Pathos and Janus Face

In 2006, as it celebrates the 250th Birthday of Amadeus Mozart, the world seems to have forgotten that other world famous composers also celebrate important jubilees this year. One of these is the Russian composer Dmitry Shostakovich, born 100 years ago in St. Petersburg; a true musical anarchist who, at the age of 13, studied piano at the Petrograd Conservatory (under Leonid Nikolajew) and composition (under Maximilian Steinberg). For many years his creative artistic freedom was threatened and endangered by the soviet deskbound bureaucrats He fell under their calculating glare twice, once in 1936 and again in1948. The result was a remarkably ambiguous attitude of the composer. In the then current system he developed a sort of dual personality (although in reality Shostakovich never actually suffered under such a clinical problem). On the one hand the composer outwardly functioned and obeyed the socialist system but inwardly he undertook a personal emigration. He only confided this true attitude to his music. And because the party functionaries understood little from music, his choice was a good one.

The two works that are presented here are separated by 15 years. The external circumstances that pertained at the time of their creation are of particular importance. Shostakovich composed his 6th Symphony after the first intellectual Autodafé in 1936 when a Prawda article titled “Chaos instead of Music” described his music as coarse, primitive and vulgar thus breaking the aesthetic wand that had protected Shostakovich. He gained a chance to rehabilitate himself with his 5th Symphony composed in 1937. With the apparently exultant apotheosis of the finale he managed to save both himself and his family. But anyone who could “hear between the lines”, and as Shostakovich 40 years later wrote, “was not a “complete buffoon” could recognise a false elation driven purely by the pressures of authority.
The 6th Symphony in h-minor op. 54 written after a year long creative pause in 1939 could be viewed as a musical commentary on Stalin’s purges that cost millions of lives. The work consists of only three movements, without a sonata main movement. And therefore, gained the name of “Body without a head” from soviet critics. The extensive lago movement is full of a brooding heaviness and distended time within which lives a certain disorientation which are again reflected in the cyclical thematic It moves but never progresses. A more stronger contrast with this and the following movements is hardly imaginable; a scherzo with brilliant liveliness and Stravinsky like spirit, but full of over wound bustle. Beneath the sparkling surface there is something grotesque brewing. This alienation is also carried on in the presto finale –reminding one on the last movement of the 5th Symphony – a display of happiness which is really not there. Some heard here an optimistic keynote but which is nothing more than a conscious affectation. The 6th Symphony has an operatic Janus face on its broad neck. At that time, for those who recognised this it was better they stayed silent in order to save their own necks.

Far removed from this “paradoxical tour de force” (Holland) is the 1st Symphony in f-minor op. 10 composed between the middle and the October of 1924. It was the 19-year-old Shostakovich´s diploma thesis. Here there is no sign of forced content, artificially drawn out ideas or form following orders. One feels the launch of an artistically radical young man, here is the first musical scent mark of a phenomenal compositional talent of remarkable quality. Here is someone who is not afraid to try something. The conductor Nikolai Malko wrote enthusiastically of the celebrated premier in 1926 “I have the feeling that I’ve turned a new page in the history of the Symphony and have discovered a great new composer”. With astonishment the listener perceived Shostakovich as a fully developed practitioner of the symphonic tradition, was astounded by the sovereign instrumentation, and stood speechless before the copiousness of ideas and the mastery of technique.

The work formally follows the four movement tradition, but contains, as well, elements of a musical language that makes Shostakovich so unmistakable: ironic tone, grotesque exaggeration, pointed caricature. This is already noticeable in the first movement, the unusual introduction, the dynamic bridled march and the stilted waltz – here through his thick glasses, Shostakovich views the traditional principle of theme duality as if through distorting mirrors. In the rapid three-part scherzo he brings in a piano to add tonal sharpness and echoes of Prokofiev
(in the scherzo theme) and the 19th century Russian classics ( in the trio part). After the rapidity of the scherzo the slower movement responds with lyric and emphatic phrases. A drum roll leads the attacca into the finale, which tie in thematically with the six tone motives of the slower movement. In the last movement Shostakovich thrusts the listener into a contrast bath of the senses. Thematic fragments ghost through the most extreme register of the orchestra; solos are cut off by orchestral tutti, until the movement culminates in a triumphant presto. The young Shostakovich bathes in pathos and this is triumphantly united in the final theme.

Vladimir Jurowski

Vladimir Jurowski was born in Moscow, but moved with his family to Germany in 1990, finishing his studies at the Music Academy in Dresden and Berlin. In 1995 he made a highly successful debut at the Wexford Festival conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night, which launched his international career.  Since then he has been a guest at some of the world’s leading opera houses such as the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opéra Bastille de Paris, Welsh National Opera, Dresden Opera, Komische Oper Berlin and Metropolitan Opera, New York.
In January 2001 Vladimir Jurowski took up the position as Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera and in early 2003 was also appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.  Recently it has also been announced that he has been appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra.
Vladimir Jurowski has made highly successful debuts with a number of world’s leading orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic and Oslo Philharmonic. Future engagements include debuts with such orchestras as the Dresden Staatskapelle, Royal Concertgebouw, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh Symphony orchestras.
Recent operatic engagements have taken him to the Metropolitan Opera for The Queen of Spades, to Glyndebourne for Die Zauberflöte, The Miserly Knight and Gianni Schicchi and to Welsh National Opera for a highly successful new production of Wozzeck. This summer (2005) he conducts Rossini’s La Cenerentola and Verdi’s Otello at Glyndebourne.  Next season (2006) he makes his debut at La Scala conducting Eugene Onegin.

