MANCHESTER ONLINE / MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS
Shostakovich Festival At Bridgewater Hall
(Four Star Rating)

by Robert Beale

THE Manchester Shostakovich celebration is over, and a huge success it has been. Performances in the symphony series have been in many cases unforgettable.

Symphonies

Vassily Sinaisky and the BBC Philharmonic have been bringing the Shostakovich symphonies to completion in the Bridgewater Hall. The 12th symphony, about the year 1917, is a rarely straightforward expression of optimism, and Sinaisky presented it as a gradual build-up of excitement.

The 13th is more daring. It uses a bass soloist and male chorus, setting poems by Yevtushenko (hence its name of “Babi Yar”). John Tomlinson was declamatory in his solo role – and combined forces from the Huddersfield Choral Society, Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus and Bulava Chorus produced excellent timbre.

This was superbly sustained – one of the great marathons of the festival.

Beethoven’s third Leonora overture was given gut-wrenchingly passionate treatment, something repeated in the Shostakovich seventh symphony – the “Leningrad”. I found this one of the most moving experiences of all.

Sinaisky made the second movement, from insinuatingly sweet to devastatingly brutal, an extraordinary portrait of goose-stepping terror.

THE INDEPENDENT
Shostakovich And His Heroes, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
(Five Star Rating)

By Lynne Walker
Published: 01 March 2006

By the end of this cycle of symphonies in no-holds-barred performances by the Hallé and BBC Philharmonic, Shostakovich's symphonic credo had been well and truly put to the test.

In Mark Elder's reading of the First, with the Hallé, the Slav melancholy of the slow movement and stormy finale was positively operatic. That same sense of theatricality coloured the carnival atmosphere of the Third "First of May" Symphony. Stuck in gridlock a mile from the hall, I felt in the midst of the Revolution (sounding particularly jarring on a car radio), and was thankful for the emotional expansiveness that Elder allowed lyrical moments.

The Second, with its opaque opening, revealed polished string playing, spiky woodwind and great precision. True, the factory whistle didn't work and the rifle shots were played down, but the Hallé Choir sang with fervour. Elder's approach to the Ninth inspired the players to go at its racing opening with a manic determination, so that the central adagio seemed even more devoid of feeling, bar numbness.

Stanislaw Skrowaczewski brought his uniquely authoritative insight to the Hallé in the 10th and 11th, the former wanting absolutely nothing in terms of depth of feeling and subtlest attention to musical detail.

If the challenge of a decent Fifth is the finale, Gianandrea Noseda's ferocious account with the BBC Philharmonic got it right in its blasts of brassy optimism and shafts of angry irony. In the chamber-like 14th, intelligently articulated by the Northern Sinfonia under Thomas Zehetmair, the soprano Sinead Mulhern and bass Matthew Best were undaunted by the experimental idiom of this song-cycle's sombre texts.

The real hero of the cycle, however, was Vassily Sinai-sky, for whom the BBC Philharmonic played with splendid precision and imagination in five of the 12 concerts. John Tomlinson was the dramatically instinctive soloist in a stunning performance of the 13th "Babi-Yar" Symphony, capturing the changes from paradox to poignancy. And in the 15th, which ended the cycle, Sinaisky made a spellbinding case for the mosaic of parodies, from "toyshop" first movement to tragic adagio to whirring finale.

By the end of this cycle of symphonies in no-holds-barred performances by the Hallé and BBC Philharmonic, Shostakovich's symphonic credo had been well and truly put to the test.

In Mark Elder's reading of the First, with the Hallé, the Slav melancholy of the slow movement and stormy finale was positively operatic. That same sense of theatricality coloured the carnival atmosphere of the Third "First of May" Symphony. Stuck in gridlock a mile from the hall, I felt in the midst of the Revolution (sounding particularly jarring on a car radio), and was thankful for the emotional expansiveness that Elder allowed lyrical moments.

The Second, with its opaque opening, revealed polished string playing, spiky woodwind and great precision. True, the factory whistle didn't work and the rifle shots were played down, but the Hallé Choir sang with fervour. Elder's approach to the Ninth inspired the players to go at its racing opening with a manic determination, so that the central adagio seemed even more devoid of feeling, bar numbness.

Stanislaw Skrowaczewski brought his uniquely authoritative insight to the Hallé in the 10th and 11th, the former wanting absolutely nothing in terms of depth of feeling and subtlest attention to musical detail.

If the challenge of a decent Fifth is the finale, Gianandrea Noseda's ferocious account with the BBC Philharmonic got it right in its blasts of brassy optimism and shafts of angry irony. In the chamber-like 14th, intelligently articulated by the Northern Sinfonia under Thomas Zehetmair, the soprano Sinead Mulhern and bass Matthew Best were undaunted by the experimental idiom of this song-cycle's sombre texts.

The real hero of the cycle, however, was Vassily Sinai-sky, for whom the BBC Philharmonic played with splendid precision and imagination in five of the 12 concerts. John Tomlinson was the dramatically instinctive soloist in a stunning performance of the 13th "Babi-Yar" Symphony, capturing the changes from paradox to poignancy. And in the 15th, which ended the cycle, Sinaisky made a spellbinding case for the mosaic of parodies, from "toyshop" first movement to tragic adagio to whirring finale.

Last Performance Reviews from the Shropshire Star Of The Cossacks
Thursday, November 20th 2003

Review Quotes:

“…an impressive presentation of Ukrainian classical and folk songs, describing the destiny of the Ukrainian Cossacks in the 15th to 18th centuries, the Bulava Chorus kept all the majesty and verve of their deep Slavonic roots…”

“…The Bulava Chorus were quite electrifying as only the full throated, open-hearted and barrel-chested resonance of Eastern European singers can be…”

“…Above all there was the stunning voice of the international opera star, soloist, Pavlo Hunka…”

“…an exciting experience of a rich international vein of entertainment…”