When this new recording cycle of the Shostakovich symphonies launched three years ago already in July 2015 with the release of the Symphony No. 10, followed by the release of the Symphonies Nos. 5, 8 & 9 in May 2016, I was so impressed that I was convinced that the series couldn't possibly get any better. Well, I was wrong. This comment: "Tremendously intense and commited playing by the Boston Symphony Orchestra musicians, deeply insightful and vigorously animated readings by conductor Andris Nelsons, and impactful audio captured by the DG recording engineers" that I wrote to open my review of the 5th still applies, and then some. There's just something so "authoritative" and "unambiguous" about Andris Nelsons' outlook on the music of Dmitri Shostakovich, that I'm sure if Dmitri was still alive he would exclaim: "That's it, that's exactly what I meant to convey and project".

Of the Symphony No. 4 I once wrote: "One day in 1936, in a small concert hall manager's office, something was said that changed the course of musical history. Later that day, based on what he had been told by officials from the Communist Party and the Composer's Union, Shostakovich withdrew the score from the concert program, stopped rehearsals, and his Symphony No. 4 never saw the light of day until 25 years later. Whatever the Soviet officials saw as bad or 'subvertive' in this symphony is exactly what makes it so great. It is a long and complex work, full of extremes, from almost inaudible whispers to overwhelming outbursts of power and anger, including a collossal fugue for string groups, and one of the most profoundly enigmatic endings ever written. The heartbeat stops but the music continues ..." Well let me tell you that in this recording, not only is the collossal fugue for strings so fast and frenzied that you wonder as to how the musicians could possibly keep up and not collapse into a bloody mess, but when the heavy military percussion comes in at the 1:40 mark it's downright terrifying. And those final few enigmatic minutes, with the constant, throbbing heartbeat in the lower strings, will chill you to the bone and haunt your thoughts long after audition.

Of the Symphony No. 11 I once wrote: "This atmospheric work depicts the events during the Russian Revolution of 1905, in particular the bloody massacre of two hundred demonstrators in the Winter Palace Square, on January 9th, 1905. It is again a symphony of extremes. The first movement's main focus depicting the vast and empty Palace Square at night, in the middle of a Russian winter. The music is so bleak and desolate that you can feel the cold on your back, and the eyes of the regime watching over the land. The end of the second movement depicts the demonstration and ensuing massacre with such brute military force, so well scored by its use of heavy percussion playing with martial precision, that you may well feel like you should be taking cover. This is followed by one of Shostakovich's most lyrical slow movements, perfectly scored at the beginning for cellos and violas, which creates a great effect and sets the tone for the whole movement. The final movement starts abruptly, but also re-visits the desolation of the work's beginning, and in the end culminates in a violent outcry underpinned by heavy percussion and bell strokes that leave a lasting impression." Nelsons' icy grip on the first movement is almost Siberian, which adds to the overwhelming sense of desolation and despair, despite the few intonations of lines from uplifting revolutionary songs. The sense of ill winds, unease and brewing trouble at the second movement's onset is well captured in this account, and when the uprising is crushed in the end by brute and unrelentless military force, you can practically feel the boots shaking the ground. And in the final movement "The Tocsin" (alarm bell), Nelsons' rhythmic precision is as energetic as it is relentless, so when the chill of the opening movement suddenly reappears at the 8:10 mark, it's almost a relief. The final minute, with its bells and heavy percussion, will leave you awestruck in its power.

2019 Grammy Award Winner

If you haven't yet started investigating this cycle of the Shostakovich symphonies, you owe it to youself to dive in. I for one am counting the minutes until Andris Nelsons and the BSO release "The Magnificent Seventh" (pun intended).