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Dmitry Shostakovich [1906 St.Petersburg -1975 Moskou]
- Symphony no 15
- From Jewish folk poetry Op.79, ft. Elisabeth Söderström, Ortrun Wenkel,Ryszard Karcykowski
London Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra olv. Bernard Haitink

This disc, well recorded in 1978 (symphony) and 1983 (Poems), is here reissued and remastered 
with the original unusual and thought provoking coupling.Both works are something of an enigma. The Jewish poems, op 79, were set at a time of rising anti-Semitism within Russia's ruling party and it was therefore a dangerous artistic decision to make for the composer. The last symphony, op 141, on the face of it seems to have direct quotes from other works that simply cannot be ignored but Shostakovich himself gave no clues as to his exact intentions. The two works were written at some considerable time apart as can be seen from their opus numbers.
The first movement clearly contains a quote from Rossini's William Tell and his revolutionary call to arms. This was a successful rebellion. Is this a message or just a joke? What about the 'fate' motif from Wagner's Ring, associated strongly to redemption and regeneration, making an important theme in the last movement. There are other thematic questions but perhaps the most important remaining one concerns the 'ticking clock' idea as the symphony concludes - perhaps a reference back to the end of the fourth symphony which led to Shostakovich's damning by the party machine and a life of surveillance thereafter.
Haitink's solution to all of this is to play it straight without exaggeration or any point making. This allows the listener freedom to make up his/her own mind about the ultimate meaning of this compelling final statement.
I would suggest that this sober and conscientious performance by Haitink has weathered the intervening years very well and is still to be considered as a front runner. It is essentially a no-nonsense straight reading of the score, very well played and very well recorded. It is ultimately more satisfying than many other performances which appear to have more to say but in fact say less. Other front runners include Gergiev and Lopez-Cobos both generously coupled with symphony 1, and Sanderling, very impressive in a dour way but without any coupling. All of 
these are worth serious consideration for collectors and Haitink still keeps a place up there 
with the leaders. By I.Giles