Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7

"[Conductor Vasily] Petrenko sounds unhurried leading up to the march [in the first movement], almost relaxed. The march seems to have little personality at first; it's not dire at all -- it sounds more like bureaucrats on parade, until the cymbals and bass drum come in. Now, that may not be a bad thing; certainly the slow grind of bureaucracy in the USSR was one of its most exasperating and finally dangerous features. Toward the end of the march, terror begins to take over. Petrenko loses no power in the counterpoint that follows. ... In [the second movement] the big tutti is brilliant, like fireworks. The string playing at the beginning of III is searing in the louder parts and sorrowful in the quieter sections; the fast middle section is urgent, blazing in tone if not in speed. ... [T]he sonics are excellent (as they have been through all of Petrenko's cycle) and the [Liverpool Philharmonic] orchestra is responsive" (Stephen Estep, American Record Guide, Sept./Oct. 2013, p. 184).

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