Shostakovich: Symphony 11 (Symphony 11 The Year 1905) [SACD]

I bought this disc after reading a previous review - wishing to test out my new sub-woofer addition to the hi-fi.
I have just listened to it, and Mark Wigglesworth and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra give a fine performance. The tone and pacing of the beautiful Cor Anglais solo in the last movement was perfection.
I was struck by a slight loss of clarity in the recording by the BIS engineers, so played the last movement of my other disc by the LSO with Rostropovitch to compare. I have to say that the LSO live recording was so much clearer in the surround sound, although with slightly less 'bottom end' than the BIS recording - until the final crescendo when the full blast was awe inspiring.
I will play the Wigglesworth for that Cor Anglais, but the Rostropovitch is the better overall.

I think it's impossible to enjoy this spectacular recording & performance in your living room. Only to get some idea of the dynamics chosen by the recording producers you'll need a top amplifier and some very strong walls to get the sound right. The volume had to go to halfway my Musical Fidelity 500W pair to get the right sound and it meant the windows moved at the second movement massacre. So I took a pair of headphones and listened to it that way. `Problem' is I own a class A headphone amplifier which had to be put on 75% to get the sound right, it did without any problem, but I think it's quite excessive. BIS gives you a warning on the last page of the booklet about it's choice of sound. So beware. The performance is spectacular, the interpretation flawless and the playing world class. Never I've heard the trombones sound so clearly and great in their wawa moments in the 2nd movement. Never have I heard the start of the first and fourth movement so impressive and soft. So gentle, so meaningful. The massacre is awful. The percussion impressive without loosing it's place in the orchestra. The performance is on the slow side but it gives much more strength to the whole symphony than any of the other versions I have and heard, and I do and did many, can deliver. This orchestra is under threat of severe financial cutbacks by the Dutch government. This recording project is a statement to get an idea what'll be thrown away if that happens. With the 4th, 8th, 13th and 9/12th recording this cycle is the most coherent and spectacular I think you can buy. But it'll give you problems with your neighbours, if you've any, or secure they're not at home.

I deeply love the Shostakovich symphonies; it is, therefore, a source of great pleasure that they are so well represented on SACD.

I have always had a soft spot for number 11. Based on the abortive `Little Revolution' of 1905, this is real wide-screen, technicolor programme music. In actuality, it's great film music, without the unnecessary bother of having a film attached...

My touchstone for this music is the great, late-analogue era Berglund performance with the Bournemouth Symphony on EMI. It's an astonishingly deeply-felt reading, graced by a truly great recording, one of the finest - in my opinion - ever committed to analogue tape. I would dearly love it to appear on SACD, I am sure it would still amaze (if the corporate apparatchiks in charge of EMI this week ever managed to pull their fingers out of their bottom lines and allow some of their classic back-archive material onto SACD).

But what we'll consider here are three readings:

1) This Wigglesworth/Netherlands RPO on BIS
2) The Lazarev /RNSO on Linn
3) The Russian NSO/Pletnev on Pentatone

I have also the Kitayenko/Cologne on Capriccio, but have not yet got round to playing this; I will update this critique when I have done so.

Incidentally, all were auditioned in stereo, SACD layer of course, on my reference high end Esoteric/Goldmund/Martin-Logan system. I'm still a sceptic on matters multi-channel, I'm afraid...

In my opinion, one of the three recordings is a good all-rounder, but two have a significant flaw.

So, how does each of the three stack up?

1) The Wigglesworth. A good example of BIS's high quality SACD house sound. Neutral, transparent and with staggering (almost too much so!) dynamic range. The battery of percussion which closes the second movement will melt speakers, whilst much of the first movement is whisper-quite and deeply atmospheric. Wiggelsworth clearly understands this music, the performance is deeply felt, sincere, and graced with fine playing. Sonically and interpretationally, it all rather spookily reminds me of my reference Berglund recording- that's no bad thing!

2) The Lazarev. This has excellent sound from Linn, an atmospheric first movement, explosive second movement and dynamic finale. However... the third movement is simply mis-judged in my opinion; marked `in memoriam' this is a threnody for fallen martyrs of the revolution. Quite simply, it should not skip along at the speed set by Lazarev; by contrast, both Wigglesworth and Pletnev get this third movement spot on, measured, dignified and grief-stricken.

3) The Pletnev. This is probably the best, and most idiomatic all-round performance. The last movement, in particular, is faster and more exciting than most. But it's also matched with the poorest overall sound. Don't get me wrong, it's extremely transparent and has a seamless mid-range and liquid treble. It's weak point- as often evidenced on Polyhymnia recordings - is its absence of underpinning bass foundation. This lack of slam and bass foundation severely constrains the impact of episodes where Shostakovich lets rip and simply throws the kitchen sink into the orchestration. These `wipe-out' moments simply underwhelm in the resulting thin balance. The balance is also erratic at times - note the almost absent snare drum in the second movement, suddenly leaping to the front of the mix as the massacre episode takes off. A real pity.

So there we have it. My recommendation as an all-rounder is this Wigglesworth reading on BIS. I can't live with Lazarev's third movement tempo, and the sound for Pletnev is not up to the standard of the other two recordings.

Will the Kitayenko on Capriccio steal its crown? Wait and see!