Despite the fact that all of the featured works were composed by
Shostakovich, there's not much to link the performances on this recording together. The First Symphony, First Jazz Suite, and Tahiti Trot feature
Mariss Jansons leading the
Berliner Philharmoniker (in the symphony) or the
Philadelphia Orchestra (in the suite and Trot). All three performances are better than the usual run of
Shostakovich performances: the symphony has real weight and impact while the suite and Trot have the right combination of irony and sensuality to make them appealing.
John Ogdon's reading of
Shostakovich's Second Piano Concerto is easily the best of the remaining four performances, though
Lawrence Foster and the
Royal Philharmonic offer merely professional accompaniment.
Sarah Chang's First Violin Concerto with
Simon Rattle leading the
Berliner Philharmoniker is well-played but lacking in both atmosphere and intensity.
Han-Na Chang's First Cello Concerto with
Antonio Pappano leading the
London Symphony Orchestra suffers from some technical shortcomings and is largely without interpretive character. The
St. Lawrence Quartet's ardent Eighth Quartet fills out the bill, though without much polish. One can only wonder why EMI issued these particular recordings as a set. It has in its catalog virtually definitive recordings of all these works: the violin concertos with
David Oistrakh as the soloist, the cello concertos with
Mstislav Rostropovich as the soloist, and the piano concertos with the composer himself as the soloist, not to mention all the string quartets played by the
Borodin Quartet. The recordings included here are newer and have arguably better sound -- although that point might be contested by listeners with no qualms about non-digital sound -- but as representations of
Shostakovich's music they fall short.