Gergiev / Mariinsky Orchestra / Kyril Kondrashin / - Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos.9 & 15 & More [CD]

"(9th) They capture not only the joyful irreverence but the sense of danger lurking beneath... solo wind playing is excellent throughout... brilliantly played and vividly recorded" (CD Review) (15th) "with a superbly vivid Fifteenth, generally hard-driven à la Mravinsky but far more convincingly poised... first movement goes at a frightening lick, deserting the toy shop for the asylum, the slow movement lacks only the very last ounce of desolation and the finale, always intelligently conceived, is suitably emotive at the close. The sound has immediacy and enough depth." (Gramophone)