As is so often the case with Polyansky’s contining Shostakovich series‚ the main interest of this release lies in its ostensible makeweight. Stepan (or Stenka) Razin has been curiously neglected on disc since the appearance of a much­acclaimed‚ indubitably ‘authentic’ Gromadsky/Kondrashin LP (EMI/Melodiya‚ 1/69 – nla). Polyansky’s blatant‚ echt Russian account may not be subtle‚ but then neither is Shostakovich’s setting (pre­publication by the way) of a Yevtushenko text. The real Razin was more brigand than revolutionary. Nevertheless‚ in this vocal­symphonic poem we are encouraged to side with the executed Razin against the forces of authority‚ Tsarist or (by implication) otherwise – the choice is yours. Musically speaking‚ Shostakovich is at his most accessible here‚ deploying an overtly nationalistic idiom half­way between SymphoniesNos 11 and 13 (as Eric Roseberry suggests in his useful accompanying note). There are several near­quotations from Babi Yar. How Shostakovich could criticise Prokofiev for breaching aesthetic norms with Alexander Nevsky when his own oeuvre includes works as coarsely naturalistic as the present score‚ I do not know. But Razin is undeniably effective‚ rousing stuff‚ and not without its own moments of introspection and repose. Given its pseudo­operatic nature‚ it is perhaps a pity that Chandos provide only an untransliterated Cyrillic text alongside French‚ German and English translations. The performance of the Sixth Symphony is less consistent. Too much would­be rhetorical string writing is undersold‚ while wind tuning and co­ordination leave something to be desired. In the first movement‚ the botched clarinet playing from fig 7 (3'30" ff) is the kind of thing that rarely makes it to commercial disc. To make matters worse‚ the Mosfilm Studio acoustic is less tonally flattering than the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory where the coupling was recorded – ironic really when it is Stepan Razin that sounds like film music! Despite these reservations‚ it must be said that Polyansky does understand the need to convey the frozen immobility at the heart of the great Largo and he compels attention until the end of the movement. The scherzo is fast and a mite scrappy‚ the finale defter than you might imagine. A mixed bag then.