Shostakovich Symphonies 4, 5 & 6 album review – The Arts Desk

“… Mäkelä’s Oslo Philharmonic strings play with an incredible depth of tone, especially the double basses; listen out for the all-important minor thirds tolling out like bells two minutes in (Symphony No. 6). Should Shostakovich’s music sound this luxuriant? Vintage Soviet performances tend to be grittier, but bringing out the Mahlerian influences really works here, and the trumpet-led big climax six minutes in is genuinely hair-raising … I’ve rarely heard it played with such warmth. The two scherzos which follow are dispatched with rapier wit. Clarinets excel in the “Allegro”, Mäkelä pushing the tempo to breaking point, and the movement’s fadeout is exquisite. The finale is a riot, with some stellar playing from principal bassoon and orchestra leader Elise Båtnes before the crazy coda. What a piece, and what a performance.

Mäkelä’s readings of Shostakovich 4 and 5 are also terrific, if less distinctive. He favours flowing speeds in No. 5, the Oslo lower strings really punching out the opening’s dotted rhythms and unison low horns matchless when rasping out the main theme at the start of the development section. Brass and winds really scream, and the parched coda is desolate. The slow movement hits Tchaikovskian heights, and Mäkelä’s tempo for the last movement’s ambivalent payoff feels right. Which leaves Symphony No. 4, a bigger, baggier beast. As with nos. 5 and 6, the playing has ample punch when it’s called for. Shostakovich’s first movement march is really strident here, and the strings’ manic fugato is exhilarating. It’s the shadier, spookier moments which are really telling, like the first movement’s coda (watch out for the tamtam!) and the finale’s funeral march. The symphony’s close terrifies, with ear-splitting brass and one of the most unsettling endings in the repertoire … Impressive stuff.”

The Arts Desk, Graham Rickson, 17 August 2024