Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony is defined by its interpretative challenges: is the piece a craven pandering to Stalinist social realism or a bitingly ironic critique of Soviet ideology? For Mstislav Rostropovich, it's neither. As his shattering performance with the London Symphony Orchestra proved, he sees the piece as a supremely powerful musical argument in its own right, a work of overwhelming symphonic momentum.
The strings tore into the brutal march of the opening theme, energising the structure of the huge first movement. Rostropovich revealed the sophistication of Shostakovich's symphonic architecture, shaping the movement as a gigantic arc that reached its climax in a passage of terrifying sonic violence, before the disembodied sounds of the coda with its haunting music for celesta. The second movement was a weird, warped waltz, while the slow movement was a searing lament, led by the sonorous power of the string section.
The finale is the most controversial movement in the symphony, as the blazing major-key optimism of the last bars of the piece can sound like hollow triumphalism. But in Rostropovich's interpretation the unambiguous glory of the final moments was the hard-won conclusion to an epic symphonic narrative. Rostropovich is in his late 70s, but his energy would have put many younger conductors to shame, and his inspiration and insight, as well as the incendiary virtuosity of the LSO players, made this a uniquely convincing performance of this problematic work.
Violinist Vadim Repin was no less committed in his performance of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, but there was something austere about his playing. Even in Tchaikovsky's most extrovert music, such as the technical gimmicks in the first movement's cadenza or the gentle lyricism of the second movement, there was an unyielding quality to his phrasing and tone, matched by Repin's expression of grim, steely concentration. But in the riotous finale his technical command was faultless, even if this was a strangely serious interpretation of one of the sunniest pieces in the repertoire.