“From the very beginning, it’s clear that this is a great sounding SACD. The instrumental soundstage is wide and deep, the ambient air and bloom around the instruments give results in superb transparency. The orchestral climaxes are exciting and clear.”…. The Russian National Orchestra plays brilliantly throughout this wonderful disc. Don’t miss it!”
---Robert Moon, Audiophile Audition

“This is a wildly imaginative performance, superbly executed….The SACD layer is a stunning improvement; not only does each instrument sound more natural, but an ethereal silence seems to surround each solo. The orchestra comes to life, as do the strings; balances are ideal”
---James H. North, Fanfare

“On Vladimir Jurowski's disc, the orchestra seems to understand the Shostakovich First and Sixth Symphonies through and through, though the conductor prefers to keep the darker truths in the background, treating the First Symphony almost like one of Stravinsky's chic, neoclassic ballets. That's one way to look at the music, and he does so convincingly”
David Patrick Stearns, Philadelphia Inquirer

“Jurowski is an uncommonly interesting Shostakovich conductor, and one not afraid to pursue paths that are rather different from those of the “old guard” Russian conductors (Mravinsky, Kondrashin etc.). I certainly look forward to hearing more from him.”
---Christopher Howell, Musicweb.uk

“You won’t find a more electrifying Symphony No. 1 than this one. The romping piano in the second movement causes the pulse to race, and those massive staccato chords towards the end might just stop your heart entirely.
The astonishing level of orchestral refinement shows that the Russian National Orchestra can play as well as any Western rival, but it doesn’t sound all that different from them, either. Maybe the strings have a warmth and sheen that sets them apart.”
---Lawson Taitte, Dallas Morning News

As with their earlier Shostakovich recording, Shostakovich: Symphony N0. 11 - Pletnev, Pentatone have a treasure of a disc. The constants in the series, the recording team & the Russian National Orchestra, manage to excel themselves, even by comparison to their earlier release - thanks I'm sure, in no small part, to it being a studio recording. …This cycle with PentaTone and the Russian National Orchestra is promising to become a truly magnificent set (although a little expensive) and I very much look forward to future releases.
---John Broggio, SA-CD.net
“EDITOR’S CHOICE” – GRAMOPHONE
“A remarkable disc from a Russian firebrand – up there with big guns…All in all a remarkable achievement”
---David Gutman, Gramophone

“This enjoyable disc offers two works that are underappreciated by two composers who most certainly are not….The RNO’s playing is impressive, with the winds deserving special note;… The excellent audio quality is what we’ve come to expect from PentaTone.”
Andrew Quint, Fanfare

“It is one of the finest recordings in the PentaTone catalogue.”
--Christophe Huss, ClassicsToday (France)

“Jurowski’s vivid performances have been well captured by the engineering staff-there is richness as well as impact.”
--Robert Benson,classicalcdreview.com

“Jurowski brings an awesome majesty to the powerful, Mahlerian funeral march of the Sixth’s spacious opening largo, and his RNO is simply dazzling in the high jinks of the scherzo passages in both works.”
--High Canning, Sunday Times

“As I have made clear this is a superb SACD and I hope that Pentatone can persuade Jurowski to undertake more Shostakovich recordings with this orchestra.”
--Graham Williams, SA-CD.net

Russian National Orchestra
The Russian National Orchestra has been in demand throughout the music world since its 1990 Moscow début. The first Russian orchestra to perform at the Vatican and in Israel, the RNO maintains an active schedule of touring and is a frequent guest at major festivals. Of the orchestra’s 1996 début at the BBC Proms in London, the Evening Standard wrote: “They played with such captivating beauty that the audience gave an involuntary sigh of pleasure.” By the time of the RNO’s 10th anniversary, the orchestra had been reviewed as a “major miracle” (Time Out New York) and classical music’s “story of the decade” (International Arts Manager). In 2004, the RNO was described as “a living symbol of the best in Russian art” (Miami Herald) and “as close to perfect as one could hope for” (Trinity Mirror).

Gramophone magazine listed the first RNO CD (1991) as the best recording of Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique in history, and reviewed it as follows: “An awe-inspiring experience; should human beings be able to play like this?”. Since then, the RNO has made more than 30 recordings for Deutsche Grammophon and PentaTone Classics, with conductors such as Mikhail Pletnev, Mstislav Rostropovich, Kent Nagano and Alexander Vedernikov.

In 2003, the orchestra signed a new multi-disc agreement with PentaTone Classics. One of the first results of this collaboration – a recording of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Beintus’ Wolf Tracks, conducted by Kent Nagano – won a 2004 Grammy Award, which made the RNO the first Russian orchestra ever to win the recording industry’s highest honour.

Unique among the principal Russian ensembles, the RNO is independent of the government and has developed its own path-breaking structure. It is perhaps the only orchestra to have established a Conductor Collegium, a group of internationally renowned conductors who share the podium leadership.
Another innovation is Cultural Allies, which was created in 2001. Cultural Allies encompasses exchanges between artists in Russia and the West, and also commissions new works. Prominent RNO partners in Cultural Allies include Dave and Chris Brubeck, Hélène Grimaud, Sophia Loren, Wynton Marsalis, John Corigliano and Michael Tilson Thomas.

The Russian National Orchestra is supported by private funding and is governed by a distinguished multinational board of trustees. Affiliated organizations include the Russian National Orchestra Trust (UK), the Russian Arts Foundation and the American Council of the RNO.