Shostakovich - Symphony nr. 2 'To October'

As I was so impressed by the Kitajenko/Gürzenich recordings of the Prokofiev symphonies, I was very curious to hear what this partnership might do with the Shostakovich cycle. JPC offered the 14 SACD box for less than 30 euros. A no brainer. Even if there was only a single symphony that had the qualities of the Prokofiev Sixth, it would be money well spent.

The set antedates the Prokofiev. All symphonies were taped between 2002 and 2004, either live in the Philharmonie or on location at the Studio Stolberger in Cologne. The recordings have been mastered as SACDs rather than the conventional CD format in case of the Prokofiev.

I don't have the intention to jump into a full Shostakovich cycle so only wanted to sample one of the shorter works. Inevitably one ends up with one of the strange, early works. It has been ages since I listened to the Second. Not a great work by any standards but now that I relistened to it it struck me how seminal it is for what was to follow. One can easily hear how the Fourth would soon spring from this musical imagination. There are also hints of the darker lyricism that would be so prominent in the Fifth and even Tenth Symphony.

I was, however, very unhappy to hear that sonically these recordings are no match for the Prokofiev set. Indeed, there is the impression of a slightly more finely contoured and finely grained sound (higher resolution) and there is an admirable sense of space. It is very easy to pinpoint all the desks in the orchestra. That in itself is very good and pleasing. But this seems to come at a price of a more generic, disembodied sound. Gone is the juicy and effortless luxuriance of the Prokofiev. Gone is also that sense of realism and 'being there' that puts you as a listener literally on edge. I am seeing the desks but I'm missing the faces! It's very disappointing. I'm also fearing for Kitajenko's readings now which tend to be somewhat more relaxed. With this kind of generic digital sound we might lose our interest much more rapidly ... I sampled some snippets from the live recordings too and it seems the problem persists across the whole set. Oh well, we'll see ...