Shostakovich: Symphonies 6 & 12

The Sixth and the Twelfth have competing claims to be the Cinderella of Shostakovich’s mature symphonies. The Sixth’s lopsided form, with a substantial opening movement followed by two short ones in apparently lighter vein, does it no favours, while the Twelfth, subtitled “The Year 1917”, has propagandist overtones that have long clouded serious assessment. They make a surprisingly effective coupling and, as we have come to expect from previous releases in his cycle of Shostakovich symphonies with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko makes weird and wonderful sense of both. The Sixth’s opening Largo is ideally rapt, but where this conductor really scores is in maintaining the music’s intensity in the succeeding two fast movements. Even Petrenko cannot redeem the brash outbursts of the Twelfth’s opening Moderato or the opening salvo of the Finale, but the RLPO’s sense of attack carries all before it, and the eerie Adagio is traversed with subtlety and finesse. This symphony may not be top-drawer music, but by treating it seriously rather than as the soundtrack for a Bolshevik newsreel, Petrenko and the RLPO do Shostakovich a big favour.

Shostakovich

Symphonies 6 & 12

Vasily Petrenko

(Naxos)