DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH

Symphonies Nos. 9 & 12

 

Symphony No. 9 in E flat major, Op. 70 (1945)

Symphony No. 12 in D minor, ‘The Year 1917’, Op. 112 (1961)

 

Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra / Mark Wigglesworth

 

Mark Wigglesworth, described in BBC Music Magazine as “the finest Shostakovich interpreter of his generation”, has already recorded seven of the composer's fifteen symphonies for BIS, beginning this great project with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and continuing with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. The team now returns with their renditions of Symphonies Nos. 9 and 12.

 

As Mark Wigglesworth observes in his own liner notes, these two works posed serious problems for their creator. The Ninth Symphony was generally expected to be a celebration of Stalin and the imminent victory over the Nazis. Shostakovich wanted to avoid any such programmatic interpretations and therefore came up with what Wigglesworth describes as “a pure and perfect, almost neoclassical work”.

 

16 years later, Shostakovich was commissioned to write a work commemorating Lenin and the 1917 Revolution. Again reluctant to comply with the expectations of the Soviet state, he now took exactly the opposite approach and wrote his most programmatic symphony, using his well-honed film music technique to conjure up brilliantly the atmospheres and events of the revolution, thereby avoiding having to make any personal comments on it or its leaders.

 

Among the many discs released during last year's Shostakovich anniversary, one that received particular notice was Mark Wigglesworth's recording of Symphony No. 13 'Babi Yar' with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. In International Record Review the performance was hailed as “probably the most convincing Thirteenth to have appeared in the West”.

 

Please note: The music on this Hybrid Super Audio CD can be played back in Stereo (CD and SACD) as well as in 5.0 Surround sound (SACD)

 

BIS SACD BISSACD1563