Œuvres orchestrales

Description

Thousands of people have come to know Shostakovich through his music used in a TV commercial. If the "Waltz No. 2" is the tree that hides the forest, the suite to which it belongs, as well as the excerpts from "The Golden Age," remain interpretative stumbling blocks. For while the direction to take in a grand symphony or a quartet could be said to be inscribed in the music itself, the relaxed, dance-like, and completely unexpected aspect of Shostakovich that appears here undoubtedly raises more questions about what to make of it: a parody? A critique of a despised Western system for the "suite"? Or Soviet realism, a musical-sporting censer of a political system propagandizing the new man for the "ballet"? The fact that a virtuoso German orchestra conducted by an English conductor is tackling this will avoid the risk of hammering home the populist nail in its glory. And simply returning to the text itself. The performance we hear in this recording is rare: for while everyone jumped on the bandwagon in the 90s to make the cash registers ring for publishers, very few have managed to maintain that freshness, that energy, that wild rhythm, that occasionally Mahlerian color (the entry of the horn in the reprise of the famous waltz), without ever vulgarizing simplicity or effects. This system also works with the "Concerto No. 1": shades, exchanges, air between the sections, and a still magnificent color far removed from virtuoso showiness. To be treasured. (Nicolas Mesnier-Nature)