Riddling with Shostakovich 15: a chamber-sized cryptic puzzle at the Konzerthaus

“A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” Winston Churchill’s assessment of the Soviet Union after the signing of the Nazi-Soviet Pact in 1939 could equally apply to Dmitri Shostakovich’s cryptic final symphony with its enigmatic quotations and spectral clockwork coda. What does it all mean? Are the quotations – William Tell, Wagner motifs – some sort of code to be unlocked? It’s a symphony that keeps the percussion department busy, and in Viktor Derevianko’s 1972 chamber reduction (approved by the composer), heard in the second half of this Wiener Konzerthaus recital, percussionists made up half of the six players. 

They were led by Vivi Vassileva, a spirited presence whose flamboyant playing brought the symphony to vivid life: mallet flourishes on xylophone; theatrically raised beater before a tam-tam strike; and, in the sinister, rattling coda, playing woodblock with her right hand syncopated with a castanet beaten against her left hip. Sterling work from David Hödlmoser and Jürgen Leitner too, mostly on timpani and side drum. 

The weight of the symphony fell on the broad shoulders of the piano trio comprised of Nikita Boris-Glebsky (violin), Narek Hakhnazaryan (cello) and Georgy Tchaidze (piano). Celebrated soloists in their own right, they are in their first season playing as a trio, this being their third Konzerthaus programme of the season. It’s already a very polished partnership as evidenced in an admirable first half, which opened with Schubert’s piano trio movement in E flat major known as the “Notturno”. A toothsome delicacy – arpeggiated piano chords, aching melody, wistful pizzicatos – it can seem saccharine, but there was no sugar overload here, the perfectly synchronised violin and cello vibrato turning this into a refreshing palate cleanser. 

Beethoven’s “Ghost” Trio was given a very fine performance. Hakhnazaryan’s warm, singing cello tone sparred with Boriso-Glebsky’s lithe violin in the outer movements, with Tchaidze acting as a suitable foil, his playing crisp and energetic. The opening of the eerie second movement that gives the trio its nickname was marked by straight tone, the mood restrained until building into a climax where emotions were barely restrained. 

The opening movement of the Shostakovich was played with impish glee, particularly the insouciant Rossini quotations. Plaintive solo work from Hakhnazaryan haunted the slow second movement, while Boriso-Glebsky’s playing right on the bridge was suitably glassy. Tchaidze indulged in a bit of multitasking here, playing the celesta in combination with Vassileva on vibraphone. 

If there were times where one missed the brass from the full-fat original version, this chamber Fifteenth captivated in its quirky, enigmatic way… even if the puzzle remains ultimately unsolved.