Good Morning Jim

Always good to read your views on the MessageBoard.

I have not read Terry's deja-review on the Wigglesworth, instead (at your instigation) turned to a Conspectus I wrote for a now defunct website around ten years ago that considered some thirty recordings of this magnificent symphony. This is what I wrote about the Wigglesworth recording at the time:

Similar qualities inform Mark Wigglesworth's recording on BIS. Whilst the Netherlands RSO isn't quite in the same class as Jansons' Bavarians, the BIS recording though is considerably better than EMI. Wigglesworth's interpretation is thoughtful like Jansons, symphonic like Haitink and slow like Rostropovich in London. He is also able to bring more structural logic to the first movement than any other conductor, even if this is achieved at the expense of some of the frenetic danger that others bring to the party. I can therefore well imagine this being an attractive proposition to certain listeners and I have to respect Wigglesworth's decision to go against the trend with his views on the work, but again this isn't what I personally seek in my ideal recording of the work

My conclusions did though include the Jarvi/SNO recording you mention as one of the top nominations, if not the absolute top recommendation.

Seeing that it is Shostakovich's anniversary year, I have decided to blow off the cobwebs from this article and update it so that it can be published on MWI in the next couple of months, to give me time to include recordings from the last ten years, including the Nelsons/BSO where I am once again in agreement with your own conclusion. I am therefore curious to know if you would agree with my own top nomination !

Best wishes,

Lee