Both of the
Shostakovich
works on this album -- the
Six Verses of Marina Tsvetayeva
orchestral songs and the
Symphony No. 14
-- date from the 1970s and are haunted by death, which is unsurprising inasmuch as the composer had received a raft of bad health news. The soloists are the major attractions here. The
are not a common work, and perhaps the highlight of the whole album is contralto
Jess Dandy
, in the second version of the work for contralto and chamber orchestra. She does a fine impression of the deep Russian contralto, and while it would be awkward to say that she lights up the room in music as dark as this, she has a really commanding presence. In the
, which is really a cycle of songs, soprano
Elizabeth Atherton
has big shoes to fill, considering the premiere by
Galina Vishnevskaya
, the composer's favorite, but she and bass
Peter Rose
deliver careful, detailed performances with plenty of gravity. The performances by the
BBC Philharmonic
under
John Storgards
tend toward the dry side, emphasizing the symphony's flirtations with 12-tone technique and its small orchestra. He sets off the soloists nicely, although some will prefer a richer, more Russian approach. For
Dandy
's performance alone and for the superb and quite neglected
Tsvetayeva songs
, this well-recorded album is worth the listener's time. ~ James Manheim