Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8
Shostakovich's grim Eighth Symphony was written in 1943 and premiered by its dedicatee, Evgeny Mravinsky, whoserecordings of the workstill stand supreme. Now, Mariss Jansons, who as a young conductor was mentored by Mravinsky, leads his Pittsburgh players in a stellar concert performance recorded live. Orchestral execution is first-rate, and Jansons doesn't smooth over or prettify the hourlong work, soaked in the composer's bitterness about the Nazi and Stalinist brutality that stamped his life with fear and loathing. The long opening Adagio, with its brooding strings and pitiless brass eruptions, is shattering, as are the following grotesque Allegretto and the relentlessly powerful third movement. The final two movements maintain the bleak mood, though, as so often in Shostakovich, the finale makes half-hearted attempts to recover a measure of joy amid the gloom. Jansons and his orchestra sustain this potent work's intensity throughout, confirming the Eighth as one of the composer's most important and fully realized works. The filler is an interesting rehearsal excerpt. An essential recording of an essential work.--Dan Davis