Shostakovich: Symphonies No.9 &10
Gianandrea Noseda / London Symphony (LSO Live)
(scroll down for English review)
諾斯達和倫敦交響樂團的蕭斯達高維契交響曲系列，錄到一半，這次可以將《第九》及《第十》放到一張碟，不只是抵聽問題，而是把蕭氏交響曲的兩極，輕鬆及沉重放在一起，正好適合我第一次聽諾斯達這個可能是全集的系列。
不過《第九》一開始我就覺得演奏稍粗，假如你覺得倫敦交響樂團是頂尖、最好那幾隊之一（我從不這麼認為），那麼我會說這真的不是頂尖演奏。或者樂隊和指揮我都要各打三十，樂隊好像打天才波，而指揮一則缺乏對作品的獨特視野，二來又不想建構出獨特的一套聲音，所以就會由樂隊加天才波。
若只着眼高潮，音量是有的，亦可以維持，但從營造到爆發就不夠講究，例如《第九》的結尾速度遠遠未有去盡，以及《第十》第一樂章的高潮不甚留意漸強。第二樂章離炫技的水平甚遠。我對往後的集數（如果有的話），興趣不大。
Noseda’s Shostakovich cycle with LSO has now reached the half way mark but I haven’t listened to the previous issues. Pairing the Ninth with the Tenth doesn’t only mean more value for money, but these two symphonies are polars apart, so it’d be appropriate for assessing how Noseda is doing.
But the beginning of the Ninth Symphony was just too rough for my standards. If you consider the LSO to be one of the top handful orchestras, which I’ve never thought so, then I must say this disc far from remarkable. The orchestra seemed to be under-rehearsed or on autopilot and the conductor didn’t seem to have a unique interpretation or a sound he wanted to craft.
If you’re just into the climaxes then you’d be pleased with the sustained volume, but the buildups and the implosion points were far from refined. For instance, the rush for the end of the Ninth Symphony was underpowered and the big climax of Tenth Symphony’s first movement almost overlooked all the crescendi. And the second movement’s string playing was from top notch. I won’t be interested in the subsequent issues.