SHOSTAKOVICH SYMPHONIES 2 & 5

BBC Philharmonic, John Storgårds/Chandos

While Shostakovich’s Second Symphony may be unfamiliar to many listeners, it’s hard to imagine the piece given a more persuasive advocacy than it receives here – and the much-recorded Fifth Symphony (with which Shostakovich cleverly dealt with the moronic criticism of the Soviet authorities of the day) is given a performance of blazing intensity in a Chandos recording that does full justice to the orchestration. Both works are dispatched here with an élan that matches their inspiration. It’s encouraging to report that this remarkable sequence of Shostakovich symphonies by John Storgårds remains absolutely top-notch, both in terms of exhilarating performances and the characteristically widespread Chandos surround sound. Over the years, many recordings have done considerable justice to these dynamic masterworks of the modern orchestral repertoire, but for some time, the readings by Storgårds have come to be regarded as truly memorable.