Shostakovich: Symphonies 1 & 3, “First of May” Clearance Cost

(Sym.1) “a good performance, with a strong feeling of chamber music to it and a remarkable attention to (occasionally exaggeration of) the quieter dynamic markings (Sym.3) “a much better recorded account of the Third Symphony, is brilliantly played and very vividly characterized. I was particularly struck by Rozhdestvensky’s use of solo instead of tutti strings in the slow section (with what justification I have no idea, but it is poignantly effective) and by his powerful dramatization of those huge orchestral recitatives that prepare for the choral finale: they are massively and balefully eloquent, qualities that rivals miss by taking them very fast.” (Gramophone).