Word: shostakoviches
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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JARVI KNOWS HOW to conduct Shostakovich almost as well. The composer, who chafed under the policies of the Politburo up to his death in 1975, wrote in his memoirs--the unexpurgated edition--that "you have to be a complete oaf" unless you hear that his Fifth ends in "irreparable tragedy," not triumph. He does the reverse of Tchaikovsky, Mahler and Beethoven in their fifth symphonies; like them Shostakovich moves from minor to major key during the course of his symphony, but his finale nonetheless forebodes calamity...
Even more tragically, the concert notes--like most other concert notes and record jackets-- include an inappropriate description by Shostakovich of the finale...
Anyone with a penchant for genuine vodka will find the third sentence insipid. Shostakovich wrote the explanation after he composed the symphony in 1937, probably as an attempt to be restored to favor with Soviet officials after earlier compositions had been attached in Pravda. Unfortunately, most of Friday afternoon's audience, skewed as usual toward the elderly, probably took the composer at face value...
Jarvi led a boring opening of the Shostakovich-- intended as a majestic dialogue for the orchestra. Joseph Silverstein, the concertmaster, bit his bow into the violin strings for no apparent reason, other than perhaps to impress the orchestra-seat audience with his bow technique. The horns, in contrast, played their statement of the main theme with little passion. Shostakovich's conceptions and Jarvi's interpretation began to shine, however, with the entrance of the harp's sustained chords. The composer glutted the music with fat harmonies and lines, which Jarvi wrings from the orchestra, at a cost; a wobbly beat...
Those who don't have an ear for music will be able to remember a line in the moderato of the Shostakovich that sounds just like the theme from Million Dollar Movie. The Tubin, similarly, contains rhapsodic, whistling tunes of the Bohemian life. And Gaudeamus Igitur--well, a trip to the Hasty Pudding might be just as good...