Xavier Phillips was mentored by Mstislav Rostropovich in the last years of the great cellist’s life, and thus learned about Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No 1 from the player for whom it was written. So it won’t be surprising that Phillips makes his impact in the work by searching out its beauty rather than stressing its anger. Sometimes the pace is striking – the finale goes like the clappers – but more often it’s Phillips’s silky tone that impresses, standing out effortlessly against the orchestra.
They are Les Dissonances, a conductorless ensemble led from the violin by David Grimal. Their performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony No 5 is, like the concerto, recorded live. Would the string melodies have more spontaneous ebb and flow if there were a conductor controlling them? Perhaps, but the performance is full of artfully paced crescendos, and there is convincing momentum and drama here even if the interpretation is ultimately less gruelling than some.
