<<  -- 3 --  David Thompson    UNCOMFORTABLE BEDFELLOWS

You will have gathered that this work is no favourite of mine. When Shostakovich's heart just isn't in it, as here, the results are threadbare, almost self-parodying, especially when set beside those works that show him to be such a masterly symphonist.

Yes, the Twelfth has a right to be heard in any appraisal of the composer, and here it is, in a performance that gives it decent advocacy. The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (the re-born RIAS Symphony Orchestra) plays it more than competently. The recording, though adequate, lacks the immediacy and range of that accorded to the First, which only seems to emphasise the almost unrelieved battleship-grey of the symphony's mood and the poverty of its invention [listen -- track 8, 8:17-9:23].

Those collecting this recording as part of a set need not hesitate, and the thrilling performance of the First should not be missed, even though it makes what follows rather a depressing experience in terms of music per se.

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