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Site review by Castor May 30, 2008
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Performance: Sonics (MC): |
The arrangements for string orchestra of these two quartets are not, for once, the work of Rudolf Barshai but that of Marijn van Prooijen, a double bass player with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. Prooijen has provided a bass part that aptly matches the symphonic proportions of these works while still managing to retain their chamber music intimacy and origins. The Amsterdam Sinfonietta is not a large chamber orchestra, having a 6/6/4/4/2 line up with some changes of personnel between these sessions. Quartet No.4 is presented first on this disc and was taped in August 2006 while No.2 stems from February 2007.
Quartet No.4, a work of sombre melodic beauty and perfect proportions, is played here with a beguiling simplicity and yet manages to convey to the listener an intensity of purpose throughout each of its four movements. The performers are meticulous in their observation of Shostakovich’s many dynamic and tempo changes in this quartet and wonderfully convey the overt Jewish character in the two final Allegrettos.
Although Quartet No 2 was written in 1944, it inhabits a very different world from that of Symphonies 7 and 8, which were composed at about the same time. It took Shostakovich just nineteen days to write, and both the scale of its conception and its length (nearly 40minutes) make it particularly suitable to be heard in the guise of a chamber symphony.
The exhilarating opening, marked – Overture (Moderato con moto) at once illustrates the superb unanimity and attack of the Amsterdam Sinfonietta while, in the Recitative and Romance that follows, the soaring lines of Candida Thompson’s solo violin, over a soft and sustained string background, has an aching beauty that makes a deep and lasting impression. This is surely one of the most haunting movements Shostakovich ever penned.
Although the string playing throughout this disc has an appealing sweetness, the players are equally adept at conveying the music’s bitter irony in the ‘Valse’ and both the build up of tension and excitement in the extended ‘Theme and Variations’ of the finale.
Jared Sacks has consistently produced many fine recordings in DSD for his Channel Classics label, but this one is especially noteworthy. The acoustic of the two locations and the refined playing of the Amsterdam Sinfonietta have melded perfectly to yield a recording of superlative clarity and luminous tonal allure. The sound has both richness and solidity making it one of the finest recordings of a string orchestra that I have had the pleasure to hear.
This SACD deserves a top recommendation on all counts.
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Copyright © 2008 Graham Williams and SA-CD.net
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Review by JJ April 25, 2008 (5 of 6 found this review helpful)
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Performance: Sonics (S/MC): / |
With this program devoted to Dimitri Shostakovich, we once again encounter the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, a Dutch ensemble that already spoiled us in Felix Mendelssohn’s complete early symphonies, issued on BIS (see Opus HD Magazine N°40). This disc is their first recording of two string quartets by the famous Russian composer. Some twenty years ago they released the N°8 in the arrangement by Rudolf Barshaï, which the orchestra interpreted with distinction. They have lost none of their magic. With original arrangements whose bass parts were composed by bass player Marijn van Prooijen, Quartets N°2 in A major Op.68 and N°4 in D major Op. 83 date respectively from 1946 and 1949. The score for the second quartet was completed six years after that of the first at the time that Shostakovich had just written his Trio for Piano and Strings N°2 in E minor Op.67. As to the fourth, Pierre-Emile Barbier remarks that it “radiates beauty, balance and lyrical magic. Admirably proportioned in its four traditional movements, it may seem more accessible, and for that reason remains one of Shostakovich ‘s most played. This formal perfection brings Haydn to mind in his Op.64 and 76.” Conducted by Candida Thompson, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta captivates us by its subtle and intense playing. With broad phrasing and perfect legato, their vision is deeply moving, and the listener knows not whether he is in a dream or a spell. This is an essential disc in a remarkable pure DSD recording.
Jean-Jacques Millo
Translation Lawrence Schulman
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