Vasily Petrenko - Shostakovich: Symphony No. 13 'Babi Yar' (2014)

Shostakovich's Symphony No 13, setting poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko, was given its UK premiere by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in 1971, so there is something satisfyingly symmetrical that it forms the final chapter in Vasily Petrenko's Naxos cycle of all 15 symphonies with the same orchestra. This performance lives up to the high expectations raised by the previous discs in this series: the orchestra, now invested by Petrenko with a true Russian bite and resonance, lives and breathes the music in brilliance and brooding edginess and energy. Harnessing the men'svoices of the RLP Choir and the Huddersfield Choral Society, the interpretation echoes the music s powerfully expressed protest against Soviet anti-Semitism, and sharply focuses on Shostakovich's subversive, humanitarian stance against the Soviet society of his day, heightened by the intensity of the bass protagonist, Alexander Vinogradov. With Petrenko's ear for detail and his instincts for symphonic shape and dramatic flux, this is a disc that stands comparison with the generally acknowledged classic 1962 recording by Kirill Kondrashin (recently re-released on Praga), and it does so with pungent emotional force. **** --Telegraph, 10/11/14