A short review of this release could be expressed as a simple contradiction: “All men shall be brothers.” “No, they won’t.” Two more divergent views of the human condition in music can hardly be imagined than these symphonies – a journey from anguish to fiery affirmation in Beethoven, and a despairing, defiant survey of misery, suffering and genocide in Shostakovich. Which is precisely the point of this release, part of the ongoing Beethoven/Shostakovich cycle by Sanderling and his Dresden orchestra.
Sanderling’s reading of Beethoven’s epoch-making symphony is a little low-powered. It’s not that he distorts anything, or that he lacks commitment. There is just not enough fire in the belly, so that key moments do...
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