Edison Denisov's Symphony was commissioned by Daniel Barenboim as a large-scale work to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Orchestre de Paris. According to the rather sketchy notes in the booklet its 53-minute length is appropriate to the monumentality of its theme, that archetypal contention between good and evil, light and dark, which for many listeners has been most memorably enshrined in the symphonies of Mahler.

Mahler's 'voice' is undoubtedly a ghostly presence in the Symphony's concluding Adagio. Yet Denisov's primary concern is not with explicit cross-reference, there are no quick, Schnittke-like emotional fixes here but rather to extend his own musical language to embrace all the necessary formal and expressive aspects of his epic theme. My first impression is that he is only partially successful in realizing this ambition, mainly because, as I hear it, his harmonic language relies as much on saturation and diffusion (perhaps with the procedures of Lutoslawski or Ligeti in mind) as on focus and progression. But greater familiarity may reveal a stronger sense of forward drive to complement the vividly characterized changes of mood changes which leave you in no doubt that, even if the powers of darkness are ultimately conquered, the consequent state is not one of unambiguous serenity.

A less mellow recording might have conveyed more orchestral light and shade, and the disc is potentially confusing in that the short third movement 'Agitato' is included in track 2, not track 3 as the jewel-box proclaims. But this is a telling, gripping performance of a demanding score whose emotions are less Russianly 'heart-on-sleeve' than may initially appear to be the case. Barenboim clearly relishes Denisov's expansive style and sustains concentration well in a structure which seems tilted against the active and dramatic, and shies away from making its motivic sources immediately obvious.

Arnold Whittall
{From: Gramophone, September 1991)