CLASSICAL
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday December 18, 2009
SHOSTAKOVICHSymphonies No. 1 and 15Mariinsky Orchestra, Valery Gergiev(Harmonia Mundi)In his twilight years, Shostakovich expanded on his earlier habit of quoting from his own works and started inserting quotations from the works of others as well. The first movement of his 15th and final symphony contains flippant snapshots from Rossini's well-known William Tell Overture and Shostakovich seems to mock this quotation with unusual instrumentation, poking mostly good-humoured fun at its banality.Like the First Symphony, also included here, the last symphony has lightness and neo-classical balance. The final movement of the 15th Symphony starts with the fate motive from Wagner's Ring cycle but here Shostakovich is in deadly earnest and the tone is valedictory.In this brilliant performance by Gergiev and the Mariinsky orchestra, the close is delightfully enigmatic. On one level it sounds like table-top percussion from larrikin schoolboys over a serene transcendent chord but the performance has ambiguous tension right to the last breath.Peter McCallum
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
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