. His Russian bona fides include being the son of the
late composer-conductor Igor Markevitch (he takes his mother’s name), study with conductor
Kiril Kondrashin, and a St. Petersburg Conservatory diploma. If the orchestra isn’t in the same
league as the big guns, it’s a very capable outfit, playing with intense concentration and lacking
the slickness that can affect more renowned outfits. Led and trained by Riccardo Chailly, it
works with many top conductors.
Caetani began this live Shostakovich cycle in December 2000 with the Seventh (“Leningrad”
Symphony) and ended it with the Fourteenth in June 2006. Four of the ten hybrid discs in the
box set are newly released and comprise seven of the fifteen symphonies. Of course, complete
sets are never definitive. Since any large body of work benefits from different interpretive
viewpoints, there will always be some hits and misses for individual listeners. That said,
nothing here is less than adequate, some rank among the best performances, and even those
that don’t include aspects worth hearing.
What separates Caetani’s set from the
pack, aside from the fine sonics, is the
intensity of much of the playing, the
power of his climaxes, and his attention
to lyric passages
What separates Caetani’s set from the pack, aside from the fine sonics, is the intensity of
much of the playing, the power of his climaxes, and his attention to lyric passages, which
come off with plenty of delicacy, itself relatively rare in performances of this composer. In
general, he takes flowing tempos that don’t dawdle; his Eighth will startle with the fastest first
movement I’ve ever heard. But there are exceptions, like the last movement of the 15th and
the Largo of the Eighth, which misfire with tempos that drag. Caetani’s versions of Nos. 1,
4, 5, 6, and 11 are near the top in my estimation, while those of Nos. 9, 13 (“Babi Yar”), the
death-haunted 14, and the enigmatic 15 are above much of the competition. If his Nos. 2, 3,
7, and 12 didn’t do much for me, no one else’s have either. Despite often wonderful playing
(low strings and wind solos are first-rate) there are occasional rough spots, inescapable in live
concert performances.
The engineering is impressive, with close-up, impactful sound and enough hall resonance to
indicate the orchestra’s Milan Auditorium is a fine venue. Arts says no dynamic compression
is used and I believe it since the ravishing pianissimos are in realistic proportion to the huge
climaxes, while solo turns within the orchestra are never outsized. Given the time span over
which these performances were recorded, there are small variations from disc to disc, but all
are prime examples of the warm, natural sound of a large orchestra in a good hall. My one
reservation concerns the occasional recessed quality of trumpets and high percussion on some
discs; on others, those xylophones Shostakovich favored cut through the orchestra with power
and trumpets blare forth unimpeded. I listened in both Red Book CD and SACD stereo,
but cannot comment on the multichannel aspect of the sound. All considered, a stimulating
set. DD
Further Listening: Shostakovich: Complete Symphonies (Barshai); Complete
Symphonies (Haitink)
December 2006 The Absolute Sound 145